Abstract
Abstract. The large amounts of data collected during a typical flight with an unmanned aerial vehicle creates challenges for rapid analysis and inspection. A single two-hour flight can collect about 7200 images if the camera captures at 1 Hz, yielding about 20 GB of data. Additional instruments and sensors all add to the size and complexity of the dataset generated by a flight. Efficient visualization of data is one way to deal with the resulting complexity. This paper presents Norut Geo Viz, a system for visualizing data from unmanned aerial vehicles both in realtime and after landing in 3D on a virtual globe. The system has been developed from the ground up to provide control and customizability of the resulting visualization. The architecture, design and implementation of the system is presented, as well as experiences using the system for visualization in the field during flight campaigns conducted by Norut.
Highlights
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can collect potentially large amounts of data from onboard sensors and instruments during flight
The visualization comprises a number of threads with different responsibilities
Norut Geo Viz is a fully custom visualization system implemented from scratch
Summary
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can collect potentially large amounts of data from onboard sensors and instruments during flight. Existing ground control stations such as Micropilot’s Horizon or QGroundControl used by ArduPilot offer limited capability for visualizing flights, typically displaying the UAV’s position on a flat map. Support for retrieving, verifying and visualizing data from custom onboard instruments is limited or non-existing. Flying a pattern over an area only to discover that the UAV flew at too high an altitude for a laser distance instrument to receive the reflections needed to estimate distance from the ground, or flying with a camera permanently set out of focus, is frustrating and if not discovered early on can lead to a failed flight mission and wasted time. Being able to verify that the onboard instruments cover the desired area during flight is essential to discover if in-flight modifications to the patterns being flown need to made
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
