Altitude detection by use of planar approximation of a region of ground surface
First Claim
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1. An altitude detecting apparatus for detecting an altitude of a flying object, comprising:
- a pair of stereoscopic cameras mounted on said flying object for taking a stereoscopic image of a ground surface under said flying object;
a stereoscopic processing section for processing a pair of images by said cameras and for calculating a distance data of said ground surface; and
an altitude calculating section for creating a configuration of said ground surface based on said distance data of a plurality of measuring points on said ground surface so as to calculate an altitude of said flying object to said ground surface;
wherein said stereoscopic processing section obtains distance data over a succession of regions of the ground surface, each of said regions being characterized by lateral and longitudinal coordinates identifying points of the data associated with movement of the flying object; and
said altitude calculating section is operative to characterize the data of distance between the flying object and the ground surface by a best-fit plane for each of said regions, the altitude being calculated along a line from the object to the plane for each of the succession of said regions of the around surface.
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Abstract
A three-dimensional image of a ground surface taken by a stereoscopic camera is converted to a distance image in a stereoscopic processing section. In an altitude calculating section, after peculiar points contained in the distance image are deleted and further the lens distortion is deleted from the distance image, the distance image is transferred to a real space coordinate. Then, an equation approximating to a plane is obtained from data of the distance image and a length of a perpendicular line to the plane is calculated as a ground altitude.
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Citations
5 Claims
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1. An altitude detecting apparatus for detecting an altitude of a flying object, comprising:
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a pair of stereoscopic cameras mounted on said flying object for taking a stereoscopic image of a ground surface under said flying object; a stereoscopic processing section for processing a pair of images by said cameras and for calculating a distance data of said ground surface; and an altitude calculating section for creating a configuration of said ground surface based on said distance data of a plurality of measuring points on said ground surface so as to calculate an altitude of said flying object to said ground surface; wherein said stereoscopic processing section obtains distance data over a succession of regions of the ground surface, each of said regions being characterized by lateral and longitudinal coordinates identifying points of the data associated with movement of the flying object; and said altitude calculating section is operative to characterize the data of distance between the flying object and the ground surface by a best-fit plane for each of said regions, the altitude being calculated along a line from the object to the plane for each of the succession of said regions of the around surface. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A method, employing an altitude detecting apparatus, for detecting an altitude of a flying object, comprising steps of:
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mounting a pair of stereoscopic cameras on said flying object for taking a stereoscopic image of a ground surface under said flying object; processing, by means of a stereoscopic processing section, a pair of images produced by said cameras, and calculating distance data of said ground surface from said flying object; creating, by means of an altitude calculating section, a configuration of said ground surface based on said distance data of a plurality of measuring points on said ground surface; calculating, by use of said measuring points, an altitude of said flying object relative to said ground surface; wherein said processing step includes obtaining distance data over a succession of regions of the ground surface, each of said regions being characterized by lateral and longitudinal coordinates identifying points of the data associated with movement of the flying object; and said calculating step includes characterizing the data of distance between the flying object and the ground surface by a best-fit plane for each of said regions, the altitude being calculated along a line from the object to the plane for each of the succession of said regions of the ground surface.
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Specification