Camera for photogrammetry and aerial photographic device

• US 9,609,282 B2
• Filed: 08/22/2013
• Issued: 03/28/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/24/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Topcon
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Topcon
• Inventors: Ohtomo, Fumio, Otani, Hitoshi, Osaragi, Kazuki, Yamada, Mitsuharu
• Primary Examiner(s): Perungavoor, Sath V
• Assistant Examiner(s): Young, Patricia I
• Application Number:
  US13/973,081
• Publication Number:
  US 20140055613A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,314 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 10/13 Flying platforms
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2101/30 for imaging, photography or videography
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2201/104 using satellite radio beacon positioning systems, e.g. GPS
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2201/20 Remote controls
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 11/02 Picture taking arrangements specially adapted for photogrammetry or photographic surveying, e.g. controlling overlapping of pictures
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 11/06 by comparison of two or more pictures of the same area
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/66 Remote control of cameras or camera parts, e.g. by remote control devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/667 Camera operation mode switching, e.g. between still and video, sport and normal or high- and low-resolution modes
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/80 Camera processing pipelines; Components thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/18 Closed-circuit television [CCTV] systems, i.e. systems in which the video signal is not broadcast

Abstract

The invention provides a camera for photogrammetry, which comprises a shaft 11 tiltably supported in any direction via a gimbal 14, a GPS device having a GPS antenna 12 installed on an upper end of said shaft, and a photographic device main unit 13 installed on a lower end of said shaft, wherein optical axis of said photographic device main unit is designed so as to direct in vertical and downward direction, said photographic device main unit has an image pickup unit 24 installed in a known relation with said GPS antenna and a control device for controlling image pickup of said image pickup unit, and said control device 19 controls said image pickup unit so that still image is acquired by the image pickup unit, and an image pickup position at the time of image pickup is obtained by said GPS device.

Claims

1. An aerial photographing device, comprising a flying vehicle having a main frame, and a shaft passing through an opening in said main frame of the flying vehicle, tiltably supported in two perpendicular directions via a gimbal disposed on a flange surrounding the opening and extending in up-to-bottom direction, a GPS device having a GPS antenna installed on an upper end of said shaft, and a photographic device main unit installed on a lower end of said shaft, wherein optical axis of said photographic device main unit is designed so as to direct in vertical and downward direction due to gravitational force applied on said photographic device main unit, said photographic device main unit has an image pickup unit installed in a known relation with said GPS antenna and a control device for controlling image pickup of said image pickup unit, and said control device controls said image pickup unit so that still image is acquired by the image pickup unit, and an image pickup position at the time of image pickup is obtained by said GPS device, wherein damper springs are stretched between the shaft and the body of the flying vehicle, such that tensile force between the shaft and the main frame allows the shaft to maintain its vertical condition.

2. An aerial photographing device according to claim 1, wherein said image pickup unit is provided with a video camera and a still image camera, wherein while moving from a first photographing point to a second photographing point, said still image camera acquires a first still image at a first photographing point, a second still image is acquired at a second photographing point, and a video image is photographed during the time when said video camera moves from a first photographing point to a second photographing point, wherein said control device specifies feature points extracted from said first still image in said second still image by the video image tracking and performs image matching of said first still image and said second still image based on said feature point.

3. An aerial photographing device according to claim 1, wherein GPS positional information is acquired at a predetermined time interval by said GPS device, said video camera acquires frame images at a predetermined time interval as video images, said control device performs image matching sequentially of still image acquired by said still image camera and said frame image, detects a frame image matching said still image, and judges GPS positional information corresponding to the moment of acquisition of the frame image detected as a position where the still image has been acquired.

4. An aerial photographing device according to claim 3, further comprising a clock signal generating unit, wherein acquisition of GPS position information by said GPS device is synchronized with acquisition of said frame image via a clock signal issued by said clock signal generating unit, and based on said detected frame image acquisition time and GPS positional information acquired before and after said acquisition time, positional information of the moment of acquisition of said detected frame image is obtained by interpolation.

5. An aerial photographing device according to claim 1, further comprising a tilt sensor for detecting an angle between an optical axis of said photographing device main unit and vertical line, wherein said control device corrects image pickup position at the moment of image pickup based on detection result of said tilt sensor.

6. An aerial photographing device according to claim 1, wherein said flying vehicle has a predetermined number of propeller units installed via propeller frame on said main frame.

7. An aerial photographing device according to claim 1, wherein said photographic device main unit has a magnetic compass, a gyro unit, a flight control unit for controlling said propeller unit based on signals from said magnetic compass and said gyro unit, and said flying vehicle is arranged so that autonomous flight can be performed.

8. An aerial photographing device according to claim 2, further comprising a tilt sensor for detecting an angle between an optical axis of said photographing device main unit and vertical line, wherein said control device corrects image pickup position at the moment of image pickup based on detection result of said tilt sensor.

9. An aerial photographing device according to claim 3, further comprising a tilt sensor for detecting an angle between an optical axis of said photographing device main unit and vertical line, wherein said control device corrects image pickup position at the moment of image pickup based on detection result of said tilt sensor.

10. An aerial photographing device according to claim 1, wherein a vibration proof member is disposed between the gimbal and the flange.

11. An aerial photographing device according to claim 1, wherein said gimbal comprises two movable shafts running in two directions and perpendicularly crossing each other.