UAV-Assisted Image Acquisition: 3D UAV Trajectory Design and Camera Control

Xiao Wei Tang, Shuowen Zhang, Changsheng You, Xin Lin Huang, Rui Zhang

Research output: Chapter in book / Conference proceedingConference article published in proceeding or bookAcademic researchpeer-review

4 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In this paper, we consider a new unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-assisted oblique image acquisition system where a UAV is dispatched to take images of multiple ground targets (GTs). To study the three-dimensional (3D) UAV trajectory design for image acquisition, we first propose a novel UAV-assisted oblique photography model, which characterizes the image resolution with respect to the UAV's 3D image-taking location. Then, we formulate a 3D UAV trajectory optimization problem to minimize the UAV's traveling distance subject to the image resolution constraints. The formulated problem is shown to be equivalent to a modified 3D traveling salesman problem with neighbourhoods, which is NP-hard in general. To tackle this difficult problem, we propose an iterative algorithm to obtain a high-quality suboptimal solution efficiently, by alternately optimizing the UAV's 3D image-taking waypoints and its visiting order for the GTs. Numerical results show that the proposed algorithm significantly reduces the UAV's traveling distance as compared to various benchmark schemes, while meeting the image resolution requirement.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication2022 IEEE 96th Vehicular Technology Conference, VTC 2022-Fall 2022 - Proceedings
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
ISBN (Electronic)9781665454681
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Sept 2022
Event96th IEEE Vehicular Technology Conference, VTC 2022-Fall 2022 - London, United Kingdom
Duration: 26 Sept 202229 Sept 2022

Publication series

NameIEEE Vehicular Technology Conference
Volume2022-September
ISSN (Print)1550-2252

Conference

Conference96th IEEE Vehicular Technology Conference, VTC 2022-Fall 2022
Country/TerritoryUnited Kingdom
CityLondon
Period26/09/2229/09/22

Keywords

  • oblique image acquisition
  • traveling salesman problem with neighbourhoods
  • Unmanned aerial vehicle

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Computer Science Applications
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering
  • Applied Mathematics

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