SBIR PHASE II: New Photogrammetry Data Acquisition and Processing Technology for Highway Design and Maintenance

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This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project will develop an innovative Photogrammetry Data Acquisition and Processing System for special areas of highway design. To design and maintain transportation systems, three-dimensional data on specific areas are collected by means of aerial photography, manual surveys, and labor intensive data processing. The current aerial photography methods, however, are not capable of collecting data on areas that may not be seen readily from an aerial position, such as bridges and rock faces. The goal of the proposed project is to develop a portable, easy-to-use, digital camera-based system that used close-range photogrammetry techniques to accurately model these areas. The proposed data acquisition system consists of a high resolution digital camera, total station, and a photogrammetry calibration target, as tested during the Phase I program. The feasibility of such a system was also demonstrated by a highway experiment conducted while receiving assistance from the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT). A novel feature of the proposed system is that it is tailored to the accuracy desired for different applications through the use of a mathematical model. The main research objectives focus on implementing, testing, and improving methods to obtain accurate camera position and orientation data, and developing an innovative method of automating 2D point correspondence in digital images. The new prototype system offers significant labor and time savings in gathering photogrammetry and ground survey data. Potential commercial applications of the research include assessing bridge condition, modeling rock faces, reproducing crime scenes and archeological objects.