Airborne camera experiments for traffic monitoring

Abstract

Prediction of traffic, dynamic routing, off board navigation and a standardisation of traffic flow parameters are the cornerstones of modern intelligent transport systems. The development of such systems requires intelligent data acquisition from different sensors and platforms. Due to its spatial and temporal flexibility airborne sensors can provide useful information beside existing systems, e.g. induction loops and vehicle probes data etc. DLR is involved in two projects proving the gain of using aerial images for traffic monitoring – “LUMOS” and “Eye in the sky”. For LUMOS an infrared camera system was used in combination with an inertial measurement unit (IMU) onboard an airplane. The project “Eye in the sky” provides an opportunity to evaluate the relevance of image data captured by a zeppelin and a helicopter. A high resolution digital camera and an inertial measurement unit mounted on an airborne platform were used to provide images and attitude data. In both projects, images were transmitted to a ground station, georeferenced and processed in order to extract user relevant traffic information. The whole procedure is realized in real time. Within the projects a variety of different sensors and platforms were used. This allows a validation of several configurations helping DLR in opening up new perspectives for traffic monitoring in future.