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Digital Oblique Aerial Cameras Product Overview

This article and a follow-up one will centre on oblique aerial camera systems, the use of which is steadily growing for (3D) capture of urban areas and roads, railways and other corridors. This article also provided a product overview with products on Geo-matching.com.

Oblique Images

Most of the 3D city models and digital maps in car navigation systems or route planners originate from aerial or spaceborne imagery as their source. The images have been captured by high-definition cameras which are manufactured by a dozen or so firms. Starting around 1990, R&D efforts were focused on the move from film to digital, leading to the rapid launch of digital (oblique) camera systems from 2000 onwards. Oblique images are taken such that the orientation of the optical axis deviates with intent from the vertical, i.e. nadir direction. If the horizon is visible, the image is called ‘high oblique’ or otherwise ‘low oblique’. 

Digital Oblique Cameras Vexcel Imaging

Read the complete article on GIM International

Histiory of Oblique Aerial Cameras

There is nothing new about taking oblique images – they have already been in use for over a century for military survey and large-scale mapping projects. Around the year 1900, Scheimflug developed a multiple-lens camera viewing oblique in 8 directions. During World War 1, the US developed a tri-lens camera. In the interwar period, engineers employed by Sherman Fairchild extended this multiple lens system to the five-lens T3A, which remained the precision-mapping camera of the US Army until 1940. 

4 Digital Oblique Aerial Cameras on Geo-matching.com 


 1. Vexcel Imaging Digital Aerial Camera

The UltraCam Osprey was the first of the 4th generation UltraCam aerial imaging sensors. A highly versatile system, the UltraCam Osprey simultaneously collects photogrammetry grade nadir images (PAN, RGB and NIR) and oblique images (RGB) in four directions. As a result of a combination of industry-leading customized lens systems, next-generation image sensors with custom electronics, and a best-in-class image processing pipeline, the UltraCam Osprey 4.1 delivers imagery of unprecedented quality in terms of detail resolution, clarity and dynamic range. The system pushes urban flight productivity to new levels, collecting 1.2 Gigapixels every 0.7 seconds. Customers can fly faster, cover more area and see more detail. The new and innovative Adaptive Motion Compensation (AMC) method compensates for multidirectional motion inducted image blur and additionally also compensates for ground sampling distance variations in oblique images, produces imagery of unprecedented vividness and sharpness. From orthophotos to point clouds and 3D models, the UltraCam Osprey 4.1 high-performance system sets new standards in urban mapping and 3D city modelling.

Digital Oblique Aerial Cameras Product Overview


2. Lead'Air Midas Digital Aerial Camera

Large and medium-format metric cameras are often too expensive for projects which do not require high accuracy. A flexible solution is to mount small and medium-format cameras in an array in varying layouts. They provide customised layouts consisting of an assembly of one to ten off-the-shelf RGB cameras, Lidar or multispectral sensors. The sensor packages include three cameras viewing nadir, forward and backward, or five cameras arranged in a Maltese cross of which the oblique cameras are tilted 45 degrees with respect to nadir.

Oblique Digital Aerial Camera Lead Air

 


3. IGI DigiCAM Digital Aerial Camera

IGI introduced the Penta DigiCAM in 2008. This camera system consists of 5 DigiCAM sensors, one that looks nadir and four sensors which view oblique under a tilt angle of 45 degrees. The oblique cameras have a focal length of 80mm, and for the nadir camera this length is 50mm. Three sizes of CCD chips are on offer: 60MP (8,964 x 6,716 pixels); 50MP (8,176 x 6,132 pixels) and 39MP (7,216 x 5,412 pixels). The pixels have a size of 6 micron and a radiometric resolution of 16 bit. Filters allow either RGB imagery or colour-infrared (CIR) imagery to be collected. The total weight is 55kg and the system fits in a box measuring 40.2 x 43.6 x 83 square centimetres. 

Aerial Oblique Camera DigiCam

 


4. VisionMap A3 Digital Aerial Camera

Another method to obtain oblique views is by sweeping one or more cameras across track. The scan motion allows a large field of view across the flight direction and provides oblique views. VisionMap’s A3 dual-camera system operates according to this sweeping principle. The two 300mm lenses rotate at a 90 degree angle with the flight direction and provide a field of view (FOV) of up to 106 degrees. A single frame covers 7,812 x 2,666 pixels. Each pixel has a size of 9 micron with a radiometric resolution of 12 bit. Up to 29 double frames can be captured in a single sweep resulting in a total frame size of 62,500 by 7,850 pixels. s. The typical flying height varies from 3,000 to 10,000 metres. 

 Aerial Oblique Camera Visionmap

More information on Digital Oblique Aerial Cameras

Geo-matching.com is the world’s largest online product database for surveying, navigation and machine guidance with more than 2,000 products. In the Digital Aerial Cameras category you can find detailed product information from numerous leading product suppliers such as Vexcel ImagingTeledyne Optech and Visionmap. Take a look for yourself!

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