The document describes an ifgicopter project that uses an unmanned aerial vehicle as a mobile sensor platform for archaeology. The ifgicopter can create orthophotos and gather sensor data from hard to reach areas. It aims to individually create infrared orthophotos of small areas of interest for environmental monitoring and terrain acquisition. The ifgicopter uses a microkopter kit with integrated GPS and sends data in real-time via radio frequency. Its applications include autonomous flight route planning for orthophotography and transmitting measurements to a ground station using standard data formats. The ifgicopter has potential benefits for archaeological sites.

1. http://swsl.uni-muenster.de/ifgicopter 1
ifgicopter as a new mobile CIR Sensor Platform
in Archaeology
Matthes Rieke
1st
Conference CAA NL/DE, Münster, 20.11.2010

2. http://swsl.uni-muenster.de/ifgicopter 2
● Set of problems
● Creation of orthophotos of small areas of interest
– financial and logistical complex venture
– areas of interest which are hard to reach
● Measurements of all kind
of sensor data
– are not available in the
desired dose or are out of
date
– Hard to reach →
Project introduction

3. http://swsl.uni-muenster.de/ifgicopter 3
Project introduction
● Aims of the project
1.Individual creation of (infrared) orthophotos of
small areas of interest
– sustainable environmental monitoring
● vegetation assesement → temporary change of unreachable
areas of interest
– terrain acquisition
● Hi-res images
2.Highly flexible usage of a flying sensor platform to
gather any kind of sensor data realizable
– No long preliminary work needed

4. http://swsl.uni-muenster.de/ifgicopter 4
Team and fields of work
● Fields of work
– Planning software (Geoinformatics)
– Communication framework (Geoinformatics)
– Creation of orthophotos (Geography)
– Analysation of climate phenomena (landscape economy)
– DGPS services (Geoinformatics)

5. http://swsl.uni-muenster.de/ifgicopter 5
The ifgicopter
● Basis is a building kit by www.mikrokopter.de
● GPS modules already integrated

6. http://swsl.uni-muenster.de/ifgicopter 6
Communication
● Communication in real-time
● Copter uses a Wi232 module to periodly send data
(HF at 868 Mhz → no license needed in germany)
● Gathering of GPS position and many other useful
data
● Uplink
● Send GPS waypoints to the copter

7. http://swsl.uni-muenster.de/ifgicopter 7
Application 1: Orthophotography
● First application – Creation of Orthophotos
● Flightroute planning software

8. http://swsl.uni-muenster.de/ifgicopter 8
Application 1: Orthophotography
● First application – Creation of Orthophotos
● Flightroute planning software

9. http://swsl.uni-muenster.de/ifgicopter 9
● Photographs need to overlap about 60% with
their neighbours → automatic calculation of
waypoints following this requirement
● Planning software is capable of creating a flight
route which covers a user-defined area of
interest (bounding box, polygon, etc.)
Application 1: Orthophotography

10. http://swsl.uni-muenster.de/ifgicopter 10
source: http://www.digitalkamera.de
Application 1: Orthophotography
● The camera: Panasonic LUMIX LX3 – UV+VIS+IR
● Internal band-elimination filter removed →
photographs in VIS and NIR possible with an
additional filter

11. http://swsl.uni-muenster.de/ifgicopter 11
Application 1: Orthophotography
● Example of infrared composite
source:
http://www.maxmax.com

12. http://swsl.uni-muenster.de/ifgicopter 12
Application 1: Orthophotography
● Classification of
a rapeseed field

13. http://swsl.uni-muenster.de/ifgicopter 13
Application 1: Orthophotography
● Classification of
a rapeseed field

14. http://swsl.uni-muenster.de/ifgicopter 14
Benefit to archaeology
Arenal Region, Costa Rica
Mayan causeway
Dülük Baba Tepesi, Turkey

15. http://swsl.uni-muenster.de/ifgicopter 15
Application 2: real-time data gathering
● Second application – real-time data gathering
● Two-tier architecture
– Transmission of measurements from copter to a
groundstation
– Transformation into standardized data formats (OGC:
Observation & Measurements) and integration into the
Sensor Web

16. http://swsl.uni-muenster.de/ifgicopter 16
Application 2: real-time data gathering
● Realization using a two-tier framework
– Input in proprietary formats
– Output as interoperable data
● Why framework?
● Not restricted to ifgicopter platform → other sensor
platforms easily integrable
● Connection to web services made simple

17. http://swsl.uni-muenster.de/ifgicopter 17
Future work
● Visualization
● Additional sensors
● Fine dust
● LIDAR (laser scanning)
● Gas sensors
● Digital elevation models
● Autonomic flight (security and surveillance)

18. http://swsl.uni-muenster.de/ifgicopter 18
● Short demo video
Video footage

19. http://swsl.uni-muenster.de/ifgicopter 19
Thank you for your kind attention!
Questions?
● Project site:
http://swsl.uni-muenster.de/ifgicopter