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Meshing and Simplification of High Resolution Urban Surface Data for UAV Path Planning

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Abstract

This work presents an approach to utilize high resolution surface data as a-priori information for three dimensional path planning at very low altitude. The major challenge is preserve features while reducing the amount of data to a minimum. Non significant height points are eliminated by a neighbor search, performed within a data structure generated from pseudo 3D Delaunay meshing. A comparison to an alternatively implemented simplification shows which inherent building features can be preserved. For highlighting the feasibility of the approach, the processing results of real urban surface data from the inner city of Berlin is presented and used for sampling based path planning of an unmanned helicopter.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Unmanned Aircraft, DLR Institute of Flight Systems, Lilienthalplatz 7, 38108, Braunschweig, Germany

    Florian-M. Adolf

  2. Department of Perception and Kognition, DLR Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics, Münchner Straße 20, 82234, Oberpfaffenhofen-Wessling, Germany

    Heiko Hirschmüller

Authors
  1. Florian-M. Adolf
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  2. Heiko Hirschmüller
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Correspondence to Florian-M. Adolf.

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Adolf, FM., Hirschmüller, H. Meshing and Simplification of High Resolution Urban Surface Data for UAV Path Planning. J Intell Robot Syst 61, 169–180 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10846-010-9478-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10846-010-9478-8

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