Semi-automated infrared simulation on real urban scenes based on multi-view images

The development of modern infrared applications require simulating thermal representations for targets of interest. However, generating geometric models for simulation has been a laborious, time-consuming work, which greatly limits the practical applications in real-world. In order to reduce the man-in-the-loop requirements, we devise a method that directly and semi-automatically simulates infrared signatures of real urban scenes. From raw meshes generated by multi-view stereo, we automatically produce a simplified watertight model through piecewise-planar 3D reconstruction. Model surface is subdivided into quality mesh elements to attach material attributes. For each element, heat balance equation is solved so as to render the whole scene by synthesizing the radiance distribution in infrared waveband. The credibility and effectiveness of our method are confirmed by comparing simulation results to the measured data in real-world. Our experiments on various types of buildings and large scale scene show that the proposed pipeline simulates meaningful infrared scenes while being robust and scalable.