Synthetic Aperture Imaging With Drones.

Area of Science:

• Archaeological survey
• Remote sensing technology
• Imaging science

Background:

• Synthetic aperture imaging enhances resolution and data quality by combining signals from multiple smaller apertures.
• This principle is widely applied across various imaging modalities, including radar, telescopes, and microscopes.
• Existing airborne scanning technologies like LiDAR and photogrammetry have limitations in cost, data type, resolution, and processing time.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce and demonstrate Airborne Optical Sectioning (AOS) using camera drones for synthetic aperture imaging.
• To apply AOS for the non-invasive discovery of concealed historical sites, specifically 19th-century fortifications.
• To compare the efficacy and advantages of AOS against established airborne scanning methods.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing camera drones equipped for synthetic aperture imaging to capture detailed surface data.
• Applying computational methods to combine individual sensor signals, creating a high-resolution synthetic aperture.
• Employing AOS to penetrate dense forest and shrubbery, revealing underlying structures.

Main Results:

• Successfully uncovered the ruins of a 19th-century fortification system hidden by dense vegetation.
• Demonstrated that AOS provides surface color information, unlike LiDAR.
• Achieved higher sampling resolutions compared to traditional photogrammetry.
• Avoided inaccurate correspondence matches and lengthy processing times inherent in photogrammetry.

Conclusions:

• Airborne optical sectioning (AOS) presents a cost-effective and efficient alternative for airborne imaging applications.
• AOS technology offers superior resolution, color data, and processing efficiency compared to LiDAR and photogrammetry for archaeological and remote sensing tasks.
• The successful application of AOS highlights its potential for uncovering hidden historical sites and advancing non-destructive archaeological survey methods.