HIGH-PERFORMANCE VISUALIZATION OF UAS SENSOR AND IMAGE DATA WITH RASTER MAPS AND TOPOGRAPHY IN 3D

Abstract. The large amounts of data collected during a typical flight with an unmanned aerial vehicle creates challenges for rapid analysis and inspection. A single two-hour flight can collect about 7200 images if the camera captures at 1 Hz, yielding about 20 GB of data. Additional instruments and sensors all add to the size and complexity of the dataset generated by a flight. Efficient visualization of data is one way to deal with the resulting complexity. This paper presents Norut Geo Viz, a system for visualizing data from unmanned aerial vehicles both in realtime and after landing in 3D on a virtual globe. The system has been developed from the ground up to provide control and customizability of the resulting visualization. The architecture, design and implementation of the system is presented, as well as experiences using the system for visualization in the field during flight campaigns conducted by Norut.