A MODULAR GEOMETRIC MODEL FOR UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAMMETRY

Abstract. Underwater applications of photogrammetric measurement techniques usually need to deal with multimedia photogrammetry aspects, which are characterized by the necessity of handling optical rays that are broken at interfaces between optical media with different refrative indices according to Snell’s Law. This so-called multimedia geometry has to be incorporated into geometric models in order to achieve correct measurement results.

The paper shows a flexible yet strict geometric model for the handling of refraction effects on the optical path, which can be implemented as a module into photogrammetric standard tools such as spatial resection, spatial intersection, bundle adjustment or epipolar line computation. The module is especially well suited for applications, where an object in water is observed by cameras in air through one or more plane parallel glass interfaces, as it allows for some simplifications here.