A UAV PHOTOGRAPHIC PATH PLANNING METHOD FOR HIGH-QUALITY RECONSTRUCTION OF CULTURAL HERITAGE

Abstract. The image-based reconstruction method can preserve geometric and textural information with relatively high accuracy, making it a suitable method for digitally documenting cultural heritage. However, the quality of the reconstructed model largely depends on the quality of the captured images. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) equipped with a camera and gimbal offer great convenience for image acquisition in 3D reconstruction. However, ensuring safety, high efficiency, and full coverage is a challenge. To address this, we propose a UAV photographic path planning method for efficient and automatic image acquisition of heritage scenes, based on which high-quality reconstruction is realized. A priori proxy of the scene is obtained in advance and utilized to (1) generate initial viewpoints for subsequent optimization; (2) generate the SDSM for obstacle avoidance, signal analysis, and sight occlusion judgment; and (3) segment to obtain planar regions to sample representative points for measuring the reconstructability of heritage scene and optimizing the viewpoints. Our method enables the planning of regular and safe final paths for the high-quality reconstruction of cultural heritage, outperforming both commercial software and state-of-the-art methods in both real and virtual scenes.