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Articles | Volume XLVIII-2/W1-2022
https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLVIII-2-W1-2022-137-2022
https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLVIII-2-W1-2022-137-2022
08 Dec 2022
 | 08 Dec 2022

WHY IT MAKES SENSE TO USE HIGH COST SENSORS TO DO LOW COST SENSOR RESEARCH

V. V. Lehtola, H. Hyyti, and T. Malkamäki

Keywords: Low cost, Sensors, Point Clouds, Data analysis, lidar, camera, IMU, GNSS

Abstract. The question is highly topical in the world that is aiming to acclaim more efficiency through an omnipresence of sensors. The implication of the omnipresence of sensors clearly is that most of these sensors will be of the low-cost type. Hence, there is a call for research utilizing low-cost sensors. However, paradoxically, it often makes sense to use high-cost sensors to do this research. Here, we open up this apparent paradox and argue why high-cost sensors are not only greatly useful but also critically required in low-cost sensor research. We offer different examples that support this argument but discuss also limitations and cases where the argument does not hold.