Weighing just 1.3 kg and measuring 80cm x 80cm x 30cm, the Aeryon Scout is flying no more than 60 metres off the ground, with a video camera focused on buildings, walkways and trees,听as well as听the activity around them.

鈥淢apping of urban environments is typically done from aircraft flying high above the city, or vehicles on the ground 鈥� i.e. Google Street View. But a lot of the important details lie somewhere in between,鈥� says James Elder, a professor in both the Department of Computer Science & Engineering and the Department of Psychology at 91亚色. 鈥淭his vehicle 鈥� the Aeryon Scout 鈥� can acquire the high-resolution imagery of building facades required to reconstruct the detailed 3D structure of our cities.鈥�

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The research team has developed proprietary computer vision algorithms and a geospatial web-mapping system to detect and track people and vehicles in real-time video streamed from city cameras, and then to project them as avatars into 3-D city models. This allows the life of the city to be experienced in a natural 3-D context, and viewed from any angle through web browsers. This is augmented by visual intelligence about the scene 鈥� for example, recognition of objects and activities, as well as things like vehicle speed.

Right: A close-up of the Aeryon Scout. Photo by Keith LaPlume

The vertical takeoff and landing missions, continuing today, are a small but important part of the ongoing , a major initiative funded by the federal government鈥榮 Networks of Centres of Excellence program and the provincial government鈥檚 Ontario Centres of Excellence.

The larger goal of the project is to develop a system that gives people a window into the life of a city, whether it is an urban planner watching how people are using city sidewalks, police or security officials trying to prevent crimes or a tourist wondering what is happening at Dundas Square.

The UAV component of the project is a collaboration between Professor Claire Samson鈥檚 lab in the Department of Earth Sciences at Carleton University, Elder鈥檚 Human & Computer Vision Lab in 91亚色鈥檚 Centre for Vision Research and Professor Gunho Sohn鈥檚 lab in the Department of Earth & Space Science & Engineering in 91亚色鈥檚 Faculty of Science & Engineering.

Researchers from four other Canadian universities are also involved in the project, along with Aeryon Labs of Waterloo, Ont.,听which designs and manufactures the Scout UAV, and Neptec of Ottawa, which is providing 3-D structure from motion software technology. The Aeryon Scout is piloted (from the ground) by Tara Jones, as part of the requirements for her master's in earth sciences from Carleton University.

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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