Precise recording of the state and change of our living space under the influence of anthropogenic and natural processes is of enormous socio-economic importance with exemplary fields of application in agriculture and forestry, hazard zone planning, infrastructure planning and settlement management. The demand to make geodata available in shorter update cycles and with higher spatial resolution is also constantly increasing. These requirements are often addressed by the use of kinematic multi-sensor systems, which are equipped on the one hand with sensors for determining the position and orientation of the measurement platform and on the other hand with active and passive imaging sensors. Especially for the required precise and high-resolution data acquisition, the standard GNSS-based positioning systems represent a limitation in terms of accuracy. The methodical development of a new approach for the determination of more accurate geodata based on distributed multi-sensor systems is the goal of TrackDrone.

The project uses a decentralized approach in which the participating sensors are no longer mounted on the same kinematic platform, e.g. a UAV, but are spatially separated in a ground segment and a kinematic segment. This separation opens up new possibilities for determining the position and orientation of the measurement platform by including total stations, hybrid measurement systems such as Image Assisted Total Stations (IATS), inertial measurement units, and cameras. The first phase of the project focusses on the configuration of the individual segments as well as on a methodological preparation and optimization of their subsequent fusion via simulation studies. Subsequent laboratory tests tackle the calibration of individual components as well as the entire spatially distributed multi-sensor system network. Here, the developments for the temporal synchronization of the components play a central role. Investigations of the feasibility of the system will take place as part of a third phase of field tests. The assessment of the achieved accuracy requires the installation of a precise network of reference points and surfaces. Finally, transferability to other application scenarios will be explored in the course of an evaluation study. Overall, the research in TrackDrone will generate new methods in all phases of the project, which can be implemented by the company partner after the successful project completion.