Patent attributes
A portable, aerial, dual-swath photogrammetric imaging system comprising twin nadir pointing CCD cameras for simultaneously acquiring twin adjacent digital images for merging into a large panorama. A pair of lens shifters symmetrically shift twin images to the left and right sides of the focal points of two parallel lenses to extend imaging swathwidth. The twin adjacent images of the imaging system have a strip of narrow overlap at the center of the whole scene that are reserved for photogrammetric processing and stitching twin images into a seamless panorama. Each camera is connected to an embedded computer which controls imaging data acquisition, attaches GPS/IMU measurements, generates KML metadata files for its snapshots, and stores acquired images and metadata into removable SSDs. Direct geo-referenced panoramic digital stills are immediately registered on to Google™ Earth precisely. Its images can be further processed for advanced mapping, change detection and GIS applications.
