Development of a high-speed, high-resolution multispectral camera system for airborne applications

For decades, satellite and aerial imagery have been the central element of mapping the earth's surface. The need for fast and frequent imaging, especially of smaller areas with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is gaining importance in various industries. Regular monitoring of agricultural areas, forests, coastal regions and urban areas are of utmost interest. Using UAVs to examine the worlds surface allows high resolution imagery captured in short time intervals without high costs as with the use of airplanes. This time series monitoring allows a quick detection of changes in the study area. The Fraunhofer-Institute for Physical Measurement Techniques IPM presents a compact and lightweight multispectral camera system. A 12 MP RGB-sensor and two 5.5 MP grayscale sensors are simultaneously capturing images. High frame rates, ultra-lightweight design, and the ability to easily adjust the aperture angle and wavelengths to be recorded open up many new applications. This ensures the use on a wide range of UAVs. Even with fast flying fixed wing UAVs, images can be acquired with high overlap. Further, we present results of a first measurement campaign.