Integration of soft computational simulator and strapdown inertial navigation system for aerial surveying project planning

Aerial photogrammetry is an engineering surveying operation, which is a traditional methodology that can be used to map the earth. The rapid development in instrumentation and computer dependency led to the need to develop photogrammetric software. Inertial navigation system (INS) can provide light weight positioning methodology in aerial imagery. This research is a trial to integrate INS with a pre-developed soft computational simulator of 3A3P in order to obtain a dynamic virtual map. The developed system supports inertial measurement unit (IMU) and link the theoretical exposure station coordinates and the inertial measurements. The developed system enables photogrammetrists to visualize the aerial imaging process and it can be used to monitor the imaging process. It makes all the calculations that are required to obtain the theoretical coordinates and produces a virtual aerial map. The system converts the measurements of the IMU into space coordinates that can be useful to monitor the imaging process.