UAV image blur – its influence and ways to correct it

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have become an interesting and active research topic in photogrammetry. Current research is based on image sequences acquired by UAVs which have a high ground resolution and good spectral resolution due to low flight altitudes combined with a high-resolution camera. One of the main problems preventing full automation of data processing of UAV imagery is the unknown degradation effect of blur caused by camera movement during image acquisition. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the influence of blur on photogrammetric image processing, the correction of blur and finally, the use of corrected images for coordinate measurements. It was found that blur influences image processing significantly and even prevents automatic photogrammetric analysis, hence the desire to exclude blurred images from the sequence using a novel filtering technique. If necessary, essential blurred images can be restored using information of overlapping images of the sequence or a blur kernel with the developed edge shifting technique. The corrected images can be then used for target identification, measurements and automated photogrammetric processing.