• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.18-25
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• 2021

In many developed countries, such as South Korea, efficiently maintaining the aging infrastructures is an important issue. Currently, inspectors visually inspect the infrastructure for maintenance needs, but this method is inefficient due to its high costs, long logistic times, and hazards to the inspectors. Thus, in this paper, a novel crack inspection approach for concrete bridges is proposed using integrated image processing techniques. The proposed approach consists of four steps: (1) training a deep learning model to automatically detect cracks on concrete bridges, (2) acquiring in-situ images using a drone, (3) generating orthomosaic images based on 3D modeling, and (4) detecting cracks on the orthmosaic image using the trained deep learning model. Cascade Mask R-CNN, a state-of-the-art instance segmentation deep learning model, was trained with 3235 crack images that included 2415 hard negative images. We selected the Tancheon overpass, located in Seoul, South Korea, as a testbed for the proposed approach, and we captured images of pier 34-37 and slab 34-36 using a commercial drone. Agisoft Metashape was utilized as a 3D model generation program to generate an orthomosaic of the captured images. We applied the proposed approach to four orthomosaic images that displayed the front, back, left, and right sides of pier 37. Using pixel-level precision referencing visual inspection of the captured images, we evaluated the trained Cascade Mask R-CNN's crack detection performance. At the coping of the front side of pier 37, the model obtained its best precision: 94.34%. It achieved an average precision of 72.93% for the orthomosaics of the four sides of the pier. The test results show that this proposed approach for crack detection can be a suitable alternative to the conventional visual inspection method.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.114-119
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• 2017

This study tried to analyze error range and resolution of drone images using a rotary wing by comparing them with field measurement results and to analyze stands patterns in actual vegetation map preparation by comparing drone images with aerial images provided by National Geographic Information Institute of Korea. A total of 11 ground control points (GCPs) were selected in the area, and coordinates of the points were identified. In the analysis of aerial images taken by a drone, error per pixel was analyzed to be 0.284 cm. Also, digital elevation model (DEM), digital surface model (DSM), and orthomosaic image were abstracted. When drone images were comparatively analyzed with coordinates of ground control points (GCPs), root mean square error (RMSE) was analyzed as 2.36, 1.37, and 5.15 m in the direction of X, Y, and Z. Because of this error, there were some differences in locations between images edited after field measurement and images edited without field measurement. Also, drone images taken in the stream and the forest and 51 and 25 cm resolution aerial images provided by the National Geographic Information Institute of Korea were compared to identify stands patterns. To have a standard to classify polygons according to each aerial image, image analysis software (eCognition) was used. As a result, it was analyzed that drone images made more precise polygons than 51 and 25 cm resolution images provided by the National Geographic Information Institute of Korea. Therefore, if we utilize drones appropriately according to characteristics of subject, we can have advantages in vegetation change survey and general monitoring survey as it can acquire detailed information and can take images continuously.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.527-533
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• 2015

This study performed an on-site demonstration of the topographic surveying technique at a large-scale open-pit limestone mine in Korea using a fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV, Drone, SenseFly eBee). 288 sheets of aerial photos were taken by an automatic flight for 30 minutes under conditions of 300 m altitude and 12 m/s speed. Except for 37 aerial photos in which no keypoint was detected, 251 aerial photos were utilized for data processing including correction and matching, then an orthomosaic image and digital surface model with 7 cm grid spacing could be generated. A comparison of the X, Y, Z-coordinates of 4 ground control points measured by differential global positioning system and those determined by fixed-wing UAV photogrammetry revealed that the root mean squared errors were around 15 cm. Because the fixed-wing UAV has relatively longer flight time and larger coverage area than rotary-wing UAVs, it can be effectively utilized in large-scale open-pit mines as a topographic surveying tool.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.45-53
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• 2022

The purpose of this study is to present a model for analyzing construction errors of reinforced concrete pile foundations using drones. First, a drone is used to obtain an aerial image of the construction site, and an orthomosaic image is generated based on those images. Then, the circular pile foundation is automatically recognized from the orthomosaic image by using the Hough transform circle detection method. Finally, the distance is calculated based on the the center point of the reinforced concrete pile foundation in the overlapped data. As a case study, the proposed concrete concrete pile foundation construction quality control model was applied to the real construction site in Incheon to evaluate the proposed model.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.136-150
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• 2022

In this study, a comparative review was conducted on how to use RGB images to obtain river topographic information, which is one of the most essential data for eco-friendly river management and flood level analysis. In terms of the topographic information of river zone, to obtain the topographic information of flow section is one of the difficult topic, therefore, this study focused on estimating the river topographic information of flow section through RGB images. For this study, the river topography surveying was directly conducted using ADCP and RTK-GPS, and at the same time, and orthomosiac image were created using high-resolution images obtained by drone photography. And then, the existing developed regression equations were applied to the result of channel topography surveying by ADCP and the band values of the RGB images, and the channel bathymetry in the study area was estimated using the regression equation that showed the best predictability. In addition, CCHE2D flow modeling was simulated to perform comparative verification of the topographical informations. The modeling result with the image-based topographical information provided better water depth and current velocity simulation results, when it compared to the directly measured topographical information for which measurement of the sub-section was not performed. It is concluded that river topographic information could be obtained from RGB images, and if additional research was conducted, it could be used as a method of obtaining efficient river topographic information for river management.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.462-469
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• 2015

This study carried out a topographic survey at a small-scale open-pit limestone mine in Korea (the Daesung MDI Seoggyo office) using a popular rotary-wing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV, Drone, DJI Phantom2 Vision+). 89 sheets of aerial photos could be obtained as a result of performing an automatic flight for 30 minutes under conditions of 100m altitude and 3m/s speed. A total of 34 million cloud points with X, Y, Z-coordinates was extracted from the aerial photos after data processing for correction and matching, then an orthomosaic image and digital surface model with 5m grid spacing could be generated. A comparison of the X, Y, Z-coordinates of 5 ground control points measured by differential global positioning system and those determined by UAV photogrammetry revealed that the root mean squared errors of X, Y, Z-coordinates were around 10cm. Therefore, it is expected that the popular rotary-wing UAV photogrammetry can be effectively utilized in small-scale open-pit mines as a technology that is able to replace or supplement existing topographic surveying equipments.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.21-35
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• 2020

Vegetation information is a very important factor used in various fields such as urban planning, landscaping, water resources, and the environment. Vegetation varies according to canopy density or chlorophyll content, but vegetation vitality is not considered when classifying vegetation areas in previous studies. In this study, in order to satisfy various applied studies, a study was conducted to set a threshold value of vegetation index considering vegetation vitality. First, an eBee fixed-wing drone was equipped with a multi-spectral camera to construct optical and near-infrared orthomosaic images. Then, GIS calculation was performed for each orthomosaic image to calculate the NDVI, GNDVI, SAVI, and MSAVI vegetation index. In addition, the vegetation position of the target site was investigated through VRS survey, and the accuracy of each vegetation index was evaluated using vegetation vitality. As a result, the scenario in which the vegetation vitality point was selected as the vegetation area was higher in the classification accuracy of the vegetation index than the scenario in which the vegetation vitality point was slightly insufficient. In addition, the Kappa coefficient for each vegetation index calculated by overlapping with each site survey point was used to select the best threshold value of vegetation index for classifying vegetation by scenario. Therefore, the evaluation of vegetation index accuracy considering the vegetation vitality suggested in this study is expected to provide useful information for decision-making support in various business fields such as city planning in the future.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.24-31
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• 2016

Recently, many studies have been conducted to use fixed-wing and rotary-wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs, Drones) for topographic surveying in open-pit mines. Because the fixed-wing and rotary-wing UAVs have different characteristics such as flight height, speed, time and performance of mounted cameras, their results of topographic surveying at a same site need to be compared. This study selected a construction site in Yangsan-si, Gyeongsangnam-do, Korea as a study area and compared the topographic surveying results from a fixed-wing UAV (SenseFly eBee) and a popular rotary-wing UAV (DJI Phantom2 Vision+). As results of data processing for aerial photos taken from eBee and Phantom2 Vision+, orthomosaic images and digital surface models with about 4 cm grid spacing could be generated. Comparisons of the X, Y, Z-coordinates of 7 ground control points measured by differential global positioning system and those determined by eBee and Phantom2 Vision+ revealed that the root mean squared errors of X, Y, Z-coordinates were around 10 cm, respectively.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Industry Convergence
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• v.24 no.6_2
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• pp.753-762
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• 2021

Google provides mapping services using satellite imagery, this is widely used for the study. Since about 20 years ago, research and business using drones have been expanding. Pix4D is widely used to create 3D information models using drones. This study compared the distance error by comparing the result of the road construction site with the DSM data of Google Earth and Pix4 D. Through this, we tried to understand the reliability of the result of distance measurement in Google Earth. A DTM result of 3.08 cm/pixel was obtained as a result of matching with 49666 key points for each image. The length and altitude of Pix4D and Google Earth were measured and compared using the obtained PCD. As a result, the average error of the distance based on the data of Pix4D was measured to be 0.68 m, confirming that the error was relatively small. As a result of measuring the altitude of Google Earth and Pix4D and comparing them, it was confirmed that the maximum error was 83.214m, which was measured using satellite images, but the error was quite large and there was inaccuracy. Through this, it was confirmed that there are difficulties in analyzing and acquiring data at road construction sites using Google Earth, and the result was obtained that point cloud data using drones is necessary.