Near Real Time Airborne Monitoring System for Disaster and Traffic Applications

A near real time airborne monitoring system for monitoring of natural disasters, mass events, and large traffic disasters was developed in the last years at the German Aerospace Center (DLR). This system consists of an optical wide-angle camera system (3K system), a SAR sensor, an optical and microwave data downlink, an onboard processing unit and ground processing station with online data transmission to the DLR traffic and disaster portals. The development of the near real time processing chain from the data acquisition to the ground station is still a very challenging task. In this paper, an overview of all relevant parts of the airborne optical mapping system is given and selected system processes are addressed and described in more detail. The experiences made in the flight campaigns of the last years are summarized with focus on the image processing part, e.g. reached accuracies of georeferencing and status of the traffic processors. 1. AIRBORNE RAPID MAPPING Near real time monitoring of natural disasters, mass events, and large traffic disasters with airborne optical sensors is a focus of research and development at the German Aerospace Center (DLR). Rapid mapping for natural disasters was long time the domain of satellite images which were processed and distributed by institutions like the ZKI (Center for Satellite Based Crisis Information) at the DLR. Airborne rapid mapping can fill a gap as satellites are fixed to overpass times and are thus not available at any time. Besides, airplanes can be directed flexibly with a high spatial and temporal resolution. Ongoing projects like ARGOS (DLR), DELPHI (DLR), and SAFER (E.U.) try to fill this gap and enforce the application of airborne rapid mapping in case of natural disasters and mass events. In the projects ARGOS and SAFER, airborne rapid mapping systems will be developed and validated together with the national rescue forces and security related forces (BOS). In the DELPHI project, a DLR traffic portal will be developed to equip the forces with powerful tools like traffic prognosis and traffic routing supported by the data from the ARGOS rapid mapping system. The development of these systems was in close contact with the national rescue and security related forces. The first prototype of the rapid airborne mapping system should be ready in the middle of 2009. In this paper, an overview of all relevant parts of the airborne rapid mapping system is given and selected system processes are addressed and described in more detail. The experiences made in the flight campaigns of the last years are summarized with focus on the image processing part, e.g. achieved accuracies of georeferencing and status of the traffic processors.