Direct Exterior Orientation of Airborne Sensors - an Accuracy Investigation of an Integrated Gps/inertial System

By direct georeferencing, i.e. the direct measurement of the exterior orientation of an imaging sensor using an integrated system consisting of receivers of the Global Positioning System (GPS) and a strap-down Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), many applications can be realized more efficiently and economically due to the reduction or elimination of required ground control and tie point information. Within this article a well controlled test comparing standard aerial triangulation and point determination with direct georeferencing is described to demonstrate the potential and accuracy of a commercially available integrated GPS/Inertial system.