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3D reconstruction of lake surface using camera and lidar sensor fusion
Title
3D reconstruction of lake surface using camera and lidar sensor fusion
Creator
Khan, Shahrukh
Date
2020
Description
Global Navigation Satellite System Reflectometry (GNSS-R) relies upon detecting the GNSS signals reflected off a surface and then analyzing...
Show moreGlobal Navigation Satellite System Reflectometry (GNSS-R) relies upon detecting the GNSS signals reflected off a surface and then analyzing the reflected signal to obtain surface characteristics. GNSS-R has become one of the many additional applications of the readily available GNSS signals, alongside more traditional remote sensing of ionospheric monitoring, beyond the intended GNSS purposes of providing position, navigation, and timing estimation. In previous work, GPS signals reflected off Lake Michigan in Chicago have been collected using a specially designed portable sensor suite. The data collected is then analyzed to differentiate between surface ice and water conditions, as well as obtain other characteristic information such as surface reflectivity. The goal is to provide a way for remote sensing of seasonal ice formation beyond just satellite imagery which can be affected by cloud cover. To confirm the validity of the GNSS-R results there needs to be a separate reference against which to compare. This work demonstrates the sensor fusion between camera and lidar to reconstruct the lake surface, to provide that truth reference for comparison against the results of the GPS reflectometry signal processing. For this setup, the camera provides visual information about the lake surface, while the lidar provides distance information with respect to the sensor suite. Combining the data from the two sensors allows backward projection of the camera image to reconstruct the lake surface and its features. The backward projection relies upon knowledge of the camera's intrinsic properties alongside distance information of the features captured by the camera. Each pixel of the camera image is then transformed to its 3D position relative to the sensor system. This produces a 3D map of the lake surface, as captured by the sensors. The estimated point at which the GPS signal reflects off the surface, the specular point, is calculated by the satellite position at the time of interest and the receiver location. This point is then mapped onto the reconstructed surface to identify the exact location where the signal reflected and compare the surface visually to the results from the signal analysis.Time-varying camera-lidar-specular-point maps of the data campaigns conducted for this project are created for comparison with the GPS signal analysis. Multiple data campaigns were performed during which the Lake Michigan surface had surface ice, water or a mixture of the two. The lake surface is reconstructed for different timestamps, using the appropriate image frame and lidar frame. Combining chronologically, the changes in the lake surface can then be observed along with the movement of the specular point, due to the movement of the GPS satellites. Any satellites passing over a boundary between water and ice on the lake surface are identified and time stamped, to then be compared to the GPS signal analysis results.
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A Novel Remote Sensing System Using Reflected GNSS Signals
Title
A Novel Remote Sensing System Using Reflected GNSS Signals
Creator
Parvizi, Roohollah
Date
2020
Description
This dissertation presents a method to remotely sense freshwater surface ice and water using reflected signals from Global Navigation...
Show moreThis dissertation presents a method to remotely sense freshwater surface ice and water using reflected signals from Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). A portable ground-based sensor system is designed and built for collecting both scattered Global Positioning System (GPS) signals and independent validation data (lidar and camera) from the surface. GPS front-end signals are collected from both a direct receiving antenna facing upward and from a reflection-receiving antenna facing downward. Multiple data campaigns are conducted on the Lake Michigan waterfront in Chicago. A customized software receiver tests a new signal processing method to detect and acquire Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals reflected from the lake surface ice and collected by a downward-facing antenna. The method, modified differential coherent integration, multiplies time-shifted auto-correlation samples. The new method is evaluated against three conventional integration methods (coherent, incoherent, and differential integration) with signals from the direct antenna. With front-end samples from the reflection antenna, the new method is the only one of the four methods compared that acquires satellites in the reflected GPS signals, with three acquired using 10 ms of integration.The lidar surface scans are mapped with camera images and estimated reflection points to indicate the surface reflection type and to provide surface height relative to the sensors. For one satellite whose specular point is estimated to be on the ice surface, a Delay Doppler Map (DDM), signal-to-noise (SNR) ratio, and surface reflectivity (SR) are computed with the modified differential coherent integration method using the GPS. The DDM shows that, with modified differential integration, the satellite can be acquired in the reflected signal. For two satellites whose reflection points scan across ice and water over time the SNR and SR are computed over time. The SR is shown to be lower for liquid water than lake ice. This system concept may be used in the future for more complete mapping of phase changes in the cryosphere.
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