INFLUENCE OF RAW IMAGE PREPROCESSING AND OTHER SELECTED PROCESSES ON ACCURACY OF CLOSE-RANGE PHOTOGRAMMETRIC SYSTEMS ACCORDING TO VDI 2634

This paper examines the influence of raw image preprocessing and other selected processes on the accuracy of close-range photogrammetric measurement. The examined processes and features includes: raw image preprocessing, sensor unflatness, distance-dependent lens distortion, extending the input observations (image measurements) by incorporating all RGB colour channels, ellipse centre eccentricity and target detecting. The examination of each effect is carried out experimentally by performing the validation procedure proposed in the German VDI guideline 2634/1. The validation procedure is based on performing standard photogrammetric measurements of high-accurate calibrated measuring lines (multi-scale bars) with known lengths (typical uncertainty = 5 μm at 2 sigma). The comparison of the measured lengths with the known values gives the maximum length measurement error LME, which characterize the accuracy of the validated photogrammetric system. For higher reliability the VDI test field was photographed ten times independently with the same configuration and camera settings. The images were acquired with the metric ALPA 12WA camera. The tests are performed on all ten measurements which gives the possibility to measure the repeatability of the estimated parameters as well. The influences are examined by comparing the quality characteristics of the reference and tested settings