Image post-processing of a quad-head combined aerial camera and its surveying application

A quad-head combined aerial camera is first introduced in this paper. Due to its multiple center projection at each exposure station, an image post-processing procedure including camera calibration, matching, self-calibration stitching and color balancing is proposed to generate the stitched virtual image, in which the mathematical models of geometric calibration and self-calibration algorithms are primarily derived. The experiments show that the post-processing procedure has been capable of obtaining satisfying stitched virtual images. Besides, the related precisions of a 1:500 scale photogrammetry project has totally meet the requirements of national specifications of surveying and mapping.