3D Photogrammetry from HAPS for HADR and Jettison Protection Systems for HAPS Payloads

QinetiQ is developing a new active optical remote sensing technology, Software Defined Multifunction Lidar (SDML), designed to provide multiple sensing, imaging and communications capabilities within a single package.

This proposal into the High Altitude Intelligence Cross-Sector Innovation Challenge is designed to expand the SDML capability further by evaluating the potential to generate wide-area, high resolution and photo-realistic 3D models via photogrammetry. Linking the projects and to expand the offering further, work by Raven Space Systems (RSS) will investigate payload recovery options through a paper study on the system hardware and deployment scenarios. With SDML providing multiple operating modes, additional flight testing would be required, all with a single hardware point of failure. This offering will investigate risk mitigations for the SDML hardware in the event of HAPS platform failure and also investing expansion for testing on stratospheric balloons.

Photogrammetry is a mature image processing technique wherein a large numbers of photos, taken of the same area from different view-points are combined to reconstruct a 3D model of buildings, natural objects and terrain. Our partner organisation, University of Worcester, have extensive experience generating multiple data products from this technique, most commonly from small uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs), however data generated from a HAPS platform provides a unique opportunity in this space. The persistence of HAPS over mission critical areas provides the opportunity to collect hundreds -- maybe thousands -- of such high resolution images over many square kilometres. SDML's FSOC mode would enable the fast transfer of the multiple gigabytes of image data in a relatively short period of time to a ground terminal near the incident area. This data can then be processed to provide time-critical and actionable information for both civil and defence Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) scenarios, enabling support personnel to act quickly and effectively. As an example of this, high resolution 3D terrain models could enable timely analysis of flood water levels, land-slide volume and building and infrastructure damage.

The project will optically simulate capture of ground images from stratospheric altitudes using SDML hardware (hardware in the loop simulation). These images will be passed to University of Worcester for analysis and generation of 3D models that will be used to assess the viability of the technique from the SDML hardware and from the HAPS platform for multiple use cases.