An Appraisal Of Large-Scale Particle Tracking With Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles
Robin Leister (1), David E. Rival (2)
1. Institute of Fluid Mechanics - Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany
2. Institute of Fluid Mechanics - Technische Universität Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany
DOI:
Camera technology is rapidly enhancing within the last years, which led to the availability of sophisticated technical features within consumer cameras, that could only be found in scientific set-ups earlier. The present work explores the possibilities of utilizing the potentials of commercially-available camera drones as moving cameras for large-scale particle tracking velocimetry. We made use of the glare-point particle tracking approach introduced by Kaiser & Rival (2023), where only a single camera and natural illumination, e.g. the sun, could be used. The set-up demonstrated full suitability for large volumes in the order of 10-100 m³. The frame-to-frame camera movement, caused by the slight movement of the drone could be quantified and corrected by an imaged-based approach. The calibration strategy could be simplified due to the fixed set-up in the camera drone. The limits introduced through the tracer size and uncertainty caused by the glare-point approach are discussed accordingly. For the presented magnification and camera set-up given by the DJI Mini 3 pro, the limit in height can be determined when the two most dominant glare points collapse to one, which happened well above 10 m for the present set-up. The equipment together with the glare-point particle tracking approach is best suited for flow information extraction at large-scale facilities or difficult accessible terrain, where the current set-up could depict its strengths.
