Procedural Reconstruction of Simulation Terrain Using Drones

Photogrammetric techniques for constructing 3D virtual environments have previously been plagued by expensive equipment, imprecise and visually unappealing results. However, with the introduction of low-cost, off-the-shelf (OTS) unmanned aerial systems (UAS), lighter and capable cameras, and more efficient software techniques for reconstruction, the modeling and simulation (M&S) community now has available to it new types of virtual assets that are suited for modern-day games and simulations. This paper presents an approach for fully autonomously collecting, processing, storing and rendering highly-detailed geo-specific terrain data using these OTS techniques and methods. We detail the types of equipment used, the flight parameters, the processing and reconstruction pipeline, and finally the results of using the dataset in a game/simulation engine. A key objective of the research is procedurally segmenting the terrain into usable features that the engine can interpret – i.e. distinguishing between roads, buildings, vegetation, etc. This allows the simulation core to assign attributes related to physics, lighting, collision cylinders and navigation meshes that not only support basic rendering of the model but introduce interaction with it. The results of this research are framed in the context of a new paradigm for geospatial collection, analysis and simulation. Specifically, the next generation of M&S systems will need to integrate environmental representations that have higher detail and richer metadata while ensuring a balance between performance and usability.