FUNDAMENTAL EQUATIONS OF PHOTOGRAMMETRY
Review of least-squares adjustment. Geometrical transformations in a plane and in space, 2D and 3D rotation matrices and their properties, central projection and collinearity equations. Normal case of stereoscopy: equations for the computation of the object coordinates and their precision. Internal orientation. External orientation of a single photo (space resection), of a pair of photos (relative and absolute orientation), of a block of photos (aerial triangulation by independent models and bundle block adjustment).

DIGITAL PHOTOGRAMMETRY
The fundamental principles: definition of a digital image, formats and compression algorithms. The fundamental techniques of digital photogrammetry: image enhancement and filtering, resampling, generation of image pyramids. The algorithms for the automatic determination of homologous points: interest operators, algorithms of image correlation/matching (feature-based, area-based, relational matching). Automatization of the orientation procedures. Automatic aerial triangulation.

THE PRODUCTS OF PHOTOGRAMMETRY AND THEIR PRODUCTIVE PROCESS
Stereoscopic restitution. Digital photogrammetric workstations. Digital terrain models (DTM), digital surface models (DSM) and their generation by means of photogrammetric techniques or by LiDAR. Point clouds and their interpolation for 3D object modelling. Orthophotos, “true orthophotos” and digital photo-planes. The photogrammetric production of numerical cartography and spatial databases.

THE SENSORS FOR DATA ACQUISITION
Aerial analogical photogrammetric cameras: image characteristics, analysis of the distortions and calibration parameters. Aerial digital cameras: operation principle (frame cameras and linear array sensors), the basic sensors (CCD and CMOS). Commercial digital cameras for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). INS/GPS systems and their integrated use inside the aerial triangulation. Photogrammetric scanners. LiDAR sensors.

ADVANCED TOPICS
Terrestrial (close-range) photogrammetry. Remote sensing principles and satellite photogrammetry. Photogrammetry using drones (UAV). Inverse photogrammetry for navigation in an urban environment. Use of Microsoft Kinect for photogrammetric applications. Fundamental principles of computer vision.

UAV LABORATORY ACTIVITIES
- Flight planning of a photogrammetric survey by UAV;
- Participation to an outdoor UAV survey, acquiring digital images with a commercial camera mounted on the aircraft and collecting ground control points by GPS receivers;
- Processing of the data acquired during the UAV survey to compute the DSM and the orthophoto of the observed surface by using different photogrammetric software packages.

OTHER LABORATORY ACTIVITIES
- photogrammetric restitution by using a digital photogrammetric workstation;
- digital camera calibration, 2D modelling of a building facade and 3D modelling of a simple object (students are invited to use their own cameras).

Concerning the programme subdivision, the 6 CFU course deals with the fundamental equations of photogrammetry, the digital photogrammetry and the products of photogrammetry; among the advanced topics, it includes the close-range and UAV photogrammetry with the corresponding laboratory activities. The 8 CFU course also includes the discussion on the sensors for data acquisition, as well as the advanced topics related to satellite photogrammetry; a wider range of photogrammetric software packages are shown during the laboratory activities. The 10 CFU course covers the whole programme.

The exam consists of the following parts:
1. oral examination on the course topics;
2. computer test on the processing of digital images acquired by UAV;
3. written report and oral presentation on a practical project (only for 8 CFU and 10 CFU courses).

traduzione di S. Dequal

translated by P. Stewardson

translated by P. Stewardson

translated by I. Harley and S. Kyle