Non-contact Structural Displacement Measurement using UAV and DIC with Non-coplanar Fixed Region of Interest

The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) for displacement measurement using Digital Image Correlation (DIC) has been popular. A fixed region of interest (FROI) is often used to calibrate the UAV camera. Existing techniques require the FROI to be coplanar with the target plane, such that a corner of the FROI can be taken directly as the origin of the global coordinates. However, this condition does not exist when the target plane is in motion, and this has been a significant challenge in the correction of the UAV images. This paper proposed an algorithm to estimate the posture of the UAV camera for solving this issue. Numerical simulation shows that the proposed algorithm has high computation accuracy and stability, and it is robust to the amplitude of motion of the target image or camera. Field experiments confirm the feasibility of the proposed algorithm for images with noncoplanar conditions with a maximum error of less than 2.3 mm and a peak error below 5 %. In comparison to the traditional coplanar correction method, the CPS method demonstrates lower errors, making it better suited for cases where the FROI and the target plane are not coplanar.