Systems, methods and devices for repeat pass imaging for wide area intermittent video

A method for rapid and automated creation of wide area intermittent video over large areas using airborne or satellite image frames captured repeatedly from multiple sensor station positions, the method comprising:

• (i) performing sensor matching between collections;
• wherein the sensor is a digital frame camera with a 2-dimensional array having at least 21 megapixel image resolution mounted on an unpiloted airborne or satellite platform, and the sensor is in communication with a processor connected to a GPS or GNSS navigation unit on the unpiloted airborne or satellite platform;
• wherein the collections comprise multi-temporal image acquisition sets, the multi-temporal image acquisition sets comprising a reference image acquisition set and multiple subsequent image acquisition sets that are sequentially later in time than the reference image acquisition set, each of the reference image acquisition set and multiple subsequent image acquisition sets each comprising a sequence of digital images captured from a single flight-line, the single flight-line comprising a plurality of sensor station locations, each digital image matched to a sensor station location comprising a GPS or GNSS position and an altitude position and saved to memory before a subsequent image acquisition set is captured, each image acquisition set comprises nadir and oblique images, and each digital image is matched to the GPS or GNSS position within a specified tolerance range of +/−20-50 meters;
• wherein frequency of capture of each image acquisition set is selected from the group consisting of:
• no more than 1 capture every 30 minutes, no more than 1 capture every 60 minutes, no more than 1 capture every 8 hours, no more than 1 capture every 24 hours, no more than 1 capture every week, no more than 1 capture every month, and no more than 1 capture every year;
• (ii) performing image co-registration of each reference sensor-station matched digital image with each subsequent sensor-station matched digital image from the same sensor station location;
• wherein image co-registration comprises the steps in sequence of (1) feature matching, (2) geometric transform (warping) model estimation, and (3) image re-sampling and transformation;
• wherein the step of feature matching comprises identifying 10-50 non-orthorectified reference control points within each reference sensor-station matched digital image, and aligning the 10-50 non-orthorectified reference control points with 10-50 non-orthorectified subsequent control points of each subsequent sensor-station matched digital image from the same sensor station location;
• wherein the step of geometric transform (warping) model estimation comprises estimating and fine-tuning a transformation model of the 10-50 non-orthorectified reference control points and applying a residual error to the 10-50 non-orthorectified subsequent control points to achieve accurate image registration;
• wherein the step of image re-sampling and transformation comprises converting a grid of pixel values of each subsequent sensor-station matched digital image to a grid of pixel values of each reference sensor-station matched digital image, and outputting a transformed subsequent sensor-station matched digital image;
• (iii) creating a wide area intermittent video selected from a single sensor station wide area intermittent video and a mosaicked multiple sensor station wide area intermittent video, the single sensor station wide area intermittent video created by combining in time sequence a series of sensor-station matched digital images from the same sensor station location, and the mosaicked multiple sensor station wide area intermittent video created by combining multiple image acquisition sets each comprising a sequence of digital images captured from a single flight-line and displaying the combined multiple image acquisition sets successively through time in an order in which the multiple image acquisition sets of the digital images were captured;
• and
• (iv) performing georeferencing to the wide area intermittent video by applying a real-world coordinate to each pixel of the sensor-station matched digital images.