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How to make 3D-scan with Drone and D455

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Stijnvanhest
  • Edited

Hello, 

I want to make a 3D-scanner from a Intel D455 attached to a drone. I would like to scan a house.  To make it as light as possible I would like to record data while in the air and after landing i would like to make a 3D-model from all the data. So i don't have to have a lot of computing power in the air. 

To do this I have a few questions;

  1. Is it possible to record data to a USB-drive? (and how much storage should it have?)
  2. Can i make a 3D-model with this data (and what libraries to use, PCL or something else?)
  3. Is the IMU good enough to counteract the movement of the drone?

Thanks a lot for the help 

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  • MartyX Grover
    • Edited

    Hi Stijnvanhest  Whilst the D455 has twice the depth measuring acccuracy over distance of the D435 models, it is worth bearing in mind that the D455 is heavier than the D435i.  Whilst I do not have an official weight value for the D455 at this time, a set of miniature kitchen scales produced a rough-estimate weight of 103 grams (without tripod or USB cable attached) compared to 55 grams for a D435i on the same scales, also without tripod or USB cable attached.  Whilst these weights should certainly not be taken as official values, they do give a sense of the general weight difference between the models.

     

    The fastest way to get your project up and running would be to use existing commercial 3D scanning software that is compatible with the 400 Series cameras.  I have had a report from a RealSense user that they were not currently able to use D455 with these packages at the time of writing this, so that may be another reason for choosing a D435i model for your project for the time being.

    One option is DotProduct Dot3D Pro

    https://www.dotproduct3d.com/dot3dpro.html 

    Dot3D Pro has already been demonstrated for the application of house scanning, albeit internal rather than external.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41Yu2H9_z3w 

    Another RealSense-compatible commercial scanning option is RecFusion

    https://www.recfusion.net/index.php/en/ 

     

    I am not familiar with how much storage space the files created by these particular applications take up.  You can now purchase lightweight, fast and high capacity SSD external hard drives though that are the size of a large pack of gum but not as thick. I have a 500 GB one on my laptop that is 10 x 3 x 0.8 cm and very light.  It also has the benefit of not needing mains power as it simply plugs into the USB port and draws its power from that. 

     

    In regard to the IMU: the component used in the RealSense range does not have its own internal calibrator and so software corrections can be made in the RealSense SDK.  For the application that you have in mind though (house scanning), IMU data likely would not be required in order to create the model though.

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  • Stijnvanhest

    Hello MartyG, 

    Thank you for your (really fast) response

    I really need the extra range for safe operation with the drone. The 3 meters of accurate range on the D435 are not enough. This project is for school so i would like to do as much as possible myself to show what I can do. That's why I would rather make my own software with PCL or something else. It would be really cool if I could make an app that makes use of the SDK. I have a lot of time for this project so that wouldn't be a problem. If thats not possible with the intel realsense i might have to search for another sensor. 

    In regard to the IMU: Why is the IMU not required to make a model. It needs that data to know where the camera is right? and thus how the pointcloud should be positioned. 

    I am very new to this kind of tech so if I don't understand it the right way please tell me

     

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  • MartyX Grover

    If you are recording data for a model in real time, you can take the option of moving a single camera around and progressively building up the detail on the recording by passing the camera repeatedly over the same areas until you are satified that you have captured enough information.  Some applications do make use of the IMU when doing this, and others do not.  Some of those who use the IMU have reported that in their opinion it provides superior data to the IMU-less solutions that they have tried. 

    The IMU matters more, I believe, for applications where the model is being stored as coordinates but not so much where you are creating a solid 3D mesh model, like with LIPS Corp's LIPScan 3D  (which is also 400 Series compatible).  In the YouTube video below, LIPScan 3D scans an object on a turntable as a solid 3D object using a RealSense D415 camera that does not have an IMU.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N14Pi6z-MkE 

    You can certainly create your own application with the RealSense SDK.  If you are confident with PCL then that would be an advantage, as the RealSense SDK has a compatibility wrapper for PCL that enables PCL to be used in RealSense applications.  PCL can provide processing functions that are not available in the RealSense SDK.

    https://github.com/IntelRealSense/librealsense/tree/master/wrappers/pcl 

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