hi,
well, this is not really an opengl specific question, but i hope someone here may have done this or something similar.
PANORAMA:
i work in a company which makes UAV’s (that is, an unpiloted aircraft – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unmanned_aerial_vehicle)..)
the uav has a gps and a camera. It is wiressly transmitting data back to the pc (position, orientation, velocity, latitud, etc… and VIDEO).
GOALS
Now, we have 2 objectives:
1.-render in 3D the cameras view (that is, what the aircrafts “see”)
2.-get the coverage signal area based on the interference that could cause mountains or anthenas
PROBLEM
the 1st one, is our main problem and concern. The objective is that, even when we are flying on a very dark/snowy/rainny place we can see the environment we are flying over. In case that there is a mountain or bulding that wasnt planned to be there, so we can avoid it and dont crash or lose signal.
POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS
1.- get the geospatial data from some source like the NASA or USGS, then render the terrain info from that source and complement it by doing some simple artificial vision (creating a bitmap from the camera image).
2.- Use something like SONAR, more specific something like ECHOLOCATION or BIOSONAR, which is the system that some animals like the bats use to “see with audio”.
3.- Use a type of radar called Synthetic aperture radar (SAR), which uses Interferometry for genereting the digital elvation model ( DEM)
PROBLEMS WITH POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS
1rst Solution: We wont have an internet connection all the time for getting all the data from the sites, and for having ALL the information saved, i think we would need a HUGE database. Maybe thats not a real problem, but that information would be incomplete because it cant get info from bulidings, anthenas, etc…
2nd Solution: I think this may be the best solution, because we will be able to see “everything”. The problem is that i have no idea how accurate could the image formed from an audio source will be. Also, i’m not really sure how possible is this to be done.
3rd Solution: This may be the most accurate solution, but also the most difficult. Not only for the graphical programming part (me), but also for the electronic guys who would have to build this technology (the SAR).
Now, based on that info, what do you recommend me?
am i not seeing something? am i subestimating (or overestimating) the difficulty in one of he possible solutions?
which tips, techniques, articles, etcs for implementing any of the solutions can you recommend me? (or all).
Any new ideas?
everything is welcomed.
thanks in advance,