Dronument: A system for documentation of historical
monuments by a team of unmanned aerial vehicles
The official project site in the Czech language: dronument.cz
Images of archeological sites or heritage buildings have been traditionally captured outdoors using kites, balloons, or even planes. In recent years, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have been widely used in the heritage sector. This technology can be used for monitoring outdoor archeological sites, excavated objects, or for analysis of roof conditions, and likewise for monitoring artifacts within interiors of historical structures. UAVs can carry various sensors, such as high-resolution cameras or even laser scanners. This allows for the creation of still images, videos, and data for off-line detailed analysis.
The Dronument project aims to create an aerial platform enabling interior and exterior documentation of heritage sites. This includes the development of software for data acquisition and processing, as well as the system for data distribution in the heritage sector. Typical documentation interests in interiors are either artistic elements, such as paintings, altars, statues, mosaics, frescoes, stained glass, pillars, or pipe organs, and non-artistic elements, such as building structure changes (e.g., wall clefts).
Documentation of historical structures with human-unreachable areas is a difficult task for archaeologists and restorers. Our Multi-robot Systems group (MRS) from the Department of Cybernetics at the Czech Technical University in Prague helps with the scanning of such areas using our own drones. The aerial system, which is currently in development, was already deployed in several historical objects within the Czech Republic and Poland in order to document interior artifacts and structures, and exterior facades and roofs. A list of these objects is given in the multimedia list below.
The video was featured in IEEE Robotics Video Fridays.
Project results
- Interactive 3D models of some of the documented historical sites are available at mrs.felk.cvut.cz/3d-model-viewer.
- Project outputs (Nmet, Npam, Nmaps) are available (in Czech only) at dronument.cz/vystupy.
- Public workshop on September 12, 2021: video record (~3.5h incl. presentation of Dronument and real example of the UAV system).
- Document The hidden places of St. Moritz Church in Olomouc, video (5m 25s).
- Functional sample of the UAV platform: description in Czech, 3D model.
- The project was part of the Czech Pavilion at EXPO2020 in Dubai.
Multimedia documentation and experimental evaluation of designed methods
Saint Nicolas Church at Old Town Square in Prague
Church of St. Maurice in Olomouc (interior 3-D model, facade 3-D model)
Plumlov Chateau (3-D model: south, north facade)
St. Jacob the Great and St. Anne Church in Stará Voda (3-D model)
Archbishop’s Chateau Kroměříž (UNESCO World Heritage)
Vranov nad Dyjí State Chateau
Klein Family Mausoleum in Sobotín (3-D model)
St. Mary Magdalene Chapel in Jindřichův Hradec
Chapel of All Saints in Chateau Telč (UNESCO World Heritage)
Church of our Lady of the Snows in Olomouc
Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in Prostĕjov
Church of the Holy Trinity in Kopřivná
Church of St. Bartholomew in Zábřeh
Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary in Nový Malín
Church of St. Mary Magdalene in Chlumín
Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Cholina
Church of the Holy Trinity in Běhařovice
Church of Saint Barbara in Šumperk
Church of the Annunciation of Virgin Mary Šternberk
Grotto Gorzanów
Publications
P Petráček, V Krátký and M Saska. Dronument: System for Reliable Deployment of Micro Aerial Vehicles in Dark Areas of Large Historical Monuments. IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters 5(2):2078-2085, April 2020. PDF, DOI BibTeX
@article{petracek2020ral, author = "P. {Petr\'{a}\v{c}ek} and V. {Kr\'{a}tk\'{y}} and M. {Saska}", journal = "IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters", title = "Dronument: System for Reliable Deployment of Micro Aerial Vehicles in Dark Areas of Large Historical Monuments", year = 2020, volume = 5, number = 2, pages = "2078-2085", keywords = "Aerial systems: applications; Aerial systems: Perception and autonomy;Localization", doi = "10.1109/LRA.2020.2969935", issn = "2377-3774", month = "April", pdf = "data/papers/petracek2020ral.pdf" }
V Krátký, P Petráček, V Spurný and M Saska. Autonomous Reflectance Transformation Imaging by a Team of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters 5(2):2302-2309, April 2020. PDF, DOI BibTeX
@article{kratky2020ral, author = "V. {Kr\'{a}tk\'{y}} and P. {Petr\'{a}\v{c}ek} and V. {Spurn\'{y}} and M. {Saska}", journal = "IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters", title = "Autonomous Reflectance Transformation Imaging by a Team of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles", year = 2020, volume = 5, number = 2, pages = "2302-2309", doi = "10.1109/LRA.2020.2970646", month = "April", pdf = "data/papers/kratky2020ral.pdf" }
M Saska, V Krátký, V Spurný and T Báča. Documentation of dark areas of large historical buildings by a formation of unmanned aerial vehicles using model predictive control. In 2017 22nd IEEE International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation (ETFA). 2017, 1–8. URL PDF, DOI BibTeX
@inproceedings{saska2017etfa, author = "M. Saska and V. Kr\'{a}tk\'{y} and V. Spurn\'{y} and T. B\'{a}\v{c}a", booktitle = "2017 22nd IEEE International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation (ETFA)", title = "Documentation of dark areas of large historical buildings by a formation of unmanned aerial vehicles using model predictive control", year = 2017, pages = "1--8", doi = "10.1109/ETFA.2017.8247654", url = "http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8247654/", pdf = "data/papers/saska17etfa.pdf", month = "Sep." }
Vít Krátký, Pavel Petráček, Tiago Nascimento, Michaela Čadilová, Milan Škobrtal, Pavel Stoudek and Martin Saska. Safe Documentation of Historical Monuments by an Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information 10(11):738/1–16, October 2021. PDF, DOI BibTeX
@article{kratky2021documentation, author = "Krátký, Vít and Petráček, Pavel and Nascimento, Tiago and Čadilová, Michaela and Škobrtal, Milan and Stoudek, Pavel and Saska, Martin", title = "Safe Documentation of Historical Monuments by an Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicle", journal = "ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information", volume = 10, year = 2021, month = "October", number = 11, pages = "738/1--16", issn = "2220-9964", pdf = "data/papers/kratky2021dronument.pdf", doi = "10.3390/ijgi10110738" }
Daniel Smrcka, Tomas Baca, Tiago Nascimento and Martin Saska. Admittance Force-Based UAV-Wall Stabilization and Press Exertion for Documentation and Inspection of Historical Buildings. In 2021 International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (ICUAS). June 2021, 552–559. PDF, DOI BibTeX
@inproceedings{smrcka2021admittance, title = "Admittance Force-Based UAV-Wall Stabilization and Press Exertion for Documentation and Inspection of Historical Buildings", author = "Smrcka, Daniel and Baca, Tomas and Nascimento, Tiago and Saska, Martin", booktitle = "2021 International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (ICUAS)", pages = "552--559", year = 2021, month = "June", organization = "IEEE", pdf = "data/papers/ICUAS_2021_Dan.pdf", doi = "10.1109/ICUAS51884.2021.9476873" }
Vít Krátký, Alfonso Alcántara, Jesús Capitán, Petr Štěpán, Martin Saska and Aníbal Ollero. Autonomous Aerial Filming with Distributed Lighting by a Team of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters 6(4):7580-7587, October 2021. PDF, DOI BibTeX
@article{kratky2021aerialfilming, author = "{Krátký}, Vít and {Alcántara}, Alfonso and {Capitán}, Jesús and {Štěpán}, Petr and {Saska}, Martin and {Ollero}, Aníbal", title = "{Autonomous Aerial Filming with Distributed Lighting by a Team of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles}", journal = "IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters", year = 2021, month = "October", pdf = "data/papers/aerialCinematographyRal.pdf", doi = "10.1109/LRA.2021.3098811", pages = "7580-7587", volume = 6, number = 4 }
Daniel Hert, Tomas Baca, Pavel Petracek, Vit Kratky, Vojtech Spurny, Matej Petrlik, Matous Vrba, David Zaitlik, Pavel Stoudek, Viktor Walter, Petr Stepan, Jiri Horyna, Vaclav Pritzl, Giuseppe Silano, Daniel Bonilla Licea, Petr Stibinger, Robert Penicka, Tiago Nascimento and Martin Saska. MRS Modular UAV Hardware Platforms for Supporting Research in Real-World Outdoor and Indoor Environments. In 2022 International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (ICUAS). June 2022, 1264–1273. PDF, DOI BibTeX
@inproceedings{MRS2022ICUAS_HW, author = "{Hert}, Daniel and {Baca}, Tomas and {Petracek}, Pavel and {Kratky}, Vit and {Spurny}, Vojtech and {Petrlik}, Matej and {Vrba}, Matous and {Zaitlik}, David and {Stoudek}, Pavel and {Walter}, Viktor and {Stepan}, Petr and {Horyna}, Jiri and {Pritzl}, Vaclav and {Silano}, Giuseppe and {Bonilla Licea}, Daniel and {Stibinger}, Petr and {Penicka}, Robert and {Nascimento}, Tiago and {Saska}, Martin", booktitle = "2022 International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (ICUAS)", title = "{MRS Modular UAV Hardware Platforms for Supporting Research in Real-World Outdoor and Indoor Environments}", year = 2022, month = "June", organization = "IEEE", pdf = "data/papers/ICUAS22_MRS_HW.pdf", pages = "1264--1273", doi = "10.1109/ICUAS54217.2022.9836083" }
Jindřiška Deckerová, Jan Faigl and Vít Krátký. Traveling Salesman Problem with neighborhoods on a sphere in reflectance transformation imaging scenarios. Expert Systems with Applications 198:116814, March 2022. PDF, DOI BibTeX
@article{deckerova2022tspns, author = "Deckerová, Jindřiška and Faigl, Jan and Krátký, Vít", title = "Traveling Salesman Problem with neighborhoods on a sphere in reflectance transformation imaging scenarios", journal = "Expert Systems with Applications", volume = 198, pages = 116814, year = 2022, month = "March", issn = "0957-4174", doi = "10.1016/j.eswa.2022.116814", pdf = "https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0957417422002718?via=ihub" }
V Walter, N Staub, A Franchi and M Saska. UVDAR System for Visual Relative Localization With Application to Leader–Follower Formations of Multirotor UAVs. IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters 4(3):2637-2644, July 2019. PDF, DOI BibTeX
@article{uvdar_dirfol, author = "V. {Walter} and N. {Staub} and A. {Franchi} and M. {Saska}", journal = "IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters", title = "UVDAR System for Visual Relative Localization With Application to Leader–Follower Formations of Multirotor UAVs", year = 2019, volume = 4, number = 3, pages = "2637-2644", doi = "10.1109/LRA.2019.2901683", issn = "2377-3766", month = "July", pdf = "data/papers/walterRAL2019.pdf" }
V Walter, N.Staub, M Saska and A Franchi. Mutual Localization of UAVs based on Blinking Ultraviolet Markers and 3D Time-Position Hough Transform. In 14th IEEE International Conference on Automation Science and Engineering (CASE 2018). 2018. PDF BibTeX
@inproceedings{uvdd2, author = "V. Walter and N.Staub and M. Saska and A. Franchi", title = "Mutual Localization of UAVs based on Blinking Ultraviolet Markers and 3D Time-Position Hough Transform", booktitle = "14th IEEE International Conference on Automation Science and Engineering (CASE 2018)", pdf = "data/papers/uvdd2.pdf", year = 2018 }
Vaclav Pritzl, Matous Vrba, Petr Stepan and Martin Saska. Cooperative Navigation and Guidance of a Micro-Scale Aerial Vehicle by an Accompanying UAV using 3D LiDAR Relative Localization. In 2022 International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (ICUAS). June 2022, 526–535. PDF, DOI BibTeX
@inproceedings{pritzl2022icuas, author = "{Pritzl}, Vaclav and {Vrba}, Matous and {Stepan}, Petr and {Saska}, Martin", booktitle = "2022 International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (ICUAS)", title = "{Cooperative Navigation and Guidance of a Micro-Scale Aerial Vehicle by an Accompanying UAV using 3D LiDAR Relative Localization}", year = 2022, month = "June", organization = "IEEE", pdf = "data/papers/ICUAS22_Pritzl.pdf", pages = "526--535", doi = "10.1109/ICUAS54217.2022.9836116" }
Jan Bednar, Matej Petrlik, Kelen Cristiane Teixeira Vivaldini and Martin Saska. Deployment of Reliable Visual Inertial Odometry Approaches for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Real-world Environment. In 2022 International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (ICUAS). June 2022. PDF, DOI BibTeX
@inproceedings{BednarICUAS22_VIO, author = "{Bednar}, Jan and {Petrlik}, Matej and {Teixeira Vivaldini}, Kelen Cristiane and {Saska}, Martin", booktitle = "2022 International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (ICUAS)", title = "{Deployment of Reliable Visual Inertial Odometry Approaches for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Real-world Environment}", year = 2022, month = "June", organization = "IEEE", doi = "10.1109/ICUAS54217.2022.9836067", pdf = "data/papers/ICUAS22_VIO_Bednar.pdf" }
T Musil, Matej Petrlik and Martin Saska. SphereMap: Dynamic Multi-Layer Graph Structure for Rapid Safety-Aware UAV Planning. IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters 7(4):11007-11014, 2022. PDF, DOI BibTeX
@article{musil2022spheremap, author = "T. Musil and Petrlik, Matej and Saska, Martin", journal = "IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters", title = "{SphereMap: Dynamic Multi-Layer Graph Structure for Rapid Safety-Aware UAV Planning}", year = 2022, volume = 7, number = 4, pages = "11007-11014", pdf = "data/papers/musil2022ral.pdf", doi = "10.1109/LRA.2022.3195194" }
Secondary research activities
- Workshop presented at IROS 2018, Documentation Of Historical Buildings With the Usage of Model Predictive Control.
Partners
Územní odborné pracoviště NPÚ in Olomouc (Heritage Institute)
Fakulta restaurování, University of Pardubice (Faculty of restoration)
Project results in News
Acknowledgment
This research was/is supported by project NAKI II no. DG18P02OVV069, CTU grant no. SGS17/187/OHK3/3T/13, and project CESNET.