Real-time object geopositioning from monocular target detection/tracking for aerial cinematography

In recent years, the field of automated aerial cinematography has seen a significant increase in demand for real-time 3D target geopositioning for motion and shot planning. To this end, many of the existing cinematography plans require the use of complex sensors that need to be equipped on the subject or rely on external motion systems. This work addresses this problem by combining monocular visual target detection and tracking with a simple ground intersection model. Under the assumption that the targets to be filmed typically stand on the ground, 3D target localization is achieved by estimating the direction and the norm of the look-at vector. The proposed algorithm employs an error estimation model that accounts for the error in detecting the bounding box, the height estimation errors, and the uncertainties of the pitch and yaw angles. This algorithm has been fully implemented in a heavy-lifting aerial cinematography hexacopter, and its performance has been evaluated through experimental flights. Results show that typical errors are within 5 meters of absolute distance and 3 degrees of angular error for distances to the target of around 100 meters.