Dronument: A system for documentation of historical
monuments by a team of unmanned aerial vehicles
Official project site in the Czech language: dronument.cz
The MRS Group hosted DRONUMENT Workshop on 12th August, 2021
Some of the historical sites can be viewed online at: mrs.felk.cvut.cz/3d-model-viewer
Images of archeological sites or heritage buildings have been traditionaly captured outdoor 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 of outdoor archeological sites, excavated objects, or for analysis of roof conditions, and likewise for monitoring of artifacts within interiors of historical structures. UAVs can carry various sensors, such as high-resolution cameras or even laser scanners. This allows to create both still images, videos, and data for off-line detailed analysis.
The goal of the Dronument project is to create an aerial platform enabling interior and exterior documentation of heritage sites. This includes development of software for data acquisition and processing, as well as system for data distribution amongst the heritage sector. Typical documentation interests in interiors are either artistic elements, such as paintings, altars, statues, mosaics, frescores, 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 difficult task for archaeologists and restorers. Our Multi-robot Systems group (MRS) from Department of Cybernetics at Czech Technical University in Prague helps with 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. List of these objects is given by the multimedia list below.
The video was featured in IEEE Robotics Video Fridays.
Multimedia documentation and experimental evaluation of designed methods
Saint Nicolas Church at Old Town Square in Prague
Church of Saint Maurice in Olomouc (interior 3-D model, facade 3-D model)
Plumlov Chateau
Abandoned church in Stará voda (3-D model)
Archbishop’s Chateau Kroměříž (UNESCO)
Vranov nad Dyjí Castle
Klein family mausoleum in Sobotín (3-D model)
Church in Šternberk
St. Mary Magdalene Chapel in Jindřichův Hradec
Chapel of All Saints in Telč
Autonomous drones in Grotto Gorzanow
Publications
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. URL 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", url = "https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0957417422002718?via=ihub", pdf = "https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0957417422002718?via=ihub" }
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 }
V Spurny, V Pritzl, V Walter, M Petrlik, T Baca, P Stepan, D Zaitlik and M Saska. Autonomous Firefighting Inside Buildings by an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. IEEE Access 9:15872-15890, January 2021. PDF, DOI BibTeX
@article{spurny2021autonomous, author = "V. Spurny and V. Pritzl and V. Walter and M. Petrlik and T. Baca and P. Stepan and D. Zaitlik and M. Saska", journal = "IEEE Access", title = "{Autonomous Firefighting Inside Buildings by an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle}", month = "January", year = 2021, volume = 9, pages = "15872-15890", doi = "10.1109/ACCESS.2021.3052967", pdf = "data/papers/spurny2021autonomous.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" }
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 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 }
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, volume = "", number = "", pages = "1-8", keywords = "autonomous aerial vehicles;inspection;mobile radio;mobile robots;multi-robot systems;predictive control;unmanned aerial vehicles;model predictive control;unique multirobot application;indoor areas;historians;restorers;historical buildings;churches;documentation;inspection techniques;autonomous UAVs;robots;historical objects;conservationists;restoration works;robotic lightening approach;Cameras;Three-dimensional displays;Buildings;Robots;Image restoration;Lighting;Optimization", doi = "10.1109/ETFA.2017.8247654", issn = "", url = "http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8247654/", pdf = "data/papers/saska17etfa.pdf", month = "Sep." }
Partners
Územní odborné pracoviště NPÚ in Olomouc (Heritage Institute)
Fakulta restaurování, University of Pardubice (Faculty of restoration)
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The DRONUMENT drone wasat EXPO2020 in Dubai |
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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.