Drones for Three-Dimensional Modeling of Devil’s Tower National Monument

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Devils Tower, a prominent monolith of igneous rock, rises 867 ft above the surrounding landscape. The tower is the monument’s primary resource, as identified in its enabling legislation, yet its vertical aspects and summit can only be seen by those with technical rock climbing experience. High-resolution imaging allows the park staff to discern fine details of the tower surface, including erosional cracks, and provide a snapshot-in-time document of rock quality conditions. This dataset is used as a baseline to evaluate potential rock fall areas of concern. The digital 3D model also allows the park to display climbing routes, pre-plan for rescue operations, and examine nesting sites commonly used by peregrine falcons.

In October 2016, the USGS and the National Park Service (NPS) set out to collect the high-resolution imagery required to generate the 3D digital dataset of the tower. Prior to the actual flights, NPS personnel climbed the tower to place several ground-control targets and conducted ground-truth surveys of ground texture and vegetation. The Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) flights were conducted with a 3D Robotics Solo quadcopter utilizing a Ricoh GR II camera payload. Sections of the viewing trail were closed for public safety while UAS flights were conducted. Twenty flights over a 3-day period yielded more than 2,000 overlapping photos. The data were processed using photogrammetry (structure-from-motion) algorithms with surveyed ground control targets and scale markers to georeference the model in three dimensions.

https://uas.usgs.gov

Devil's Tower National Monument Model: A 3D model is created of the Devil's Tower National Monument from several overlapping images captured by a natural color camera onboard a USGS drone.

Devil's Tower National Monument Model: A 3D model is created of the Devil's Tower National Monument from several overlapping images captured by a natural color camera onboard a USGS drone.

Photograph of the Devil's Tower National Monument with 3DR Solo Drone equipped with a 5-band multispectral camera in the foreground.

Photograph of the Devil's Tower National Monument with 3DR Solo Drone equipped with a 5-band multispectral camera in the foreground.

Platform
Author Name
Mark A. Bauer
Author Email
mabauer@usgs.gov