Introduction

Within the Computer Science Department at the Univerity of Wales, Aberystwyth we are engaged in a project called iKAPP: an intelligent kite aerial photography platform.

This project aims to develop an intelligent platform for taking aerial digital photographs using a kite to lift the platform. This intelligent kite aerial photography platform (iKAPP) will use an onboard computer and two cameras with different resolutions (levels of detail). The platform will hang from the kite line below the kite and will have a stabilization system to control the direction that the higher resolution camera points in. This stabilization will be controlled both by lightweight solid-state gyroscopes and by using the views of the two cameras to decide how the platform is moving, and how to compensate for the movement. This is difficult because the platform must be light enough to be lifted by the kite as well as have a fast enough computer to be able to process the images faster than the platform moves. The completes iKAPP and its software will be test flown beneath a kite and when it works properly it will be used to survey an archaeological site (probably an iron age hillfort). The images that the iKAPP captures will then be compared with images obtained using normal aerial photography techniques (using an aeroplane). If the iKAPP works properly it will be useful for lots of different surveying tasks including environmental surveys, archaeological surveys, crop monitoring and other recconaissance activities.