Automated Detection and Counting of Windows using UAV Imagery based Remote Sensing
This addresses the need for automated window counting in construction and surveying, which is crucial for assessing earthquake deformation risks, but it appears incremental as it builds on existing remote sensing and computer vision techniques.
The researchers tackled the problem of manually inspecting windows in buildings by proposing an automated method using UAV imagery and computer vision pipelines to detect and count windows, showing effectiveness in accuracy compared to existing methods.
Despite the technological advancements in the construction and surveying sector, the inspection of salient features like windows in an under-construction or existing building is predominantly a manual process. Moreover, the number of windows present in a building is directly related to the magnitude of deformation it suffers under earthquakes. In this research, a method to accurately detect and count the number of windows of a building by deploying an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) based remote sensing system is proposed. The proposed two-stage method automates the identification and counting of windows by developing computer vision pipelines that utilize data from UAV's onboard camera and other sensors. Quantitative and Qualitative results show the effectiveness of our proposed approach in accurately detecting and counting the windows compared to the existing method.