Gerald Raab
(QSAP Project Hamdab, Vienna, Austria)

Keywords: Quatrocopter, Low-Cost, 3D Modeling, Orthofoto

Abstract:
The first full survey connected with the HMD-QSAP Project, started in September 2013, was carried out between January 14th and March 3rd 2014. The Work displays the first out of two plannedarchaeological survey-campaigns comprising a more or less comprehensive surface documentation related on archaeological remains of all subsumable periods in time up to modern or rather subrecent date.
The project is founded from Qatar (QSAP). The project director is Dr. Pawel Wolf (DAI). The leader of the survey team is Mag. Florian Wöss (DAI). My assignment was to help on the survey and to make aerial orthophotos and 3D models with the help of a low cost quadrocopter (DJI Phantom).
Research Area
In the frame of the QSAP we planned an archaeological reconnaissance survey in the research area between the Wadi el-Hawad in the south and Meroe City in the north, including the both banks of the Nile and parts of the desert and rocky terrains in the east.
The survey was carried out in two steps:
– a preliminary examination of the research area 14 November – 1 December 2013 with focus on known sites already documented by Fritz Hinkel
– a main survey 14 January – 3 March 2014
My task, in the project, was the documentation of selected sights all over the survey region. I used a DJI Phantom 1 combined with a Canon S100 and a Canon A2500 Camera to produce orthophotos and 3D Models of the landscape and the archaeological remains. In January I started a survey with the DAI Orientabteilung of Berlin in the Hamadab and Meroe Region of the Republic of Sudan. With my poster I want to present the results. I used SFM programs to build the models and photos. I tested several Canon cameras and used a KAP/UAV program for it. The innovations are first tests with a phantom in the desert and the management of incoming problems like sand and high temperature (sometimes 50°C in the sun). The poster shows not only the results of the modeling, it should help other people to know what they have to expect working with DJI UAVs in the desert.