UAV photogrammetry for archaeological survey: the Theaters area of Pompeii

Aerial surveying is, in the domain of archeology and architecture, an exponential field of application and interest. Beyond the increasing flying capabilities and skills of existing UAV, the operational potentiality of such aircraft oversteps the imagination of their own creators. Initially conceived for robotic civilian and military surveying applications, recent experiments have tested autonomous flight, self decision-making and multi-agent convergent tasks. Based upon 10 years of aerial surveying experience, part of the MAP activity is concerned: firstly, unmanned flight and related developments within a specific institutional partnership and secondly, advanced tool-making workflow for architecture and urban design 3D modeling and image analysis protocols. In this paper we will describe a particular operational pipeline tested on the "Theaters Area" of Pompeii in Italy, starting from aerial data collection to accurate 3D processing with the help of innovative co-operative technologies.