On April 24, 2026, Paul Debus successfully defended his dissertation titled “Object-aware UAS Flight Path Planning for Image-based 3D Structure Inspection” at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar. The thesis focuses on 3D-model-based pre-planning of UAS flight paths for the image-based inspection of complex structures. In this context, the rough geometry of the structure can be assumed to be known.
The potential detection of surface defects is simplified by maintaining a constant object distance with high image resolution. Additionally, suitable image overlap for photogrammetric 3D reconstruction and complete coverage must be ensured.
To achieve this, four innovative approaches were proposed in this work. The UAS flight paths generated in this way are evaluated both qualitatively and quantitatively for characteristic scenarios based on the criteria of image resolution at the object, achievable 3D accuracy, and path efficiency.