Assessment of UAV image quality in terms of optical resolution

Abstract. The aim of this study was to assess the quality of images from different UAV sensors in terms of their optical resolution, expressed by the MTF10 parameter. The study was conducted for four cameras: Mavic 3E, Matrice 4E, Phantom 4 RTK and Zenmuse P1, under different weather and lighting conditions, with varying flight altitudes and ISO settings. The Siemens Star pattern and ResolvingPower software provided by The German Aerospace Center (DLR) were used in the analysis. The results showed a significant effect of flight altitude, time of day and ISO sensitivity on image quality. A decrease in sharpness (MTF10) was observed with increasing distance from the image centre and at higher ISO values. The conclusions of the study may be helpful in planning photogrammetric missions using UAVs, enabling better-quality image data.