Creating Metadata Objects from Timestamps [Image Import]

[benjaminwinger]

We need someone to add the part of the Image Import module that fills in metadata objects using a photo timestamp. It calculate appropriate error so that we can have some idea of how close geolocation estimates are. More specifically so that we can tell whether inaccurate geolocation is caused by the geolocation algorithm or lack of good photographs.

Goals:

• Create a function/class that, when passed a numeric timestamp, returns a metadata object by filling in the appropriate fields using the telemetry log entries, extrapolating if possible.
• Test the camera to find the time difference between when the microcontroller sends a trigger signal to the camera and when the camera takes a picture (make sure the camera is in manual focus mode).
• Include measurement error estimates using the error associated with the estimated difference in time between the image and the closest telemetry log entries. This should take into account pitch/roll/yaw rates (angular error) as well as airspeed (linear error).

Implementation Ideas (from original module issue)

We have two ways of determining capture time for images, the internal timestamp as stored in the exif metadata, and the time recorded in the telemetry that a signal was sent to the camera. The issue is that the first only has second resolution, and the second in unreliable if any of the metadata is missing (as we don't know how many photos were taken in the missing period), however we should be able to use both to get fairly accurate timing. by using the exif timestamp to find a frame's location in the telemetry and the telemetry's recorded time that the plane sent the signal plus whatever delay we measure between when the signal is sent and the camera takes the picture, that way we should be able to get 1/5 second resolution while bypassing the issues of solely using the telemetry.

I believe @rorico was working on this last term, but I don't remember how far he got.

[rorico]

I wasn't able to get much accomplished in this direction