Investigation of the dependencies between the angular external orientation elements of the UAV

The full-scale war that is currently taking place on the territory of Ukraine against the Russian invaders has clearly shown the huge role played by UAVs in military operations. In addition to the combat and reconnaissance use of these devices, there is also the process of aerial photography, which makes it possible to process digital images not only with high resolution, but also to obtain high-precision terrain coordinates, necessary for pinpoint destruction of enemy targets. However, in order to perform the aerial survey process, as is known, it is necessary to comply with a number of requirements for the means of its implementation. First of all, it is certainly the horizontality of the flight, which makes it possible to reduce the angular external orientation elements (AEOE) of the cameras in order to improve the accuracy of obtaining coordinates of the terrain points. The authors of this publication came up with the idea that the AEOE of UAVs is dependent on each other. As a result of research, this fact is confirmed by experimental data by establishing correlations between the elements α, ω, κ. On the basis of the numerical data of the experiments, the dependence of the parameters α, ω on the element κ is approximated, and the values of AEOE are found for which the error in determining the coordinates is minimal It should be noted that the angle κ was taken as the basis, since in most aerial survey UAVs an aerial device is installed to compensate for this angle, i.e., it is minimized in flight.