Bayesian digital terrain model reconstruction on Virtex-II FPGA

A digital terrain model (DTM) is a 3D discrete representation of the Earth's terrain or topography. A fully Bayesian approach to DTM reconstruction (or elevation field estimation) is developed using the general projection equations frequently encountered in photogrammetry. The hardware implementation of the Bayesian DTM reconstruction algorithm is investigated due to its high computational demand. Here, we describe the implementation on a hybrid processor-FPGA system to improve on the processing performance of the DTM reconstruction.