Archiving image sequences considering associated geographical and nongeographical attributes

Image sequences (e.g. video) gathered by a sensor mounted on an airborne platform (e.g. UAV) are used today to address many different tasks in various fields of application. Sequences are usually taken to gather information of an area for planning and assessing purposes, to witness any changes and to monitor activities within that area. Image sequences are usually stored as they are taken. In order to perform the above tasks in a post processing step properly, it is necessary to find relevant sequences or subsequences in the huge amount of stored data efficiently. Therefore it is mandatory to store the sequences in a way to enable retrieving any relevant frame or subsequence with respect to a geographical attribute such as e.g. the position of the footprint or a nongeographical attribute such as the date and time gathered or the spectral band of gathered sequence. We have developed a method to store each frame of an image sequence into a spatial relational database in a way that addresses this issue. We further have developed an interface to that database that allows us to retrieve frames and subsequences both employing task specific clients and existing exploitation software systems such as Fraunhofer IOSB's ABUL exploitation station.