Detailed Aerial Mapping of Photovoltaic Power Plants Through Semantically Significant Keypoints

Year 2026, Volume: 11 Issue: 2, 352 - 362

Viktor Kozák , Jan Chudoba , Libor Přeučil

https://doi.org/10.26833/ijeg.1737764

Abstract

An accurate and up-to-date model of a photovoltaic (PV) power plant is essential for its optimal operation and maintenance. However, such a model may not be easily available. This work introduces a novel approach for PV power plant mapping based on aerial overview images. It enables the automation of the mapping process while removing the reliance on third-party data. The presented mapping method takes advantage of the structural layout of the power plants to achieve detailed modeling down to the level of individual PV modules. The approach relies on visual segmentation of PV modules in overview images and the inference of structural information in each image, assigning modules to individual benches, rows, and columns. We identify visual keypoints related to the layout and use these to merge detections from multiple images while maintaining their structural integrity. The presented method was experimentally verified and evaluated on two different power plants. The final fusion of 3D positions and semantic structures results in a compact georeferenced model suitable for power plant maintenance.

Keywords

UAV , photogrammetry , photovoltaic , mapping , structure-from-motion , aerial systems , PV , Computer vision for automation

Thanks

This work was co-funded by the European Union under the project ROBOPROX (reg. no. CZ.02.01.01/00/22 008/0004590).

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