Monitoring of debris flows using the Microsoft Kinect sensor

Abstract

The sectors of 3D modeling and motion tracking are in continuous and rapid development: a recent boost has been caused by the
videogames industries. In order meet the growing demand for increasingly interactive video games, Microsoft has launched a remote
controller for Xbox 360, allowing users to interact with the console simply with the use of voice and gestures. The Kinect sensor
consists of an RGB camera, an IR camera (NIR) and an IR projector (that projects a pseudo-random pattern), a microphone array, a
tilt motor and a tri-axial accelerometer. Following the release of libraries and Software Development Kits, by third parties as well as
Microsoft itself, many researchers from different fields started to use the Kinect as a low cost multi-sensor platform. The Kinect can
be simply remotely controlled using a Personal Computer. It integrates also a depth camera, allowing measuring distances with a
high frame rate (up to 30 fps), with a nominal resolution of 1 mm, in the range from 0.80 to 4.00 m. This feature, together with the
cost (few hundreds Euros), makes this sensor very attractive for a wide variety of geomatic applications. In this paper, the use of
Kinect for the study of the development of debris flows is discussed. The phenomenon has been reproduced in scale in the hydraulic
laboratory "G. Fantoli "of the Politecnico di Milano. In particular, the additional geometric information that this sensor can provide
are detailed, with respect to wave front and shape.