# STHN: Deep Homography Estimation for UAV Thermal Geo-localization with Satellite Imagery

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.20470 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.20470/

## Key facts

- Cited by 7 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 26 of its 49 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 30 May 2024.

## Builds on (most cited first, 26 of 26)

- [DINOv2: Learning Robust Visual Features without Supervision](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.07193/) (2023)
- [Image-to-Image Translation with Conditional Adversarial Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1611.07004/) (2016)
- [RAFT: Recurrent All-Pairs Field Transforms for Optical Flow](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2003.12039/) (2020)
- [Conditional Generative Adversarial Nets](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1411.1784/) (2014)
- [LoFTR: Detector-Free Local Feature Matching with Transformers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2104.00680/) (2021)
- [NetVLAD: CNN architecture for weakly supervised place recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1511.07247/) (2015)
- [Fine-tuning CNN Image Retrieval with No Human Annotation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1711.02512/) (2017)
- [R2D2: Repeatable and Reliable Detector and Descriptor](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1906.06195/) (2019)
- [AnyLoc: Towards Universal Visual Place Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.00688/) (2023)
- [MAGSAC++, a fast, reliable and accurate robust estimator](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1912.05909/) (2019)
- [Deep Image Homography Estimation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1606.03798/) (2016)
- [Unsupervised Deep Homography: A Fast and Robust Homography Estimation Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1709.03966/) (2017)
- [Content-Aware Unsupervised Deep Homography Estimation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1909.05983/) (2019)
- [Deep Homography Estimation for Dynamic Scenes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2004.02132/) (2020)
- [Iterative Deep Homography Estimation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.15982/) (2022)
- [Deep Lucas-Kanade Homography for Multimodal Image Alignment](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2104.11693/) (2021)
- [LocalTrans: A Multiscale Local Transformer Network for Cross-Resolution Homography Estimation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.04067/) (2021)
- [UAV Pose Estimation using Cross-view Geolocalization with Satellite Imagery](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1809.05979/) (2018)
- [UAV Localization Using Autoencoded Satellite Images](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.05692/) (2021)
- [Autonomous Power Line Inspection with Drones via Perception-Aware MPC](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.00959/) (2023)
- [Long-range UAV Thermal Geo-localization with Satellite Imagery](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.02994/) (2023)
- [Unifying Foundation Models with Quadrotor Control for Visual Tracking Beyond Object Categories](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.04781/) (2023)
- [FoundLoc: Vision-based Onboard Aerial Localization in the Wild](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.16299/) (2023)
- [Google Map Aided Visual Navigation for UAVs in GPS-denied Environment](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1703.10125/) (2017)
- [Thermal and Visual Tracking of Photovoltaic Plants for Autonomous UAV inspection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2202.01003/) (2022)
- [Data-Efficient Collaborative Decentralized Thermal-Inertial Odometry](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.06588/) (2022)

## Built on by (most cited first, 7 of 7)

- [ThermalGen: Style-Disentangled Flow-Based Generative Models for RGB-to-Thermal Image Translation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.24878/) (2025)
- [UASTHN: Uncertainty-Aware Deep Homography Estimation for UAV Satellite-Thermal Geo-localization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.01035/) (2025)
- [OSDM-MReg: Multimodal Image Registration based One Step Diffusion Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.06027/) (2025)
- [SCC-Loc: A Unified Semantic Cascade Consensus Framework for UAV Thermal Geo-Localization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.03120/) (2026)
- [Collaborative Learning for Unsupervised Multimodal Remote Sensing Image Registration: Integrating Self-Supervision and MIM-Guided Diffusion-Based Image Translation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.22000/) (2025)
- [Structure-Aware Matching for Robust UAV Thermal-to-Satellite Geo-Localization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.12835/) (2026)
- [ScalLoc: Continuous Oblique Thermal UAV Geo-Localization with a 2D Satellite Map](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.14866/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Accurate geo-localization of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) is crucial for outdoor applications including search and rescue operations, power line inspections, and environmental monitoring. The vulnerability of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) signals to interference and spoofing necessitates the development of additional robust localization methods for autonomous navigation. Visual Geo-localization (VG), leveraging onboard cameras and reference satellite maps, offers a promising solution for absolute localization. Specifically, Thermal Geo-localization (TG), which relies on image-based matching between thermal imagery with satellite databases, stands out by utilizing infrared cameras for effective nighttime localization. However, the efficiency and effectiveness of current TG approaches, are hindered by dense sampling on satellite maps and geometric noises in thermal query images. To overcome these challenges, we introduce STHN, a novel UAV thermal geo-localization approach that employs a coarse-to-fine deep homography estimation method. This method attains reliable thermal geo-localization within a 512-meter radius of the UAV's last known location even with a challenging 11% size ratio between thermal and satellite images, despite the presence of indistinct textures and self-similar patterns. We further show how our research significantly enhances UAV thermal geo-localization performance and robustness against geometric noises under low-visibility conditions in the wild. The code is made publicly available.