Forestry Remote Sensing from Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: A Review Focusing on the Data, Processing and Potentialities

Currently, climate change poses a global threat, which may compromise the sustainability of agriculture, forestry and other land surface systems. In a changing world scenario, the economic importance of Remote Sensing (RS) to monitor forests and agricultural resources is imperative to the development of agroforestry systems. Traditional RS technologies encompass satellite and manned aircraft platforms. These platforms are continuously improving in terms of spatial, spectral, and temporal resolutions. The high spatial and temporal resolutions, flexibility and lower operational costs make Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) a good alternative to traditional RS platforms. In the management process of forests resources, UAVs are one of the most suitable options to consider, mainly due to: (1) low operational costs and high-intensity data collection; (2) its capacity to host a wide range of sensors that could be adapted to be task-oriented; (3) its ability to plan data acquisition campaigns, avoiding inadequate weather conditions and providing data availability on-demand; and (4) the possibility to be used in real-time operations. This review aims to present the most significant UAV applications in forestry, identifying the appropriate sensors to be used in each situation as well as the data processing techniques commonly implemented.

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АНАЛІЗ СУЧАСНОГО СТАНУ РОЗВИТКУ БЕЗПІЛОТНИХ ЛІТАЛЬНИХ МІКРОАПАРАТІВ МУЛЬТИКОПТЕРНОГО ТИПУ

Open Information and Computer Integrated Technologies ◽

10.32620/oikit.2021.93.07 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 125-134

Author(s):

О. Г. Гребеніков

Keyword(s):

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ◽

Statistical Data ◽

Weather Conditions ◽

Future Research ◽

Prototype Model ◽

Aerial Vehicles ◽

Starting Point ◽

Wide Range ◽

Range Of Functions ◽

Definition Of

The development of unmanned aerial vehicles is of great interest to both the largest aircraft companies and design enthusiasts, and among the total volume of developments, the volume of multicopter unmanned aerial vehicles occupies one of the leading positions. In this regard, the analysis of existing developments and the definition of future research in this direction is relevant. Multi-helicopter drones have a wide range of functions in both military and civilian use.The paper collects and analyzes statistical data of micro-unmanned aerial vehicles of the multicopter type to determine the achievements in the field of design of micro-unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The current classification of UAVs is considered; as a result of the analysis of statistical data its expansion is offered. The take-off and mass characteristics of the micro UAV are described. The tables showing the existing UAVs are given. In addition, the flight characteristics, aerodynamic schemes and type of engine that are most rationally suited for micro-unmanned aerial vehicles according to their purpose and class are determined.Based on the obtained data, a prototype model of a micro-UAV with improved characteristics was built. The model successfully completed all tasks. This indicates that the new UAV "Fear-1" is a successful project and it has the ability to remotely control by phone or any other equipment designed for this purpose. In addition, the designed device can additionally hang in the specified coordinates."Fear-1" confidently performs tasks in automatic mode, as well as independently decides to return to the starting point of takeoff, if: there is a loss of communication, the battery level has reached a certain level, the UAV has completed its task or used more miles -amperes than specified by the output parameters. The drone has the ability to fly in "Follow me" mode on the selected GPS transmitter. The quadcopter was tested in difficult weather conditions, when the wind force reached 8 points (about 22 m / s). Noise immunity tests were also performed in the industrial frequency range (from 2.4 GHz to 5.8 GHz).

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Propulsion Sizing Correlations for Electrical and Fuel Powered Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Aerospace ◽

10.3390/aerospace8070171 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 (7) ◽

pp. 171

Author(s):

Victor Alulema ◽

Esteban Valencia ◽

Edgar Cando ◽

Victor Hidalgo ◽

Dario Rodriguez

Keyword(s):

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ◽

Design Procedure ◽

Data Availability ◽

Propulsion Systems ◽

Hybrid Propulsion ◽

Design And Optimization ◽

Aerial Vehicles ◽

Wide Range ◽

Increasing Demand ◽

Long Endurance

Despite the increasing demand of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for a wide range of civil applications, there are few methodologies for their initial sizing. Nowadays, classical methods, mainly developed for transport aircraft, have been adapted to UAVs. However, these tools are not always suitable because they do not fully adapt to the plethora of geometrical and propulsive configurations that the UAV sector represents. Therefore, this work provides series of correlations based on off-the-shelf components for the preliminary sizing of propulsion systems for UAVs. This study encompassed electric and fuel-powered propulsion systems, considering that they are the most used in the UAV industry and are the basis of novel architectures such as hybrid propulsion. For these systems, weight correlations were derived, and, depending on data availability, correlations regarding their geometry and energy consumption are also provided. Furthermore, a flowchart for the implementation of the correlations in the UAV design procedure and two practical examples are provided to highlight their usability. To summarize, the main contribution of this work is to provide parametric tools to size rapidly the propulsion system components, which can be embedded in a UAV design and optimization framework. This research complements other correlation studies for UAVs, where the initial sizing of the vehicle is discussed. The present correlations suit multiple UAV categories ranging from micro to Medium-Altitude-Long-Endurance (MALE) UAVs.

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The Future for Civilian UAV Operations

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Civilian Logistics and Supply Chain Management - Advances in Logistics, Operations, and Management Science ◽

10.4018/978-1-5225-7900-7.ch010 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 266-283 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Tarryn Kille ◽

Paul R. Bates ◽

Seung Young Lee ◽

David Murray Kille

Keyword(s):

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ◽

Weather Conditions ◽

Air Transport ◽

Air Cargo ◽

Operational Costs ◽

Aerial Vehicles ◽

Air Transport Industry ◽

Economic Forces ◽

The Future ◽

History Of

The future looks bright for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Their ability to carry sophisticated imaging equipment attached to lightweight vehicles, to hover in position despite incremental weather conditions, to fly simple missions, and takeoff and land automatically, combined with their comparatively (compared to manned aircraft) lower investment and operational costs has driven a paradigm shift in the history of air transport. This chapter is organized around six themes that underscore the current discourse regarding the future of UAVs in civilian commercial operations, as well as highlighting the discussions of the previous chapters regarding policy and certification, technology, training, social and economic forces, air cargo, and the effect of UAVs on other sectors of the air transport industry.

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The Future for Civilian UAV Operations

Research Anthology on Reliability and Safety in Aviation Systems, Spacecraft, and Air Transport ◽

10.4018/978-1-7998-5357-2.ch067 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1588-1601

Author(s):

Tarryn Kille ◽

Paul R. Bates ◽

Seung Young Lee ◽

David Murray Kille

Keyword(s):

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ◽

Weather Conditions ◽

Air Transport ◽

Air Cargo ◽

Operational Costs ◽

Aerial Vehicles ◽

Air Transport Industry ◽

Economic Forces ◽

The Future ◽

History Of

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Remote Sensing of Coastal Hydro-Environment with Portable Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (pUAVs) a State-of-the-Art Review

Journal of Hydro-environment Research ◽

10.1016/j.jher.2021.04.003 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Hieu Trung Kieu ◽

Adrian Wing-Keung Law

Keyword(s):

Remote Sensing ◽

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ◽

State Of The Art ◽

Aerial Vehicles

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Quantification of the Environmental Impacts of Highway Construction Using Remote Sensing Approach

Remote Sensing ◽

10.3390/rs13071340 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (7) ◽

pp. 1340

Author(s):

Shuailong Feng ◽

Shuguang Liu ◽

Lei Jing ◽

Yu Zhu ◽

Wende Yan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Remote Sensing ◽

Environmental Impacts ◽

Land Surface ◽

Vegetation Index ◽

Highway Construction ◽

Temporal Changes ◽

Moisture Index ◽

Buffer Zones ◽

Wide Range ◽

Spatial And Temporal Changes

Highways provide key social and economic functions but generate a wide range of environmental consequences that are poorly quantified and understood. Here, we developed a before–during–after control-impact remote sensing (BDACI-RS) approach to quantify the spatial and temporal changes of environmental impacts during and after the construction of the Wujing Highway in China using three buffer zones (0–100 m, 100–500 m, and 500–1000 m). Results showed that land cover composition experienced large changes in the 0–100 m and 100–500 m buffers while that in the 500–1000 m buffer was relatively stable. Vegetation and moisture conditions, indicated by the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and the normalized difference moisture index (NDMI), respectively, demonstrated obvious degradation–recovery trends in the 0–100 m and 100–500 m buffers, while land surface temperature (LST) experienced a progressive increase. The maximal relative changes as annual means of NDVI, NDMI, and LST were about −40%, −60%, and 12%, respectively, in the 0–100m buffer. Although the mean values of NDVI, NDMI, and LST in the 500–1000 m buffer remained relatively stable during the study period, their spatial variabilities increased significantly after highway construction. An integrated environment quality index (EQI) showed that the environmental impact of the highway manifested the most in its close proximity and faded away with distance. Our results showed that the effect distance of the highway was at least 1000 m, demonstrated from the spatial changes of the indicators (both mean and spatial variability). The approach proposed in this study can be readily applied to other regions to quantify the spatial and temporal changes of disturbances of highway systems and subsequent recovery.

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