scholarly journals A New Method for UAV Lidar Precision Testing Used for the Evaluation of an Affordable DJI ZENMUSE L1 Scanner

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (23) ◽  
pp. 4811
Author(s):  
Rudolf Urban ◽  
Martin Štroner ◽  
Lenka Línková
Keyword(s):  
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle ◽  
Point Cloud ◽  
Reference Points ◽  
New Method ◽  
Color Information ◽  
Dense Point ◽  
Aerial Vehicle ◽  
Systematic Shift ◽  
Precision Testing ◽  
Better Than

Lately, affordable unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-lidar systems have started to appear on the market, highlighting the need for methods facilitating proper verification of their accuracy. However, the dense point cloud produced by such systems makes the identification of individual points that could be used as reference points difficult. In this paper, we propose such a method utilizing accurately georeferenced targets covered with high-reflectivity foil, which can be easily extracted from the cloud; their centers can be determined and used for the calculation of the systematic shift of the lidar point cloud. Subsequently, the lidar point cloud is cleaned of such systematic shift and compared with a dense SfM point cloud, thus yielding the residual accuracy. We successfully applied this method to the evaluation of an affordable DJI ZENMUSE L1 scanner mounted on the UAV DJI Matrice 300 and found that the accuracies of this system (3.5 cm in all directions after removal of the global georeferencing error) are better than manufacturer-declared values (10/5 cm horizontal/vertical). However, evaluation of the color information revealed a relatively high (approx. 0.2 m) systematic shift.

scholarly journals Crop Field Classification using Data Fusion of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and Sentinel 2A satellite: the case of Oda Dhawata Kebele Cluster farmland, Oromia Region, Ethiopia

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melkamu Demelash ◽  
Binyam Tesfaw ◽  
Degefie Tibebe
Keyword(s):  
Maximum Likelihood ◽  
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle ◽  
Point Cloud ◽  
Field Data ◽  
Crop Field ◽  
Dense Point ◽  
Aerial Vehicle ◽  
Crop Types ◽  
Crop Classification ◽  
Sentinel 2A

Abstract Accurate crop classification using remote sensing based satellite imageries approach remains challenging due to mix in spectral signatures. Employing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) together with satellite imageries is believed in improving crop classification at field. Accordingly, this study aims to evaluate the potential of UAV images by blending with Sentinel 2A satellite images for crop field classification in Ethiopian agricultural context. The main purpose of the blending is to upgrade and or improve the lower resolution of the data source that is the sentinel 2A data which was 10m resolution. In the study, UAV data was used and preprocessed. The preprocessing includes camera calibration, photo alignment, dense point cloud generation based on the estimated camera positioning of scouting crop types. Then, orthomosaic UAV image was generated from single dense point cloud. Then, the processed UAV data was fused with Sentinel 2A (medium resolution) satellite data using Gram Schmidt pan sharpening method.this method is the most approach that it can run large data sets of spatial resultions. For crop classification, the Random forest (RF) machine-learning algorithm and Maximum likelihood methods were applied. Apart from the UAV and S2A data, field data was collected for training the crop classification. The point field data was collected from Teff, Wheat, Faba bean, Barley and Sorghum crop fields The results show that RF classifier algorithm classifies the crop types with 94% overall accuracy whereas the Maximum likelihood classifier with 90% overall accuracy. This implies that fused image has a potential to be used for crop type classification together with relatively better classification technique with high accuracy level

New method for tree stands parameters determination using high resolution images done by unmanned aerial vehicle

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
А.С. Алексеев ◽  
А.А. Никифоров ◽  
А.А. Михайлова ◽  
М.Р. Вагизов
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle ◽  
New Method ◽  
Growth And Yield ◽  
Special Treatment ◽  
Resolution Image ◽  
Growing Stock ◽  
High Resolution Image ◽  
Aerial Vehicle ◽  
Area Unit

В связи со старением информационных материалов о состоянии лесов существует потребность в разработке новых методов таксации древостоев, основанных на применении последних научно-технических достижений в области теории структуры и продуктивности древостоев, дистанционных методов изучения лесов, информационных и ГИС технологий. В статье приведены результаты разработки и проверки нового метода определения таксационных характеристик сомкнутых насаждений на основе правила 3/2 и подобных ему правил Хильми и Рейнеке, с одной стороны, и определения числа деревьев на единице площади по снимку сверх высокого разрешения, полученного с помощью БПЛА, с другой. С теоретической точки зрения эта зависимости величин запаса, средней высоты и среднего диаметра от числа стволов на единице площади относятся к классу аллометрических связей, очень часто встречающихся при количественном описании соотношений частей биологических систем разных уровней иерархии, от организмов до экосистем. Параметры аллометрических зависимостей запаса, средних высоты и диаметра от числа стволов на единице площади были определены для основных лесообразующих пород по данным таблиц хода роста нормальных (полных) древостоев с теоретическим показателем степени и затем использованы для расчетов. Число деревьев на единице площади определялось по снимку с разрешением 7,13 см/пиксель, полученному с помощью 4-роторной платформы. Обработка материалов аэрофотосъемки была выполнена в специализированной фотограмметрической системе Agisoft Photoscan. В результате были получены ортофотоплан и цифровая модель поверхности крон деревьев на изучаемую территорию с определением их высот. Для автоматизированной обработки полученных изображений с целью получения значений числа деревьев на единицу площади был создан специализированный скрипт на языке Java. Погрешности определения таксационных характеристик древостоев предлагаемым методом не выше установленных действующими нормативными материалами. Every time there is a demand for new innovative methods of forest resources estimation based on last achievements in theoretical science, remote sensing methods, information and GIS-technologies. In the paper are presented a new method and the results of its application to forest stands growing stock, mean height and diameter determination. The method is based on rule 3/2 and similar Reineke and Hilmy rules, on one hand and high resolution image made by unmanned aerial vehicle, which used for determination of number of trees per area unit, on other. The above rules are well known in quantitative biology as an allometric and widely used for description of different kind of relations in biological systems of various scale: from organisms to ecosystems. Parameters of above allometric relationships between growing stock, mean height and diameter and stems density per area unit was determine on the base of full stock growth and yield tables for main tree species and after used for experimental calculations. The number of trees per area unit was determined after special treatment of high resolution image made by unmanned flying machine. The growing stock, mean height and diameter determined by suggested method was compared with the data of regular forest inventory. Comparison gives positive result and method may be recommended for further development.

scholarly journals Symmetry Analysis of Oriental Polygonal Pagodas Using 3D Point Clouds for Cultural Heritage

Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 1228
Author(s):  
Ting On Chan ◽  
Linyuan Xia ◽  
Yimin Chen ◽  
Wei Lang ◽  
Tingting Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle ◽  
Point Cloud ◽  
Geometric Model ◽  
Digital Camera ◽  
Point Clouds ◽  
Symmetry Analysis ◽  
3D Point Clouds ◽  
Transmission Towers ◽  
Aerial Vehicle

Ancient pagodas are usually parts of hot tourist spots in many oriental countries due to their unique historical backgrounds. They are usually polygonal structures comprised by multiple floors, which are separated by eaves. In this paper, we propose a new method to investigate both the rotational and reflectional symmetry of such polygonal pagodas through developing novel geometric models to fit to the 3D point clouds obtained from photogrammetric reconstruction. The geometric model consists of multiple polygonal pyramid/prism models but has a common central axis. The method was verified by four datasets collected by an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and a hand-held digital camera. The results indicate that the models fit accurately to the pagodas’ point clouds. The symmetry was realized by rotating and reflecting the pagodas’ point clouds after a complete leveling of the point cloud was achieved using the estimated central axes. The results show that there are RMSEs of 5.04 cm and 5.20 cm deviated from the perfect (theoretical) rotational and reflectional symmetries, respectively. This concludes that the examined pagodas are highly symmetric, both rotationally and reflectionally. The concept presented in the paper not only work for polygonal pagodas, but it can also be readily transformed and implemented for other applications for other pagoda-like objects such as transmission towers.

scholarly journals Automated Geolocation in Urban Environments Using a Simple Camera-Equipped Unmanned Aerial Vehicle: A Rapid Mapping Surveying Alternative?

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. 425
Author(s):  
Dimitrios Trigkakis ◽  
George Petrakis ◽  
Achilleas Tripolitsiotis ◽  
Panagiotis Partsinevelos
Keyword(s):  
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle ◽  
Point Cloud ◽  
Local Coordinate System ◽  
Arbitrary Point ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Signal Interference ◽  
Rapid Mapping ◽  
Gnss Positioning ◽  
Area Of Interest ◽  
Aerial Vehicle

GNSS positioning accuracy can be degraded in areas where the surrounding object geometry and morphology interacts with the GNSS signals. Specifically, urban environments pose challenges to precise GNSS positioning because of signal interference or interruptions. Also, non-GNSS surveying methods, including total stations and laser scanners, involve time consuming practices in the field and costly equipment. The present study proposes the use of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) for autonomous rapid mapping that resolves the problem of localization for the drone itself by acquiring location information of characteristic points on the ground in a local coordinate system using simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) and vision algorithms. A common UAV equipped with a camera and at least a single known point, are enough to produce a local map of the scene and to estimate the relative coordinates of pre-defined ground points along with an additional arbitrary point cloud. The resulting point cloud is readily measurable for extracting and interpreting geometric information from the area of interest. Under two novel optimization procedures performing line and plane alignment of the UAV-camera-measured point geometries, a set of experiments determines that the localization of a visual point in distances reaching 15 m from the origin, delivered a level of accuracy under 50 cm. Thus, a simple UAV with an optical sensor and a visual marker, prove quite promising and cost-effective for rapid mapping and point localization in an unknown environment.

Retrieving individual tree heights from a point cloud generated with optical imagery from an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)

2020 ◽  
Vol 50 (10) ◽  
pp. 1012-1024
Author(s):  
Meimei Wang ◽  
Jiayuan Lin
Keyword(s):  
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle ◽  
Point Cloud ◽  
Laser Scanning ◽  
Tree Height ◽  
Absolute Error ◽  
Coefficient Of Determination ◽  
Surface Model ◽  
Individual Tree ◽  
Aerial Vehicle ◽  
The Mean

Individual tree height (ITH) is one of the most important vertical structure parameters of a forest. Field measurement and laser scanning are very expensive for large forests. In this paper, we propose a cost-effective method to acquire ITHs in a forest using the optical overlapping images captured by an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The data sets, including a point cloud, a digital surface model (DSM), and a digital orthorectified map (DOM), were produced from the UAV imagery. The canopy height model (CHM) was obtained by subtracting the digital elevation model (DEM) from the DSM removed of low vegetation. Object-based image analysis was used to extract individual tree crowns (ITCs) from the DOM, and ITHs were initially extracted by overlaying ITC outlines on the CHM. As the extracted ITHs were generally slightly shorter than the measured ITHs, a linear relationship was established between them. The final ITHs of the test site were retrieved by inputting extracted ITHs into the linear regression model. As a result, the coefficient of determination (R2), the root mean square error (RMSE), the mean absolute error (MAE), and the mean relative error (MRE) of the retrieved ITHs against the measured ITHs were 0.92, 1.08 m, 0.76 m, and 0.08, respectively.

scholarly journals Remote Measurement of Apple Orchard Canopy Information Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Photogrammetry

Agronomy ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 774 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sun ◽  
Wang ◽  
Ding ◽  
Lu ◽  
Sun
Keyword(s):  
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle ◽  
Point Cloud ◽  
Imaging System ◽  
Cloud Model ◽  
Tree Canopy ◽  
Coefficient Of Determination ◽  
Remote Measurement ◽  
Probability Density Estimation ◽  
Point Cloud Model ◽  
Aerial Vehicle

Information on fruit tree canopies is important for decision making in orchard management, including irrigation, fertilization, spraying, and pruning. An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) imaging system was used to establish an orchard three-dimensional (3D) point-cloud model. A row-column detection method was developed based on the probability density estimation and rapid segmentation of the point-cloud data for each apple tree, through which the tree canopy height, H, width, W, and volume, V, were determined for remote orchard canopy evaluation. When the ground sampling distance (GSD) was in the range of 2.13 to 6.69 cm/px, the orchard point-cloud model had a measurement accuracy of 100.00% for the rows and 90.86% to 98.20% for the columns. The coefficient of determination, R2, was in the range of 0.8497 to 0.9376, 0.8103 to 0.9492, and 0.8032 to 0.9148, respectively, and the average relative error was in the range of 1.72% to 3.42%, 2.18% to 4.92%, and 7.90% to 13.69%, respectively, among the H, W, and V values measured manually and by UAV photogrammetry. The results showed that UAV visual imaging is suitable for 3D morphological remote canopy evaluations, facilitates orchard canopy informatization, and contributes substantially to efficient management and control of modern standard orchards.

scholarly journals UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE LASER SCANNING FOR EROSION MONITORING IN ALPINE GRASSLAND

2019 ◽  
Vol IV-2/W5 ◽  
pp. 405-412 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Mayr ◽  
M. Bremer ◽  
M. Rutzinger ◽  
C. Geitner
Keyword(s):  
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle ◽  
Point Cloud ◽  
Laser Scanning ◽  
Test Site ◽  
Satellite System ◽  
Alpine Grassland ◽  
Proof Of Concept ◽  
Aerial Vehicle ◽  
Geomorphological Changes ◽  
Global Navigation Satellite

<p><strong>Abstract.</strong> With this contribution we assess the potential of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) based laser scanning for monitoring shallow erosion in Alpine grassland. A 3D point cloud has been acquired by unmanned aerial vehicle laser scanning (ULS) at a test site in the subalpine/alpine elevation zone of the Dolomites (South Tyrol, Italy). To assess its accuracy, this point cloud is compared with (i) differential global navigation satellite system (GNSS) reference measurements and (ii) a terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) point cloud. The ULS point cloud and an airborne laser scanning (ALS) point cloud are rasterized into digital surface models (DSMs) and, as a proof-of-concept for erosion quantification, we calculate the elevation difference between the ULS DSM from 2018 and the ALS DSM from 2010. For contiguous spatial objects of elevation change, the volumetric difference is calculated and a land cover class (<i>bare earth</i>, <i>grassland</i>, <i>trees</i>), derived from the ULS reflectance and RGB colour, is assigned to each change object. In this test, the accuracy and density of the ALS point cloud is mainly limiting the detection of geomorphological changes. Nevertheless, the plausibility of the results is confirmed by geomorphological interpretation and documentation in the field. A total eroded volume of 672&amp;thinsp;m<sup>3</sup> is estimated for the test site (48&amp;thinsp;ha). Such volumetric estimates of erosion over multiple years are a key information for improving sustainable soil management. Based on this proof-of-concept and the accuracy analysis, we conclude that repeated ULS campaigns are a well-suited tool for erosion monitoring in Alpine grassland.</p>

scholarly journals FORMATION OF OPTIMAL PARAMETRS OF THE TRAJECTORY OF THE OVERFLIGHT OF UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE THROUGH THE SPECIFIED POINTS OF SPACE

Doklady BGUIR ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 50-57
Author(s):  
A. A. Lobaty ◽  
A. Y. Bumai ◽  
Du Jun
Keyword(s):  
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle ◽  
Mathematical Problem ◽  
Minimum Energy ◽  
Optimization Criterion ◽  
Flight Path ◽  
Reference Points ◽  
Control Synthesis ◽  
Control Law ◽  
Analytical Control ◽  
Aerial Vehicle

The purpose of the scientific research, results are determinated in the article, is to analytically synthesize the control law of an unmanned aerial vehicle while guiding one along the trajectory that specified by the reference points of space in an inertial coordinate system. The analysis of various existing approaches of the formation of a given flight path of an unmanned aerial vehicle based on various mathematical formulations of the problem is carried out. To achieve the goal, the flight path is considered as separate intervals, where the control optimization problem is solved. The optimization criterion in general form is substantiated and its presentation in the form of a minimized quadratic quality functional is convenient for analytical control synthesis. As components of the functional, the parameters of the deviation of the flight path of the aircraft from the specified points of space are considered, as well as the predicted parameters of the velocity vector and the control normal acceleration. Moreover, at each specified point in space, the direction of the trajectory to the subsequent point is taken into account, that ensures optimal curvature of the trajectory by specified flight speed of the unmanned aerial vehicle. As a result of analytical synthesis, mathematical dependences are obtained to determine control acceleration, which allow us to get a specified optimal control law on board an unmanned aerial vehicle, which ultimately ensures minimum energy consumption. The validity of the proposed theoretical provisions is confirmed by a clear example, where for a simplified mathematical problem statement the optimal laws of change in control acceleration and the trajectory parameters of an unmanned aerial vehicle are calculated by computer simulation.

scholarly journals Computer vision-based techniques and path planning strategy in a slope monitoring system using unmanned aerial vehicle

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 172988142090430 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qing Li ◽  
Gaochen Min ◽  
Peng Chen ◽  
Yukun Liu ◽  
Siyu Tian ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Monitoring System ◽  
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle ◽  
Semantic Segmentation ◽  
Histogram Equalization ◽  
Visual Features ◽  
Planning Strategy ◽  
Unstructured Environments ◽  
Aerial Vehicle ◽  
Slope Monitoring ◽  
Better Than

Unmanned aerial vehicle is a typical field robot which can work in many unstructured environments like mines, forests, and even radiation areas. In our mine monitoring system built in a northeast province of China, special designed unmanned aerial vehicle is applied to take photos and perceive the environment. We select a series of image-based techniques to process aerial pictures to monitor the slope. The visual features are initially refined by histogram equalization. Then, the rocks and cracks can be detected by different digital image processing operators, like Canny, so as to assess displacements. Advanced semantic segmentation model, U-Net, is also selected to process the problem. Experimental results show that both Canny and U-Net can perceive the edges in pictures effectively, better than other operators. In addition, we model the inspection mission for mine slopes into a traveling salesman problem, then plan the path for unmanned aerial vehicle by swarm intelligence-based optimization.

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