Ultra-light aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicle applications for forest inventory

Abstract

Forest inventory is traditionally based on the use of professional aerial photography or satellite imaging with laser scanning applications starting to play an important role to solve specific tasks. Recently, small format aerial imaging using ultra-light aviation was proven to be suitable for conventional stand-wise forest and forest health assessment in Lithuania. The characteristics of large scale images taken from e.g. ultra-light aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) are quite compatible, however much larger geometrical accuracies may be reached using the second approach. This presentation is aimed to introduce the efforts of research group from Aleksandras Stulginskis University and partners to develop operational techniques for using ultra-light aircrafts and unmanned aviation vehicles in forest inventory. Two types of platforms are used - X32CH BEKAS aircraft with originally designed aviation container to install the imaging hardware and helicopter type UAV. The imaging hardware is based on low-cost semi-professional digital cameras with originally developed flight and imaging control systems. Home-made imaging solutions are coupled with the professional software for camera calibration, photogrammetric processing and generating 3D models. Several applications related to forest inventory will be introduced, such as using UAV for timber yard, final felling areas, and private forest estates inventories.