8,127 research outputs found
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in environmental biology: A Review
Acquiring information about the environment is a key step during each study in the field of environmental biology at different levels, from an individual species to community and biome. However, obtaining information about the environment is frequently difficult because of, for example, the phenological timing, spatial distribution of a species or limited accessibility of a particular area for the field survey. Moreover, remote sensing technology, which enables the observation of the Earth’s surface and is currently very common in environmental research, has many limitations such as insufficient spatial, spectral and temporal resolution and a high cost of data acquisition. Since the 1990s, researchers have been exploring the potential of different types of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for monitoring Earth’s surface. The present study reviews recent scientific literature dealing with the use of UAV in environmental biology. Amongst numerous papers, short communications and conference abstracts, we selected 110 original studies of how UAVs can be used in environmental biology and which organisms can be studied in this manner. Most of these studies concerned the use of UAV to measure the vegetation parameters such as crown height, volume, number of individuals (14 studies) and quantification of the spatio-temporal dynamics of vegetation changes (12 studies). UAVs were also frequently applied to count birds and mammals, especially those living in the water. Generally, the analytical part of the present study was divided into following sections: (1) detecting, assessing and predicting threats on vegetation, (2) measuring the biophysical parameters of vegetation, (3) quantifying the dynamics of changes in plants and habitats and (4) population and behaviour studies of animals. At the end, we also synthesised all the information showing, amongst others, the advances in environmental biology because of UAV application. Considering that 33% of studies found and included in this review were published in 2017 and 2018, it is expected that the number and variety of applications of UAVs in environmental biology will increase in the future
Automatic Crack Detection in Built Infrastructure Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
This paper addresses the problem of crack detection which is essential for
health monitoring of built infrastructure. Our approach includes two stages,
data collection using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and crack detection using
histogram analysis. For the data collection, a 3D model of the structure is
first created by using laser scanners. Based on the model, geometric properties
are extracted to generate way points necessary for navigating the UAV to take
images of the structure. Then, our next step is to stick together those
obtained images from the overlapped field of view. The resulting image is then
clustered by histogram analysis and peak detection. Potential cracks are
finally identified by using locally adaptive thresholds. The whole process is
automatically carried out so that the inspection time is significantly improved
while safety hazards can be minimised. A prototypical system has been developed
for evaluation and experimental results are included.Comment: In proceeding of The 34th International Symposium on Automation and
Robotics in Construction (ISARC), pp. 823-829, Taipei, Taiwan, 201
Mapping and classification of ecologically sensitive marine habitats using unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) imagery and object-based image analysis (OBIA)
Nowadays, emerging technologies, such as long-range transmitters, increasingly miniaturized components for positioning, and enhanced imaging sensors, have led to an upsurge in the availability of new ecological applications for remote sensing based on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), sometimes referred to as “drones”. In fact, structure-from-motion (SfM) photogrammetry coupled with imagery acquired by UAVs offers a rapid and inexpensive tool to produce high-resolution orthomosaics, giving ecologists a new way for responsive, timely, and cost-effective monitoring of ecological processes. Here, we adopted a lightweight quadcopter as an aerial survey tool and object-based image analysis (OBIA) workflow to demonstrate the strength of such methods in producing very high spatial resolution maps of sensitive marine habitats. Therefore, three different coastal environments were mapped using the autonomous flight capability of a lightweight UAV equipped with a fully stabilized consumer-grade RGB digital camera. In particular we investigated a Posidonia oceanica seagrass meadow, a rocky coast with nurseries for juvenile fish, and two sandy areas showing biogenic reefs of Sabelleria alveolata. We adopted, for the first time, UAV-based raster thematic maps of these key coastal habitats, produced after OBIA classification, as a new method for fine-scale, low-cost, and time saving characterization of sensitive marine environments which may lead to a more effective and efficient monitoring and management of natural resource
High-Throughput System for the Early Quantification of Major Architectural Traits in Olive Breeding Trials Using UAV Images and OBIA Techniques
The need for the olive farm modernization have encouraged the research of more efficient crop management strategies through cross-breeding programs to release new olive cultivars more suitable for mechanization and use in intensive orchards, with high quality production and resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses. The advancement of breeding programs are hampered by the lack of efficient phenotyping methods to quickly and accurately acquire crop traits such as morphological attributes (tree vigor and vegetative growth habits), which are key to identify desirable genotypes as early as possible. In this context, an UAV-based high-throughput system for olive breeding program applications was developed to extract tree traits in large-scale phenotyping studies under field conditions. The system consisted of UAV-flight configurations, in terms of flight altitude and image overlaps, and a novel, automatic, and accurate object-based image analysis (OBIA) algorithm based on point clouds, which was evaluated in two experimental trials in the framework of a table olive breeding program, with the aim to determine the earliest date for suitable quantifying of tree architectural traits. Two training systems (intensive and hedgerow) were evaluated at two very early stages of tree growth: 15 and 27 months after planting. Digital Terrain Models (DTMs) were automatically and accurately generated by the algorithm as well as every olive tree identified, independently of the training system and tree age. The architectural traits, specially tree height and crown area, were estimated with high accuracy in the second flight campaign, i.e. 27 months after planting. Differences in the quality of 3D crown reconstruction were found for the growth patterns derived from each training system. These key phenotyping traits could be used in several olive breeding programs, as well as to address some agronomical goals. In addition, this system is cost and time optimized, so that requested architectural traits could be provided in the same day as UAV flights. This high-throughput system may solve the actual bottleneck of plant phenotyping of "linking genotype and phenotype," considered a major challenge for crop research in the 21st century, and bring forward the crucial time of decision making for breeders
Predicting growing stock volume of Eucalyptus plantations using 3-D point clouds derived from UAV imagery and ALS data
Estimating forest inventory variables is important in monitoring forest resources and
mitigating climate change. In this respect, forest managers require flexible, non-destructive methods
for estimating volume and biomass. High-resolution and low-cost remote sensing data are increasingly
available to measure three-dimensional (3D) canopy structure and to model forest structural attributes.
The main objective of this study was to evaluate and compare the individual tree volume estimates
derived from high-density point clouds obtained from airborne laser scanning (ALS) and digital
aerial photogrammetry (DAP) in Eucalyptus spp. plantations. Object-based image analysis (OBIA)
techniques were applied for individual tree crown (ITC) delineation. The ITC algorithm applied
correctly detected and delineated 199 trees from ALS-derived data, while 192 trees were correctly
identified using DAP-based point clouds acquired fromUnmannedAerialVehicles(UAV), representing
accuracy levels of respectively 62% and 60%. Addressing volume modelling, non-linear regression
fit based on individual tree height and individual crown area derived from the ITC provided the
following results: Model E ciency (Mef) = 0.43 and 0.46, Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) = 0.030 m3
and 0.026 m3, rRMSE = 20.31% and 19.97%, and an approximately unbiased results (0.025 m3 and
0.0004 m3) using DAP and ALS-based estimations, respectively. No significant di erence was found
between the observed value (field data) and volume estimation from ALS and DAP (p-value from
t-test statistic = 0.99 and 0.98, respectively). The proposed approaches could also be used to estimate
basal area or biomass stocks in Eucalyptus spp. plantationsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
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