Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Subscription Access

Forest Biometric Parameter Extraction using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle to Aid in Forest Inventory Data Collection


Affiliations
1 North Eastern Space Applications Centre, Umiam 793 103, India
2 Botanical Survey of India, ERC, Shillong 793 003, India
 

Frequent ground surveys and satellite-based information on tree height, canopy gaps and forest dynamics are limited by time, cost and spatial scales. In this study, an attempt has been made to derive forest biometric parameter on tree height by canopy height model and crown area projections using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV)–RGB image. Sorensen’s coefficient has been used as an index to compare between ground inventory and UAV-based species identification. The statistical paired t-test showed UAV RGB can be used for maximum tree height and tree crown extraction to aid in ground surveys.

Keywords

Canopy Height Model, Canopy Area Projection, Forest Biometry, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.
User
Notifications
Font Size

  • Gálvez, P. J., McCall, M. K., Napoletano, B. M., Wich, S. A. and Koh Pin, L., Small drones for community-based forest monitoring: an assessment of their feasibility and potential in tropical areas. Forests, 2014, 5, 1481–1507.
  • Banu, P. T., Borlea, F. G. and Banu, C., The use of drones in forestry. J. Environ. Sci. Eng., 2016, B5, 557–562.
  • Kaneko, K. and Nohara, S., Review of effective vegetation mapping using the UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) method. J. Geogr. Inf. Syst., 2014, 6, 733–742.
  • Lu, B. and He, Y., Species classification using unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-acquired high spatial resolution imagery in heterogeneous grassland. ISPRS J. Photogramm. Remote Sensing, 2017, 128, 73–85.
  • Zarco-Tejada, P. J., Diaz-Varela, R., Angileri, V. and Loudjani, P., Tree height quantification using very high resolution imagery acquired from an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and automatic 3D photo-reconstruction methods. Eur. J. Agron., 2014, 55, 89–99.
  • Padua, L., Vanko, J., Hruška, J., Adão, T., Sousa, J. J., Peres, E. and Morais, R., UAS, sensors, and data processing in agroforestry: a review towards practical applications. Int. J. Remote Sensing, 2017, 38(8–10), 2349–2391.
  • Fryskowska, A., Kedzierski, M., Grochala, A. and Braula, A., Calibration of low cost RGB and NIR UAV cameras. In International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, XXIII ISPRS 2016 Congress Prague, Czech Republic, 2016, XLI-B1.
  • Geiger, A., Moosmann, F., Car, O. and Schuster, B., Automatic camera and range sensor calibration using a single shot. In Proceedings – IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2012.
  • Lebourgeois, V., Bégué, A., Labbé, S., Mallavan, B., Prevot, L. and Roux, B., Can commercial digital cameras be used as multispectral? A crop monitoring test. Sensors, 2008, 8(11), 7300– 7322.
  • Han, G. Y., Jung, H. S. and Kwon, O., How to utilize vegetation survey using drone image and image analysis software. J. Ecol. Environ., 2017, 41(18).
  • Sorensen, T., A method of establishing groups of equal amplitude in plant sociology based on similarity of species content and its application to analyses of the vegetation on Danish commons. Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab. Biologiske Skrifier, 1948, 5, 1–34.
  • Gara, T. W., Murwira, A., Chivhenge, E., Dube, T. and Bangira, T., Estimating wood volume from canopy area in deciduous woodlands of Zimbabwe. South Forests: J. For. Sci., 2014, 76(4), 237–244.
  • Baatz, M. and Schape, A., Multiresolution segmentation: an optimization approach for high quality multi-scale image segmentation. In Angewandte Geographische Informations – Verarbeitung, XII (eds Strobl, J., Blaschke, T. and Griesbner, G.), Wichmann Verlag, Karlsruhe, Germany, 2000, pp. 12–23.
  • Getzin, S., Wiegand, K. and Schöning, I., Assessing biodiversity in forests using very high-resolution images and unmanned aerial vehicles. Methods Ecol. Evol., 2012, 3, 397–404.
  • Oldeland, J., Stoltenberg, G. A., Naftal, L. and Strohbach, J. B., The potential of UAV derived image features for discriminating savannah tree species. In The Roles of Remote Sensing in Nature Conservation (eds Díaz-Delgado, R., Lucas, R. and Hurford, C.), Springer, Germany, 2017, pp. 183–201.
  • Yu, X., Hyyppä, J., Vastaranta, M., Holopainen, M. and Viitala, R., Predicting individual tree attributes from airborne laser point clouds based on the random forests technique. ISPRS J. Photogramm., 2011, 66, 28–37.
  • Whitehead, K. and Hugenholtz, C. H., Remote sensing of the environment with small unmanned aircraft systems (UASs), part 1: a review of progress and challenges. J. Unmanned Veh. Syst., 2014, 2(3), 69–85.

Abstract Views: 432

PDF Views: 134




  • Forest Biometric Parameter Extraction using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle to Aid in Forest Inventory Data Collection

Abstract Views: 432  |  PDF Views: 134

Authors

Kasturi Chakraborty
North Eastern Space Applications Centre, Umiam 793 103, India
Victor Saikom
North Eastern Space Applications Centre, Umiam 793 103, India
Suranjana B. Borah
North Eastern Space Applications Centre, Umiam 793 103, India
Mamita Kalita
North Eastern Space Applications Centre, Umiam 793 103, India
Chirag Gupta
North Eastern Space Applications Centre, Umiam 793 103, India
Laishram Ricky Meitei
Botanical Survey of India, ERC, Shillong 793 003, India
K. K. Sarma
North Eastern Space Applications Centre, Umiam 793 103, India
P. L. N. Raju
North Eastern Space Applications Centre, Umiam 793 103, India

Abstract


Frequent ground surveys and satellite-based information on tree height, canopy gaps and forest dynamics are limited by time, cost and spatial scales. In this study, an attempt has been made to derive forest biometric parameter on tree height by canopy height model and crown area projections using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV)–RGB image. Sorensen’s coefficient has been used as an index to compare between ground inventory and UAV-based species identification. The statistical paired t-test showed UAV RGB can be used for maximum tree height and tree crown extraction to aid in ground surveys.

Keywords


Canopy Height Model, Canopy Area Projection, Forest Biometry, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.

References





DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs%2Fv117%2Fi7%2F1194-1199