“A pixel is worth 1024 bits”! Captured from the right perspective, every forest manager now sees aerial images as essential in their toolkit! Converting the data bits from a drone or a Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) to actionable information bytes for supporting forest operations had been the journey FPInnovations took over the last 6 years. The objective was to assess whether RPASs represented a suitable platform for forestry operations and whether their use provided added value to various applications. Diff erent types of RPASs and miniaturised sensors have been tested in the forestry environment.
A new era of remote sensing has emerged with the arrival of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for civil applications, especially in small area imaging, monitoring and analysis. Advances in miniaturisation of instrumentation enabled development of several robust, light-weight and autonomous sensors that can be easily installed into these microcrafts. Initiating with a simple visible-RGB camera, these mini-imagers have progressed to include sensing in multiple spectral regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, both in the reflected and emitted regions, which are useful for remote sensing. With an interest in expanding the scope of applications of UAV in forestry beyond the use of orthomosaics/simple mapping and 3D modeling with an RGB camera, FPInnovations wished to have a first impression of the new radiometric cameras that are commercially available in the market. Radiometric cameras accurately measure irradiance, illuminance or reflectance from an object that can help in detecting features on the image characteristics (e.g. vegetation) like vigor, stress, moisture, temperature.
Unmanned Systems Canada agreed to include a wildfire component at its 14th Annual UnmannedCanada 2016 Conference held in Edmonton, Alberta, November 1–3, 2016. Jim Thomasson from FPInnovations’ Wildfire Operations Research program chaired a wildfire plenary panel discussion and hosted a breakout session, which provided wildfire participants with an opportunity to discuss their needs and operational constraints.
This InfoNote provides the take-away points and discussions from the conference.
Most often UAV data is acquired to have a single overview of the area of interest through stitching of several images that are corrected for the terrain/topographic effects called ortho-mosaicking. This requires post-processing of the data using specialized software. Terrain is estimated from 3D point clouds generated through photogrammetric procedures (image matching) on the overlapping images. There are multiple challenges associated with processing of imagery acquired using a UAV for generating an orthomosaic.
Since 2013, several research projects on the use of drones in forestry operations have taken place at FPInnovations. Different types of drones and sensors have been tested. The common objective of these tests was to evaluate whether drones The common objective of these tests was to assess whether drones were a suitable platform for forestry operations and whether their use would add value. This publication presents an overview of the tests conducted and the findings.
Abstract
Depuis 2013, plusieurs projets de recherche sur l’utilisation des drones dans les opérations forestières se sont déroulés chez FPInnovations. Différents types de drones et de capteurs ont été mis à l’essai. L’objectif commun de ces tests était d’évaluer si les drones représentaient une plateforme adaptée aux opérations forestières et si leur utilisation apportait une valeur ajoutée. Cette publication présente un survol des tests réalisés ainsi que les constats établis.
Recent technological advances in the area of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) have led to affordable and flexible solutions for planning forest operations and monitoring compliance. The report reviews the technology in a forestry context. It presents an overview of UAS and its components, provides information on current regulations and identifies key features for forestry applications. [This is the French version of the report. It is also available in English]
Abstract
Les progrès technologiques récents des systèmes d’aéronef télépiloté (SAT) permettent d’offrir des solutions abordables et flexibles pour la planification des opérations forestières et les suivis de conformité. Le rapport examine la technologie dans un contexte forestier. Il présente un aperçu des SAT et leurs composantes, fournit des informations sur la réglementation courante et identifie des caractéristiques importantes pour les applications forestières.
Recent technological advances in the area of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) have led to affordable and flexible solutions for planning forest operations and monitoring compliance. The report reviews the technology in a forestry context. It presents an overview of UAS and its components, provides information on current regulations and identifies key features for forestry applications.
Abstract
Les progrès technologiques récents des systèmes d’aéronef télépiloté (SAT) permettent d’offrir des solutions abordables et flexibles pour la planification des opérations forestières et les suivis de conformité. Le rapport examine la technologie dans un contexte forestier. Il présente un aperçu des SAT et leurs composantes, fournit des informations sur la réglementation courante et identifie des caractéristiques importantes pour les applications forestières. [Ce document est l'édition anglaise. Il est auusi disponible en français]
