Abstract
Currently, climate change poses a global threat, which may compromise the sustainability of agriculture, forestry and other land surface systems. In a changing world scenario, the economic importance of Remote Sensing (RS) to monitor forests and agricultural resources is imperative to the development of agroforestry systems. Traditional RS technologies encompass satellite and manned aircraft platforms. These platforms are continuously improving in terms of spatial, spectral, and temporal resolutions. The high spatial and temporal resolutions, flexibility and lower operational costs make Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) a good alternative to traditional RS platforms. In the management process of forests resources, UAVs are one of the most suitable options to consider, mainly due to: (1) low operational costs and high-intensity data collection; (2) its capacity to host a wide range of sensors that could be adapted to be task-oriented; (3) its ability to plan data acquisition campaigns, avoiding inadequate weather conditions and providing data availability on-demand; and (4) the possibility to be used in real-time operations. This review aims to present the most significant UAV applications in forestry, identifying the appropriate sensors to be used in each situation as well as the data processing techniques commonly implemented.
Highlights
Remote sensing has been one of the most attractive research fields over the last decades
This study demonstrated the ability of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to estimate changes in above ground biomass (AGB) in selective logging and can be applied for quantify impacts of legal and illegal logging in tropical forests
It is intended to analyse previously mentioned studies to provide insights towards UAV tIynptehiusssaegcetio(finxietdis-winitnegndoerdrototaarnya-wlyisnegp)r, ethvieosuesnlysomr etynptieo,ntehdesmtuodrieessitgonpifirocvanidteoiuntsciogmhtesst,oawnadrdthse reUgAioVntwypheeruesathgeeF, itghuerseen3sporretsyepnet,stthheempoerrecesnigtangifeicoafnsttouudticeosmfoeus,nadndinththee lirteegraiotunrwe rheegraertdhiengstueadcihesowf thheerseeppearrfoarmmeetedr.sF. igure 3 presents the percentage of studies found in the literature regarding each of these parameters
Summary
Remote sensing has been one of the most attractive research fields over the last decades. Airborne platforms can be used to acquire more scale-appropriate data They are expensive when regular time-series monitoring is desired. Comparing these platforms to unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), it is quite clear that traditional remote sensing platforms are not suitable for real-time applications, once UAS combine high spatial resolution and quick turnaround times with lower operational costs [7]. For these reasons, the interest in UAS has been increasing
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