Verification test on ability to use low-cost UAV for quantifying tree height

Abstract

In recent years, there are ample research and development on Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) for various applications. The significance of small and low operating cost, UAV extensively being used in agriculture mapping. The UAV is suitable for the small survey area compared to the traditional remote sensing application for both spatial and temporal resolution. This research focuses on the uses of low altitude images for tree height 3D reconstruction. Pix4Dmapper software was utilized for canopy height reconstruction applied “Structure from Motion” (SfM) approach for generating high-resolution Canopy Height Model (CHM) from low-altitude aerial images. The CHM height assessment was made by comparing data derived from the UAV and ground truth. The result of the validation assessment conducted for tree height estimation from the CHM yielded R2 = 0.80, and overall root mean square error (RMSE) of 69.9 cm. From the results, it concluded that the usage of consumer-grade drone fitted with ground truth but not gives an accurate measurement.