On the Applicability of UAV in Forestry Practice

Complete text of the article:

Download article (pdf, 0.5MB )

UDС

630*96

DOI:

10.17238/issn0536-1036.2018.1.130

Abstract

The article discusses the features and capabilities of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in forestry practice on the basis of the international experience. The focus is on the problem of defining and linking the boundaries of forest sites to the map of the area using a satellite navigation system (SNS) receiver, placed on an UAV. The use of UAVs eliminates errors of the SNS operation due to its insufficient noise immunity in conditions of reflecting objects and surfaces (crowns and trunks of trees, places with an altitude difference). We mark the shortcomings that limit the use of unmanned aerial vehicles in forestry practices (lack of regulation on their use in airspace; weak theoretical basis; poor quality of the images obtained; complexity of the flight survey organization; low accuracy of on-board navigation system; lack of ground control points; accident risks; etc.). The paper proves the effective-ness of monitoring forest areas using UAVs in order to detect fire fronts, to assist in fire-fighting, to monitor the state of forests, objects of forest infrastructure, sites of illegal logging, unauthorized landfills, to determine forest stand taxation indicators, to improve technologies of logging sites development, census of animals, etc. The authors demonstrate the possibility of creating transport unmanned aerial vehicles with navigation-flight systems and their use in determining forest land boundaries and map control of the region providing accuracy requirements.

Authors

S.V. Koptev¹, Doctor of Agricultural Sciences, Associate Professor
O.V. Skudneva², Senior Lecturer

Affiliation

¹Northern (Arctic) Federal University named after M.V. Lomonosov, Naberezhnaya Severnoy Dviny, 17, Arkhangelsk, 163002, Russian Federation; е-mail: s.koptev@narfu.ru
²Scientific and educational complex “Fundamental Sciences”, Bauman Moscow State Technical University, Rubtsovskaya Naberezhnaya, 2/18, Moscow, 105005, Russian Federation; е-mail: chykchyk@yandex.ru

Keywords

forestry, monitoring, unmanned aerial vehicle, navigation and flight system, con-trol point of a cutting area

For citation

Koptev S.V., Skudneva O.V. On the Applicability of UAV in Forestry Prac-tice. Lesnoy zhurnal [Forestry journal], 2018, no. 1, pp. 130–138. DOI: 10.17238/issn0536-1036.2018.1.130

References

1. Alekseenko N.A. Metodicheskie osobennosti kartograficheskogo obespecheniya prirodookhrannoy deyatel''nosti osobo okhranyaemykh prirodnykh territoriy Rossii [Specific Methodological Features of Cartographic Support of the Activities of Nature Protection Areas in Russia]. Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta. Seriya 5: Geografiya [Vestnik MGU. Series 5. Geography], 2014, no. 1, pp. 52‒57.
2. Vasil'ev A.S., Lukashevich V.M., Shegel'man I.R., Sukhanov Yu.V. Novyy sposob otvoda lesosek [New Method for Coupe Demarcation]. Inzhenernyy vestnik Dona [Engineering Journal of Don], 2015, vol. 36, no. 2-2, pp. 85‒86.
3. Moiseev V.S. Osnovy teorii effektivnogo primeneniya bespilotnykh letatel'nykh apparatov: monogr. [Fundamentals of the Theory of UAV Effective Use]. Kazan, Shkola Publ., 2015. 444 p. (In Russ.)
4. Skudneva O.V., Melekhov V.I., Korneychuk V.V. Pilotazhno-navigatsionnaya sistema transportnogo letatel'nogo apparata [Flight System of a Transport Aircraft]. Patent RF, no. 145174 U1, 2015.
5. Skudneva O.V., Korneychuk V.V. Pilotazhno-navigatsionnaya sistema transportnogo letatel'nogo apparata [Flight System of a Transport Aircraft]. Patent RF, no. 2597814 C1, 2016.
6. Skudneva O.V., Melekhov V.I., Korneychuk V.V. Pilotazhno-navigatsionnoe ustroystvo transportnogo letatel'nogo apparata [Flight Navigator of a Transport Aircraft]. Patent RF, no. 151304 U1, 2015.
7. Ob utverzhdenii Pravil zagotovki drevesiny i osobennostey zagotovki drevesiny v lesnichestvakh, lesoparkakh, ukazannykh v st. 23 Lesnogo kodeksa RF: prikaz Minprirody Rossii № 474 ot 13 sent. 2016 g. [On Approval of the Rules for Timber Harvesting and the Features of Timber Harvesting in Forest Areas, Forest Parks, Specified in the Article No. 23 of the Forest Code of the Russian Federation: Order No. 474 of the Ministry of Natural Re-sources of Russia of September 13, 2016].
8. Sechin A.Yu., Drakin M.A., Kiseleva A.S. Bespilotnyy letatel'nyy apparat: primenenie v tselyakh aerofotos"emki dlya kartografirovaniya. Ch. 2 [Unmanned Aerial Vehicle: Application for Aerial Photography for Mapping. Part 2]. Available at: http://www.racurs.ru (accessed 10.10.2017).
9. Skudneva O.V. Bespilotnye letatel'nye apparaty v sisteme lesnogo khozyaystva Rossii [Unmanned Airborne Vehicles in the Forestry Sector of Russia]. Lesnoy zhurnal [Forestry journal], 2014, no. 6, pp. 150‒154.
10. Skudneva O.V. Proshloe i budushchee bespilotnykh letatel'nykh apparatov. Vo-prosy navigatsii [The Past and the Future of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. Questions of Navi-gation]. Stroitel'naya nauka – XXI vek: teoriya, obrazovanie, praktika, innovatsii Severo-Arkticheskomu regionu: sb. tr. VII mezhdunar. nauch.-tekhn. konf., 28–30 iyunya 2016 g., Arkhangel'sk [Construction Science ‒ 21st Century: Theory, Education, Practice, Innova-tions to the North-Arctic Region: Proc. 7th Intern. Sci. Techn. Conf., June 28‒30, 2016, Arkhangelsk]. Arkhangelsk, 2016, pp. 298‒302.
11. Christiansen S. Drones over Alaska. Anchorage Press, August 19, 2009. Availa-ble at: http://www.anchoragepress.com/news/drones-over-alaska/article_18cd878a-503a-511f-b4c9-eb50cca8cd03.h... (accessed 10.07.2017).
12. Getzin S., Nuske R., Wiegand K. Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) to Quantify Spatial Gap Patterns in Forests. Remote Sensing, 2014, vol. 6, iss. 8, pp. 6988‒7004. doi: 10.3390/rs6086988
13. Grenzdörffer G.J., Engel A., Teichert B. The Photogrammetric Potential of Low-Cost UAVs in Forestry and Agriculture. The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences. XXIst ISPRS Congress Technical Com-mission I. Vol. XXXVII. Part B1. Ed. by Ch. Jun, J. Jie, A. Baudoin. Beijing, China, 2008, pp. 1207‒1214.
14. Hein G., Bento M. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: an Overview. Inside GNSS, 2008, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 54‒61.
15. Merino L., Caballero F., Martinez-de-Dios J., Maza I., Ollero A. An Unmanned Aircraft System for Automatic Forest Fire Monitoring and Measurement. Journal of Intelligent & Robotic Systems, 2012, vol. 65, iss. 1-4, pp. 533–548.
16. Zhang L., Wang B., Peng W., Li Ch., Lu Z., Guo Y. Forest Fire Detection Solution Based on UAV Aerial Data. International Journal of Smart Home, 2015, vol. 9, no. 8, pp. 239‒250.

Received on August 12, 2017