Development and Performance Evaluation of a Very Low-Cost UAV-Lidar System for Forestry Applications

doi:10.3390/rs13010077

	Development and Performance Evaluation of a Very Low-Cost UAV-Lidar System for Forestry Applications
	Hu, Tianyu 1; Sun, Xiliang 1; Su, Yanjun 1; Guan, Hongcan 1; Sun, Qianhui 1; Kelly, Maggi 2,3; Guo, Qinghua4
	2021
发表期刊	REMOTE SENSING
卷号	13 期号:1
摘要	Accurate and repeated forest inventory data are critical to understand forest ecosystem processes and manage forest resources. In recent years, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-borne light detection and ranging (lidar) systems have demonstrated effectiveness at deriving forest inventory attributes. However, their high cost has largely prevented them from being used in large-scale forest applications. Here, we developed a very low-cost UAV lidar system that integrates a recently emerged DJI Livox MID40 laser scanner (similar to$600 USD) and evaluated its capability in estimating both individual tree-level (i.e., tree height) and plot-level forest inventory attributes (i.e., canopy cover, gap fraction, and leaf area index (LAI)). Moreover, a comprehensive comparison was conducted between the developed DJI Livox system and four other UAV lidar systems equipped with high-end laser scanners (i.e., RIEGL VUX-1 UAV, RIEGL miniVUX-1 UAV, HESAI Pandar40, and Velodyne Puck LITE). Using these instruments, we surveyed a coniferous forest site and a broadleaved forest site, with tree densities ranging from 500 trees/ha to 3000 trees/ha, with 52 UAV flights at different flying height and speed combinations. The developed DJI Livox MID40 system effectively captured the upper canopy structure and terrain surface information at both forest sites. The estimated individual tree height was highly correlated with field measurements (coniferous site: R-2 = 0.96, root mean squared error/RMSE = 0.59 m; broadleaved site: R-2 = 0.70, RMSE = 1.63 m). The plot-level estimates of canopy cover, gap fraction, and LAI corresponded well with those derived from the high-end RIEGL VUX-1 UAV system but tended to have systematic biases in areas with medium to high canopy densities. Overall, the DJI Livox MID40 system performed comparably to the RIEGL miniVUX-1 UAV, HESAI Pandar40, and Velodyne Puck LITE systems in the coniferous site and to the Velodyne Puck LITE system in the broadleaved forest. Despite its apparent weaknesses of limited sensitivity to low-intensity returns and narrow field of view, we believe that the very low-cost system developed by this study can largely broaden the potential use of UAV lidar in forest inventory applications. This study also provides guidance for the selection of the appropriate UAV lidar system and flight specifications for forest research and management.
关键词	unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) lidar DJI Livox low cost forest inventory
学科领域	Environmental Sciences ; Geosciences, Multidisciplinary ; Remote Sensing ; Imaging Science & Photographic Technology
DOI	10.3390/rs13010077
收录类别	SCI
语种	英语
WOS关键词	STRUCTURE-FROM-MOTION ; SAMPLING DENSITY ; AIRBORNE LIDAR ; CARBON STOCKS ; BIOMASS ; CALIBRATION ; INVENTORY ; RECOVERY ; IMAGERY ; TREES
WOS研究方向	Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED)
WOS记录号	WOS:000606160400001
出版者	MDPI
文献子类	Article
出版地	BASEL
EISSN	2072-4292
资助机构	National Key R&D Program of China [2017YFC0503905] ; National Natural Science Foundation of China [41901358, 41871332, 31971575] ; Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Project [Z191100007419004] ; Chinese Academy of Sciences President's International Fellowship Initiative [2019VTA0007]
作者邮箱	tianyuhu@ibcas.ac.cn ; sxl456852@ibcas.ac.cn ; ysu@ibcas.ac.cn ; guanhc@ibcas.ac.cn ; sunqianhui@ibcas.ac.cn ; maggi@berkeley.edu ; guo.qinghua@pku.edu.cn
作品OA属性	Green Published, gold
引用统计	被引频次：73[WOS] [WOS记录] [WOS相关记录]
文献类型	期刊论文
条目标识符	http://ir.ibcas.ac.cn/handle/2S10CLM1/26719
专题	植被与环境变化国家重点实验室
作者单位	1.Chinese Acad Sci, Inst Bot, State Key Lab Vegetat & Environm Change, Beijing 100093, Peoples R China 2.Univ Chinese Acad Sci, Coll Resources & Environm, Beijing 100049, Peoples R China 3.Univ Calif Berkeley, Dept Environm Sci Policy & Management, Berkeley, CA 94720 USA 4.Univ Calif Berkeley, Div Agr & Nat Resources, Berkeley, CA 94720 USA 5.Peking Univ, Coll Urban & Environm Sci, Inst Ecol, Beijing 100871, Peoples R China
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Hu, Tianyu,Sun, Xiliang,Su, Yanjun,et al. Development and Performance Evaluation of a Very Low-Cost UAV-Lidar System for Forestry Applications[J]. REMOTE SENSING,2021,13(1).
APA	Hu, Tianyu.,Sun, Xiliang.,Su, Yanjun.,Guan, Hongcan.,Sun, Qianhui.,...&Guo, Qinghua.(2021).Development and Performance Evaluation of a Very Low-Cost UAV-Lidar System for Forestry Applications.REMOTE SENSING,13(1).
MLA	Hu, Tianyu,et al."Development and Performance Evaluation of a Very Low-Cost UAV-Lidar System for Forestry Applications".REMOTE SENSING 13.1(2021).

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