Recent Advances in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Forest Remote Sensing—A Systematic Review. Part II: Research Applications
Forest sustainable management aims to maintain the income of woody goods for companies, together with preserving non-productive functions as a benefit for the community. Due to the progress in platforms and sensors and the opening of the dedicated market, unmanned aerial vehicle–remote sensing (UAV–...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-03-01
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| Series: | Forests |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/12/4/397 |
| _version_ | 1797539838572888064 |
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| author | Riccardo Dainelli Piero Toscano Salvatore Filippo Di Gennaro Alessandro Matese |
| author_facet | Riccardo Dainelli Piero Toscano Salvatore Filippo Di Gennaro Alessandro Matese |
| author_sort | Riccardo Dainelli |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Forest sustainable management aims to maintain the income of woody goods for companies, together with preserving non-productive functions as a benefit for the community. Due to the progress in platforms and sensors and the opening of the dedicated market, unmanned aerial vehicle–remote sensing (UAV–RS) is improving its key role in the forestry sector as a tool for sustainable management. The use of UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) in precision forestry has exponentially increased in recent years, as demonstrated by more than 600 references published from 2018 until mid-2020 that were found in the Web of Science database by searching for “UAV” + “forest”. This result is even more surprising when compared with similar research for “UAV” + “agriculture”, from which emerge about 470 references. This shows how UAV–RS research forestry is gaining increasing popularity. In Part II of this review, analyzing the main findings of the reviewed papers (227), numerous strengths emerge concerning research technical issues. UAV–RS is fully applicated for obtaining accurate information from practical parameters (height, diameter at breast height (DBH), and biomass). Research effectiveness and soundness demonstrate that UAV–RS is now ready to be applied in a real management context. Some critical issues and barriers in transferring research products are also evident, namely, (1) hyperspectral sensors are poorly used, and their novel applications should be based on the capability of acquiring tree spectral signature especially for pest and diseases detection, (2) automatic processes for image analysis are poorly flexible or based on proprietary software at the expense of flexible and open-source tools that can foster researcher activities and support technology transfer among all forestry stakeholders, and (3) a clear lack exist in sensors and platforms interoperability for large-scale applications and for enabling data interoperability. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T12:50:35Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-af5c418f17f14206ab4f4e755f3a6475 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1999-4907 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T12:50:35Z |
| publishDate | 2021-03-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Forests |
| spelling | doaj.art-af5c418f17f14206ab4f4e755f3a64752023-11-21T13:04:54ZengMDPI AGForests1999-49072021-03-0112439710.3390/f12040397Recent Advances in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Forest Remote Sensing—A Systematic Review. Part II: Research ApplicationsRiccardo Dainelli0Piero Toscano1Salvatore Filippo Di Gennaro2Alessandro Matese3Institute of BioEconomy (IBE), National Research Council (CNR), 50145 Florence, ItalyInstitute of BioEconomy (IBE), National Research Council (CNR), 50145 Florence, ItalyInstitute of BioEconomy (IBE), National Research Council (CNR), 50145 Florence, ItalyInstitute of BioEconomy (IBE), National Research Council (CNR), 50145 Florence, ItalyForest sustainable management aims to maintain the income of woody goods for companies, together with preserving non-productive functions as a benefit for the community. Due to the progress in platforms and sensors and the opening of the dedicated market, unmanned aerial vehicle–remote sensing (UAV–RS) is improving its key role in the forestry sector as a tool for sustainable management. The use of UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) in precision forestry has exponentially increased in recent years, as demonstrated by more than 600 references published from 2018 until mid-2020 that were found in the Web of Science database by searching for “UAV” + “forest”. This result is even more surprising when compared with similar research for “UAV” + “agriculture”, from which emerge about 470 references. This shows how UAV–RS research forestry is gaining increasing popularity. In Part II of this review, analyzing the main findings of the reviewed papers (227), numerous strengths emerge concerning research technical issues. UAV–RS is fully applicated for obtaining accurate information from practical parameters (height, diameter at breast height (DBH), and biomass). Research effectiveness and soundness demonstrate that UAV–RS is now ready to be applied in a real management context. Some critical issues and barriers in transferring research products are also evident, namely, (1) hyperspectral sensors are poorly used, and their novel applications should be based on the capability of acquiring tree spectral signature especially for pest and diseases detection, (2) automatic processes for image analysis are poorly flexible or based on proprietary software at the expense of flexible and open-source tools that can foster researcher activities and support technology transfer among all forestry stakeholders, and (3) a clear lack exist in sensors and platforms interoperability for large-scale applications and for enabling data interoperability.https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/12/4/397UAVdroneprecision forestryforest managementmeta-analysisinventory parameters |
| spellingShingle | Riccardo Dainelli Piero Toscano Salvatore Filippo Di Gennaro Alessandro Matese Recent Advances in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Forest Remote Sensing—A Systematic Review. Part II: Research Applications Forests UAV drone precision forestry forest management meta-analysis inventory parameters |
| title | Recent Advances in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Forest Remote Sensing—A Systematic Review. Part II: Research Applications |
| title_full | Recent Advances in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Forest Remote Sensing—A Systematic Review. Part II: Research Applications |
| title_fullStr | Recent Advances in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Forest Remote Sensing—A Systematic Review. Part II: Research Applications |
| title_full_unstemmed | Recent Advances in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Forest Remote Sensing—A Systematic Review. Part II: Research Applications |
| title_short | Recent Advances in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Forest Remote Sensing—A Systematic Review. Part II: Research Applications |
| title_sort | recent advances in unmanned aerial vehicles forest remote sensing a systematic review part ii research applications |
| topic | UAV drone precision forestry forest management meta-analysis inventory parameters |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/12/4/397 |
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