Assessment of photogrammetric micro fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) system for image acquisition of coastal area

Abstract

Fast image acquisition is the most important part for societal impact of a developing country. This paper aims to demonstrate the potential use of micro fixed wing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) system attached with high resolution digital camera for coastal mapping. In this study, six strips of aerial images of coastal area was captured using a high resolution compact digital camera known as Canon Power Shot SX230 HS and it has 12 megapixel image resolution. From the aerial images, photogrammetric image processing method is completed to produce mapping outputs such a digital elevation model (DEM) and orthophoto. For accuracy assessment, the coordinates of the selected points in the 3D of stereomodel were compared to the conjugate points observed using GPS and the root mean square error (RMSE) is computed. From this study, the results showed that the achievable RMSE are ± 0.018m, ± 0.013m and ± 0.034m for coordinates X, Y and Z respectively. It will anticipate that the UAV will be used for coastal survey and improve current method of producing with low cost, fast and good accuracy. Finally, the UAV has shown great potential to be used for coastal mapping that require accurate results or products using high resolution camera.