• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.475-488
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• 2018

Surveying urban tributary vegetation is based mainly on field sampling at present. The tributary vegetation survey integrating UAV NIR(Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Near Infrared Radiance) imagery and in-situ point photo has received only limited attentions from the field ecologist. The reason for this could be the largely undemonstrated applicability of UAV NIR imagery by the field ecologist as a monitoring tool for urban tributary vegetation. The principal advantage of UAV NIR imagery as a remote sensor is to provide, in a cost-effective manner, information required for a very narrow swath target such as urban tributary (10m width or so), utilizing very low altitude flight, real-time geo-referencing and stereo imaging. An exhaustive and realistic comparison of the two techniques was conducted, based on operational customer requirement of urban tributary vegetation survey: synoptic information, ground detail and quantitative data collection. UAV NIR imagery made it possible to identify area-wide patterns of the major plant communities subject to many different influences (e.g. artificial land use pattern), which cannot be acquired by traditional field sampling. Although field survey has already gained worldwide recognition by plant ecologists as a typical method of urban tributary vegetation monitoring, this approach did not provide a level of information that is either scientifically reliable or economically feasible in terms of urban tributary vegetation (e.g. remedial field works). It is anticipated that this research output could be used as a valuable reference for area-wide information obtained by UAV NIR imagery in urban tributary vegetation survey.

• Journal of Korean Society for Geospatial Information Science
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.25-33
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• 2015

The study of ecosystem assessment(ES) is based on land cover information, and primarily it is performed at the global scale. However, these results as data for decision making have a limitation at the aspects of range and scale to solve the regional issue. Although the Ministry of Environment provides available land cover data at the regional scale, it is also restricted in use due to the intrinsic limitation of on screen digitizing method and temporal and spatial difference. This study of objective is to generate UAV land cover map. In order to classify the imagery, we have performed resampling at 5m resolution using UAV imagery. The results of object-based image segmentation showed that scale 20 and merge 34 were the optimum weight values for UAV imagery. In the case of RapidEye imagery;we found that the weight values;scale 30 and merge 30 were the most appropriate at the level of land cover classes for sub-category. We generated land cover imagery using example-based classification method and analyzed the accuracy using stratified random sampling. The results show that the overall accuracies of RapidEye and UAV classification imagery are each 90% and 91%.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.49 no.5
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• pp.420-428
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• 2016

For more than 50 years, satellite images have been used to monitor crop growth. Currently, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) imagery is being assessed for analyzing within field spatial variability for agricultural precision management, because UAV imagery may be acquired quickly during critical periods of rapid crop growth. This study refers to the derivation of growth estimating equation for highland Kimchi cabbage using UAV derived normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and agro-meteorological factors. Anbandeok area in Gangneung, Gangwon-do, Korea is one of main districts producing highland Kimchi cabbage. UAV imagery was taken in the Anbandeok ten times from early June to early September. Meanwhile, three plant growth parameters, plant height (P.H.), leaf length (L.L.) and outer leaf number (L.N.), were measured for about 40 plants (ten plants per plot) for each ground survey. Six agro-meteorological factors include average temperature; maximum temperature; minimum temperature; accumulated temperature; rainfall and irradiation during growth period. The multiple linear regression models were suggested by using stepwise regression in the extraction of independent variables. As a result, $NDVI_{UAV}$ and rainfall in the model explain 93% of the P.H. and L.L. with a root mean square error (RMSE) of 2.22, 1.90 cm. And $NDVI_{UAV}$ and accumulated temperature in the model explain 86% of the L.N. with a RMSE of 4.29. These lead to the result that the characteristics of variations in highland Kimchi cabbage growth according to $NDVI_{UAV}$ and other agro-meteorological factors were well reflected in the model.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.61 no.4
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• pp.1-10
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• 2019

Unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV) can acquire images with lower cost than conventional manned aircraft and commercial satellites. It has the advantage of acquiring high-resolution aerial images covering in the field area more than 50 ha. The purposes of this study is to develop the rice grain yield distribution using UAV. In order to develop a technology for estimating the rice yield using UAV images, time series UAV aerial images were taken at the paddy fields and the data were compared with the rice yield of the harvesting area for two rice varieties(Singdongjin, Dongjinchal). Correlations between the vegetation indices and rice yield were ranged from 0.8 to 0.95 in booting period. Accordingly, rice yield was estimated using UAV-derived vegetation indices($R^2=0.70$ in Sindongjin, $R^2=0.92$ in Donjinchal). It means that the rice yield estimation using UAV imagery can provide less cost and higher accuracy than other methods using combine with yield monitoring system and satellite imagery. In the future, it will be necessary to study a variety of information convergence and integration systems such as image, weather, and soil for efficient use of these information, along with research on preparing management practice work standards such as pest control and nutrient use based on UAV image information.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.49 no.6
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• pp.731-742
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• 2016

Recent technological advance in UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) technology offers new opportunities for assessing crop situation using UAV imagery. The objective of this study was to assess if reflectance and NDVI derived from consumer-grade cameras mounted on UAVs are useful for crop condition monitoring. This study was conducted using a fixed-wing UAV(Ebee) with Cannon S110 camera from March 2015 to March 2016 in the experiment field of National Institute of Agricultural Sciences. Results were compared with ground-based recordings obtained from consumer-grade cameras and ground multi-spectral sensors. The relationship between raw digital numbers (DNs) of UAV images and measured calibration tarp reflectance was quadratic. Surface (lawn grass, stairs, and soybean cultivation area) reflectance obtained from UAV images was not similar to reflectance measured by ground-based sensors. But NDVI based on UAV imagery was similar to NDVI calculated by ground-based sensors.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.269-276
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• 2015

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) has several advantages over conventional remote sensing techniques. They can acquire high-resolution images quickly and repeatedly. And with a comparatively lower flight altitude, they can obtain good quality images even in cloudy weather. In this paper, we discussed the state-of-the-art of the domestic and international use of UAV in agricultural sector as well as assessed its utilization and applicability for agricultural environment in Korea. Association of robotic, computer vision and geomatic technologies have established a new paradigm of low-altitude aerial remote sensing that has now been receiving attention from researchers all over the world. In a field study, it has been found that use of UAV imagery in an agricultural subsidy program can reduce the farmers' complain and provide objective evidence. UAV high resolution photography can also be helpful in monitoring the disposal zone for animal carcasses. Due to its expeditiousness and accuracy, UAV imagery can be a very useful tool to evaluate the damage in case of an agricultural disaster for both parties insurance companies and the farmers. Also high spatial and temporal resolution in UAV system can increase the prediction accuracy which in turn help to maintain the agricultural supply and demand chain.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Surveying, Geodesy, Photogrammetry and Cartography
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.475-483
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• 2015

This study examined the feasibility of using an automatic lens distortion correction (ALDC) camera as the payload for a photogrammetric unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) system. First, lens distortion for the interior orientation (IO) parameters was estimated. Although previous studies have largely ignored decentering distortion, this study revealed that more than 50% of the distortion of the ALDC camera was caused by decentering distortion. Second, we compared the accuracy of bundle adjustment for camera calibration using three image types: raw imagery without the ALDC option; imagery corrected using lens profiles; and imagery with the ALDC option. The results of image triangulation, the digital terrain model (DTM), and the orthoimage using the IO parameters for the ALDC camera were similar to or slightly better than the results using self-calibration. These results confirm that the ALDC camera can be used in a photogrammetric UAV system using only self-calibration.

• Journal of Korean Society for Geospatial Information Science
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.79-87
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• 2008

There has been a strong demand for low altitude UAV development in rapid mapping not only to acquire high resolution image with much more low cost and weather independent, compared to satellite surveying or traditional aerial surveying, but also to meet many needs of the aerial photogrammetry. Especially, efficient geocoding of UAV imagery is the key issue. Contrary to high UAV potential for civilian applications, the technology development in photogrammetry for example direct georeferencing is in the early stage and it requires further research and additional technical development. In this study, two approaches are supposed for automatic geocoding of UAV still images by simple affine transformation and block adjustment of affine transformation using minimal ground control points and also evaluated the applicability and quality of geometric model compared to geocoded images generated by commercial S/W.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.49 no.5
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• pp.495-502
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• 2016

Italian Ryegrass (IRG), which is known as high yielding and the highest quality winter annual forage crop, is grown in mid-south area in Korea. The objective of this study was to evaluate the use of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for the monitoring IRG growth. Unmanned aerial vehicle imagery obtained from middle March to late May in Nonsan, Chungcheongnam-do. Unmanned aerial vehicle imagery corrected geometrically and atmospherically to calculate normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). We analyzed the relationships between $NDVI_{UAV}$ of IRG and biophysical measurements such as plant height, fresh weight, and dry weight over an entire IRG growth period. The similar trend between $NDVI_{UAV}$ and growth parameters was shown. Correlation analysis between $NDVI_{UAV}$ and IRG growth parameters revealed that $NDVI_{UAV}$ was highly correlated with fresh weight (r=0.988), plant height (r=0.925), and dry weight (r=0.853). According to the relationship among growth parameters and $NDVI_{UAV}$, the temporal variation of $NDVI_{UAV}$ was significant to interpret IRG growth. Four different regression models, such as (1) Linear regression function, (2) Linear regression through the origin, (3) Power function, and (4) Logistic function were developed to evaluate the relationship between temporal $NDVI_{UAV}$ and measured IRG growth parameters. The power function provided higher accurate results to predict growth parameters than linear or logistic functions using coefficient of determination. The spatial distribution map of IRG growth was in strong agreement with the field measurements in terms of geographical variation and relative numerical values when $NDVI_{UAV}$ was applied to power function. From these results, $NDVI_{UAV}$ can be used as a new tool for monitoring IRG growth.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.36 no.5_1
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• pp.735-747
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• 2020

Recent advanced UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) technology supply new opportunities for estimating crop condition using high resolution imagery. We analyzed the diurnal change of reflectance and NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) in UAV imagery for crop monitoring in clear day condition. Multi-spectral images were obtained from a 5-band multi-spectral camera mounted on rotary wing UAV. Reflectance were derived by the direct method using down-welling irradiance measurement. Reflectance using UAV imagery on calibration tarp, concrete and crop experimental sites did not show stable by time and daily reproducible values. But the CV (Coefficient of Variation) of diurnal NDVI on crop experimental sites was less than 5%. As a result of comparing NDVI at the similar time for two day, the daily mean average ratio of error showed a difference of 0.62 to 3.97%. Therefore, it is considered that NDVI using UAV imagery can be used for time series crop monitoring.