AI Processing of Drone LiDAR for Automatic Tree Detection and Parameter Estimation in Urban and Forest Environments
Identifying individual trees within urban and forest settings is crucial for various purposes such as urban forest management, city planning, and carbon accounting. Traditional remote sensing methods, like those using satellite or airborne data, often lack the precision needed for this task due to their lower resolution. However, advancements in technology, particularly the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) equipped with high-resolution multispectral and LiDAR sensors, have revolutionized the process. This study introduces a new method for Individual Tree Detection (ITD) utilizing UAV LiDAR data and deep learning algorithms, specifically a modified version of the You Only Look Once V7 (YOLO V7) framework. The approach involves processing various channels of LiDAR data, including Vertical Density (VD), Canopy Height Model (CHM), Gradient of the CHM (G-CHM), and Local Binary Pattern of the CHM (LBP-CHM). The YOLO V7 object detection algorithm is then applied to identify the bounding boxes of individual trees. Testing conducted over diverse regions with different tree types and densities has shown significant improvements over previous methods. The modified YOLO V7 algorithm achieves higher accuracy, precision, and recall rates, ranging from 0.7 to 0.94, 0.76 to 0.99, and 0.8 to 0.97, respectively. This automated approach has practical implications for updating urban tree inventories and can be instrumental in ground-truthing large-scale satellite-based forest structure and biomass estimation efforts, among other applications.
Bahram Salehi, SUNY ESF
Real World Applications of Drones in Agriculture
Drones in agriculture have been hyped as the next big thing for many years with many promising results that have not been fully realized. This presentation will walk through practical examples of what has worked in my own farm operation and others when utilizing drones for agriculture. This will also cover current requirements around spray drones and share an outlook on where the industry is headed.
Adam Gittins, HTS Ag
