Generation of Large Mosaic Images for Vegetation Monitoring Using a Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

This paper describes low-cost flexible vegetation monitoring and compares it to with conventional remote sensing systems such as airplanes and satellites. The small lightweight Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) we have developed has visible and near-infrared cameras that create a high-resolution wide-area mosaic image for observing vegetation. We propose integrating a GPS receiver, inertial sensors, and an image sensor to accurately estimate the UAV location and altitude to generate a mosaic image. The vegetation index is then calculated from the generated mosaic image to evaluate vegetation status. Monitoring experiment results at the Yawata moor in Hiroshima Prefecture showed that our small UAV both effectively and usefully provided low-cost flexible vegetation monitoring.