Detection of thinning trees using UAV laser data

抄録

Smart precision forestry has been paid increasing attention in recent years. Precision forestry is mainly composed of accurate individual tree delineation, harvest tree selection and cut tree detection. This research shows a case study including the above three steps using the UAV laser scanning. The test site was located at a Karamatsu (Larix kaempferi) plantation of 50 years old. The UAV laser data were collected on May 30, 2017 before harvest. Then, the individual trees were extracted from the point cloud data using the ITD (individual tree detection) method. Next, the thinning trees were selected based on the distance of the trees, terrain slope and stem diameter. Tree harvest was conducted in September, 2017. And the forest was scanned again on October 11, 2017 after thinning. The reserved trees were extracted using the same method. Finally, the harvested trees were detected by comparing the two datasets before and after thinning.