Evaluation of Erosion by Short-Distance Images obtained by Remotely Piloted Aircraft

Abstract

This paper aims a study about evaluation of the Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) potential, as a platform to obtain data for erosion monitoring. A methodology was proposed to monitor erosive processes from ravines and gullies, with orthophoto generation and a digital elevation model, providing conditions to execute precise measurements of length, area and volume parameters for quantification of the erosive process. In the first study area, tests were applied in a hill region, to calculate positive volume, as well as points of support and signaling marks on the soil. That being said, the value of the volume obtained with the use of RPA obtained final values close to reference values obtained through measurement with total station. Thus, it can be said that the use of markings in the soil for correlation of images, was a technique that favored better results. In the survey with RPA in the second study region arranged in a ravine area, for calculation of negative volume, it was observed that there was a decrease in the density of the cloud of points due to occlusion of some interior areas of the ravine, causing high volume discrepancies in comparisons with the reference values.