Forest Inventory with Micro Aerial Vehicles

The analysis of ecological and economic factors of a forest has a long history. However, assessment of relevant forest parameters is still done by means of time- and cost-intensive fieldwork. Research institutions and companies are now working together on developing a new cost- and time-efficient method for carrying out forest inventories. The FFG (Austrian Research Promotion Agency) funded project strives to develop an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), that is able to navigate autonomously through a pre-defined forest corridor, collecting all relevant forest parameter data. First test flights with a prototype are scheduled for 2017.