New Concept of Smart UAS-GCP: A Tool for Precise Positioning in Remote-Sensing Applications

Today, ground control points (GCPs) represent indispensable tools for products’ georeferencing in all the techniques concerning remote sensing (RS), particularly in monitoring activities from unmanned aircraft system (UAS) platforms. This work introduces an innovative tool, smart GCPs, which combine...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inDrones (Basel) Vol. 8; no. 4; p. 123
Main Authors Famiglietti, Nicola Angelo, Miele, Pietro, Memmolo, Antonino, Falco, Luigi, Castagnozzi, Angelo, Moschillo, Raffaele, Grasso, Carmine, Migliazza, Robert, Selvaggi, Giulio, Vicari, Annamaria
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Basel MDPI AG 01.04.2024
Subjects
Accuracy
Data collection
Drone aircraft
Drones
GCP
Geographic information systems
Global navigation satellite system
GNSS
Internet
Kinematics
Photogrammetry
Power supply
PPK
Prototypes
Real time
Receivers & amplifiers
Remote sensing
RTK
UAS
Unmanned aerial vehicles
Unmanned aircraft
Wireless telecommunications equipment
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Summary:Today, ground control points (GCPs) represent indispensable tools for products’ georeferencing in all the techniques concerning remote sensing (RS), particularly in monitoring activities from unmanned aircraft system (UAS) platforms. This work introduces an innovative tool, smart GCPs, which combines different georeferencing procedures, offering a range of advantages. It can serve three fundamental purposes concurrently: (1) as a drone takeoff platform; (2) as a base station, allowing the acquisition of raw global navigation satellite system (GNSS) data for post-processed kinematic (PPK) surveys or by providing real-time GNSS corrections for precision positioning; (3) as a rover in the network real-time kinematic (NRTK) mode, establishing its position in real time with centimetric precision. The prototype has undergone testing in a dedicated study area, yielding good results for all three geodetic correction techniques: PPK, RTK, and GCP, achieving centimeter-level accuracy. Nowadays, this versatile prototype represents a unique external instrument, which is also easily transportable and able to connect to the GNSS RING network, obtaining real-time positioning corrections for a wide range of applications that require precise positioning. This capability is essential for environmental applications that require a multitemporal UAS-based study. When the real-time RING data are accessible to the scientific community operating in RS surveying, this work could be a helpful guide for researchers approaching such investigations.
ISSN:2504-446X
2504-446X
DOI:10.3390/drones8040123