A study on the use of drones for disaster damage investigation in mountainous terrain

In the case of forest areas, the installation of ground control points (GCPs) and the selection of terrain features, which are one of the unmanned aerial photogrammetry work process, are limited compared to urban areas, and safety problems arise due to non-visible flight due to high forest. To compensate for this problem, the drone equipped with a real time kinematic (RTK) sensor that corrects the position of the drone in real time, and a 3D flight method that fly based on terrain information are being developed. This study suggests to present a method for investigating damage using drones in forest areas. Position accuracy evaluation was performed for three methods: 1) drone mapping through GCP measurement (normal mapping), 2) drone mapping based on topographic data (3D flight mapping), 3) drone mapping using RTK drone (RTK mapping), and all showed an accuracy within 2 cm in the horizontal and within 13 cm in the vertical position. After evaluating the position accuracy, the volume of the landslide area was calculated and the volume values were compared, and all showed similar values. Through this study, the possibility of utilizing 3D flight mapping and RTK mapping in forest areas was confirmed. In the future, it is expected that more effective damage investigations can be conducted if the three methods are appropriately used according to the conditions of area of the disaster.