THE USE OF UAVS: DEVELOPMENT, PERSPECTIVES AND APPLICATION

Abstract

The article explores some aspects of the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), approaches to their classification and possible areas of application. The main advantages and disadvantages of using unmanned aerial vehicles of different types (quadcopter and aircraft type) in comparison with classical aerial photography and ground shooting are revealed. The features of UAV aerial photography at different stages of semi-automatic mode are considered. Aerial photography of a local object (land with vegetation and the building of the NULES of Ukraine building) was performed by a quadcopter with the subsequent acquisition of an orthophoto, a digital model, construction of a 3D image and a further topographic plan of scale 1:500. Surveying materials were proceeded with a specialized Pix4D program. We counted the time needed to perform separate stages of material processing. In this case, all stages of processing were performed in automatic mode, except for entering coordinates of anchor points. The main disadvantage of this program was the need to form a 3D model in manual mode without the possibility of phased saving. The article offers a classification of the main problems of using UAVs, namely: regulatory, technical and scientific. The comparative assessment of the use of technologies of tacheometric survey, terrestrial scanning, lidar and aerial photography with UAV and their use for land cover monitoring purposes was made.