A Newly Developed Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Imagery Based Technology for Field Measurement of Water Level

Abstract

Field measurement of water level is important for water conservancy project operation and hydrological forecasting. In this study, we proposed a new measuring technique by integrating the advantages of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) photogrammetry and image recognition technology. Firstly, the imagery of water fluctuation process was captured by an UAV airborne camera, and water surface line in the imagery was recognized and extracted using image recognition technology. Subsequently, successive water levels at a measuring section were calculated by parameter calibration. Statistical parameters of water levels, such as maximum, average, and minimum values during the capturing period were also calculated. Additionally, we introduced a correction method to offset the error caused by UAV drift. The newly proposed method was tested in field measurement for Miaowei hydropower station, China, and the results showed that the method is reliable and adoptable.

Applications of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs) in Hydrology: A Review

“…Their results were promising and proved the suitability of the platform for hydraulic measurement acquisition, however, the pixelization of the images and the perspective constituted an important source of uncertainty. Gao et al [69] devised an innovative methodology that integrated UAS photogrammetry and image recognition to define water level in a complex hydrological environment (plunge pool downstream a hydropower station) in China. Water surface fluctuations were captured by an UAS and the regions of interest were extracted from imagery.…”

Aplicación de la fotogrametría con drones al control deformacional de estructuras y terreno

“…En primer lugar, se encuentran con seis artículos cada uno, Italia (13,14,15,16,17,18) y Austria (19,20,21,22,23,24), aunque bien es cierto que en el caso de Italia varios de ellos son referentes a la Presa Ridracoli (13,16,17). A continuación se sitúan China (25,26,27,28,29) y EEUU (30,31,32,33,34), siendo los norteamericanos los únicos que cuentan con un documento oficial "Monitoring Levees" (30) en el que se hace referencia explícita al uso de drones en la seguridad de presas.…”

Water Management Using Drones and Satellites in Agriculture

“…This issue contains eight papers that focus on several aspects of the management of water in agricultural systems with drones and satellites. The key points are: (i) the design of new equipment for sampling and monitoring water bodies [5][6][7]; (ii) tools for assessing crop water requirements from satellite images [8,9]; and (iii) development of novel algorithms and indicators for determining crop water status from proximal and remote sensing technologies [10][11][12].…”

“…A couple of works in this volume deal with new techniques for measuring the water level in reservoirs [6,7]. In this sense, Gao et al [6] explore the advantages of integrating unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) photogrammetry and image recognition for measuring water level. The developed system captures water fluctuation using an UAV airborne camera, and the obtained imagery is processed for measuring the water level by calibrating a set of parameters.…”

“…The authors introduced a correction method for overcoming UAV drift. Finally, the authors tested their methodology in a Chinese hydropower station, obtaining reliable results [6].…”