Since a decade, Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) have become an increasingly important platform for remote sensing research and applications. The flexible character of UAS allows the use of different types of camera’s (RGB, multispectral, hyperspectral, thermal, LiDAR) which are adopted for a large range of applications. Acquisition of remote sensing images close to the earth surface results in high spatial resolutions compared to satellites based systems. Another aspect of flexibility is the timing and frequency of observation which allows acquisition at specified periods and frequencies.
However, the application of Unmanned Aerial Systems has several challenges as the technology is still in development and protocols for high-quality image acquisition are under development and need dissemination within the community. In addition, a large range of UAS image processing methods has been developed within research projects. Communication on state-of-the-art and follow-up operational methods and processing procedures will be crucial to ensure adoption of this technology by end-users in a broad range of applications.
The EARSeL Special Interest Group Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) wants to support this process by:
- the organization of workshops and seminars,
- maintaining a website where project results and papers can be disseminated,
- stimulate and disseminate protocols for UAS data acquisition and image processing,
- and in this way we hope to stimulate personal links between researchers and end-users within the community.