Evaluate the accuracy of Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) data on the survey of dieback Buxus hyrcana (Case study: Sisangan forest park-Mazandaran)

Background and Objective:

Sisangan forest park is one of the important habitats of Buxus Hyrcana in Iran. Unfortunately, the park has suffered from dieback in recent years, and many Box trees have been destroyed. Monitoring and management of this zone can be effective in controlling, protecting, and supporting it. However, due to the destruction of Box trees, on a large scale, it is not possible to accurately estimate the area using the available data. On the other hand, manual measurements are also very time-consuming and tedious. Therefore, a way must be found to do this process accurately and automatically. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) have made this possible by using highly accurate sensors (spatial resolution). Another solution that can be used to automatically separate dieback trees from green trees is to use different classification methods. The aim of this study is to prove the ability of low-cost UAV data with conventional sensors to detect and zoning areas that have suffered Dieback. Since the cost of UAVs with multispectral sensors (red edge band and near infrared) is very high, it should be possible to reduce this cost. Since the cost of UAV with multispectral sensors (red-edge and near-infrared band) is very high, it should be possible to reduce this cost.

Materials and Methods :

Sisangan Forest Park has located 30km to the east of Nowshahr County, Mazandaran province, at latitude 36º33′30″ to 36º35′30″ N, and longitude 51º47′ to 51º49′30″E. This park is both a tourist destination and many important plant species of the country grow in it. One of the most important of these species is the Buxus Hyrcana. But unfortunately, in recent years they have become snag due to pests and insect infestations. Multirotor UAVs have been used in this research. The camera installed on this device is capable of capturing 20 megapixel images. Imaging operations were performed on December 28, 2017, at 10:00 AM, which lasted 45 minutes. The study area was visited for field sampling and its different points were identified in terms of density of snags and preserved Buxus Hyrcana. Then, three circular pieces with a radius of 60 meters and an area of 1.13 hectares were designed in the zone and the density of snag stands and preserved Buxus Hyrcana stands were determined in these three samples. In each plot, 50 training points were recorded in the places where the Buxus Hyrcana stands were located and also 50 points were recorded in the places where the preserved Buxus Hyrcana stands, floor grass cover, and blackberry was located. In this study, in order to evaluate the accuracy of UAV images in identifying and classifying zones covered with Dieback, the smallest Dieback stands with the smallest canopy width were also recorded. Because UAV images require geometric corrections, they were first corrected geometrically and geographically. They were classified with ENVI software. According to the above explanations, 100 points were recorded in each sample plot, 75 of which were monitored for the classification process and 25 of which were used to evaluate the classification accuracy. Three monitored artificial neural network classification algorithms, maximum likelihood and minimum distance were used to classify these images. Finally, after performing each of the classification steps, a low-pass filter with a size of 3 by 3 pixels was used for smoothing the images. Kappa coefficients and overall accuracy indices were also used to evaluate the results.

Results and Discussion:

 In this number of sample plots, 579 stands were measured. Buxus Hyrcana was by far the most frequent in the zone. European hornbeam, Parrotia persica, and Oak were in the next ranks, respectively. The results showed that the artificial neural network algorithm had the best results compared to the other two algorithms. But the results of the artificial neural network also fluctuate according to the condition of the sample piece. This algorithm with an overall accuracy of 97.47% and a kappa coefficient of 0.94 had the best results in the separation and detection of the Buxus Hyrcana snags in the sample plot with the dominance of Buxus Hyrcana snags. After the artificial neural network algorithm, the maximum likelihood algorithm showed more favorable results in separating the Buxus Hyrcana snag stands. The minimum distance algorithm showed good results, but it was not as accurate as of the previous two algorithms. All three algorithms showed poorer results in separating the bases in the sample plot with the dominance of live bases in the sample than the other two sample plots. The sample piece with the predominance of live and green bases compared to the other two sample pieces has more phenomena and effects and in terms of image texture, there are many significant differences compared to the other two sample pieces. All three algorithms showed poorer results in separating the stands in the sample plot by dominance the preserved stands in the sample than the other two sample plots. The sample plot with the predominance of preserved stands compared to the other two sample plots has more phenomena and in terms of image texture compared to the other two sample plots has a lot of significant differences. In this sample plot, in addition to the presence of preserved and snag stands, grass cover and blackberry accessions can also be seen. In this study, the results of classification and detection of Buxus Hyrcana snags using an artificial neural network algorithm were much better than the maximum likelihood and minimum distance algorithms. One of the reasons for the better results of the artificial neural network algorithm is its nonlinearity and non-parametricity. But in classification by traditional algorithms such as statistical methods, they have lower accuracy because they have less flexibility. Parametric types of traditional methods, such as the maximum likelihood algorithm, due to depending on Gaussian statistics, if the data are not normal, cannot have the desired accuracy in classifying and separating classes from each other. In traditional algorithms such as maximum likelihood and minimum distance algorithms, training data play a vital role. In these methods, it is assumed that the distribution within the training samples should be normal so that if this condition cannot be met, the classification accuracy will be greatly reduced. While artificial neural network methods operate based on the characteristics and structure of the data itself.

Conclusion:

 The results of this study showed that using the data and ordinary images of a low-cost UAV, it is possible to study the condition of Dieback after the outbreak of the disease and determine its area. Despite the high cost of purchasing expensive sensors to monitor vegetation status, these methods presented in this article can be done at a much lower cost. This method can be of great help to the relevant institutions in determining the area of snag coatings.