Quality of Digital Elevation Models obtained from Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Precision Viticulture

Aims: This work aims to study the quality of low cost Digital Surface Models (DSMs) obtained with Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) images and to test whether these DSMs meet common requirements of the wine industry. Methods and results: Experiments were carried out on a 4-ha vineyard located 10 km north of Beziers (France). The experimental site presents slope and aspect variations representative of mechanised commercial vineyards in Languedoc Roussillon. DSMs were provided by three UAV companies selected for the diversity of their solutions in terms of image capture altitude, type of UAV and image processing software. DSMs were obtained by photogrammetry and correspond to commercial products usually delivered by UAV companies. DSMs from UAV were compared to a reference Digital Elevation Model (DEM) acquired by a laser tachymeter. Four indicators were used to test the quality of DSMs: the mean error and its dispersion in the XY plane and in elevation Z. Results show a good georeferencing of the DSMs (MeanErrorXY<10 cm) and a similar quality in elevation (MeanErrorZ