Use of Unmanned Aerial Platforms in Brazil – a Ten-year Overview (2008-2018) of Academic Publications

Abstract

The use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) is increasingly consolidated in Brazil, incorporating applications previously attributed to satellites and traditional aerial surveys. According to the ANAC (National Civil Aviation Agency) there are 75,000 UAV registered, 40% for professional and/or academic activities. This article quantifies aspects of the use of UAV in obtaining remote sensing data by national scientific research, identifying products and services generated and methods and equipment used. A systematic literature review was carried out by combining the terms “monograph, dissertation, thesis, rpa, drone, uav, photogrammetry, remote sensing”. Having established 2008 as the base year for the search, works between 2010 and 2018 were found. We selected 64 papers, including doctoral theses, master's dissertations and undergraduate course completion papers, in which 11 Boolean parameters and other 11 quanti-qualitative parameters were evaluated. There are works from all Brazilian regions: 21 from the Southeast; 19 from the South; 11 from the Midwest; 11 from the Northeast; and 2 from the North. The areas of Cartography, Geography, Civil Engineering, Forestry Engineering and Environmental Sciences concentrate more than 55% of publications. The generation and verification of digital models of surfaces and/or terrain (MDS/MDT) was the main application, present in 39% of the studies; next came the use of UAV for mapping and classification of vegetation cover, with 22% presence. The cartographic quality of the different products varied between PEC-PCD 'Class B' in a 1/10,000 scale and 'Class A' in a 1/1,000 scale.