| Abstract |
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) could flexibly and efficiently observe land surface and obtain surface information at very high frequency and resolutions. In recent years, UAV technology has been greatly improved and the UAVs are increasingly applied in large amount of civilian fields. The UAV Remote Sensing (UAVRS) is a comprehensive technology composed of UAV flying aircraft, light remote sensing payload, satellite positioning device, remote-control system, communication technology and application technology. An UAVRS system is mainly composed of UAV platform, load system, ground control and data transmission system and image processing system. With the popularity of civilian UAV products and the development of UAV remote sensing payload, UAVRS also shows an explosive growth trend in various industries. However, the short battery life and limited coverage of the civilian drones are one of the key factors restricting the UAVRS applications. Besides, although the application of UAVs in various industries and fields continues to deepen, most of them are single-type applications in a certain discipline or industry. The 5G technology and wireless communication technology advance and will give rise to the UAVRS applications in terms of“networking”,“IoT”, and“real-time”, as well as cross-domain and convergence application. The modern cities are highly complex and sociotechnical. They comprise people and communities interacting with one another and with objects (e. g., roads, buildings) within a range of urban settings or contexts. It is extremely difficult to monitor and manage such complex sociotechnical systems. The monitoring and mapping of pollutions, traffic, infrastructures are great challenges in rapidly changing cities, and especially gained increasing attentions of citizens and are putting great stresses on policy makers and urban planners. Theoretical and practical efforts to create better city monitoring and management systems have a long history. In the 21st century, we recognize and conceive “creative”,“smart”and“knowledge”cities, in which the multidisciplinary Information and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has played a vital role. The Internet of Things (IoT) promotes the development of the smart cities. However, in various urban domains, the cities equipped with a sensor-based web, or a cyber-physical information infrastructure, are far from sufficient to help policy makers or citizens to get a full understanding of the real time or near real time city conditions. To this end, due to their mobility, autonomous operation, and communication/processing capabilities, UAVs are envisaged in many smart city application domains. In this article, we describe a technology of air-ground collaborative low-altitude UAV remote sensing network system. The system composes of intelligent UAV, the UAV base station (drone-in box) and operation system. The UAV remote sensing network can provide high-frequency and real-time observations of the land surface. Based on the UAV remote sensing network, we constructed a comprehensive application for urban governance. An UAVRS network composed of eight UAV base stations was deployed in Danzao Town, Foshan City. Connected through 5G network, the UAVRS network advances the UAV inspection frequency, spatial coverage, and response time. It provides revolutionary and intelligent services for local agents and departments of water affairs, environment protection, public security, urban management, and emergency. The UAVRS network system in Danzao is expected to develop a real-world smart city paradigm that could be copied and migrated to other towns across the country. © 2023 Science Press. All rights reserved. |
