sUAS LiDAR and Photogrammetry Evaluation in Various Surfaces for Surveying and Mapping

Small unmanned aircraft system (sUAS) photogrammetry and light detection and ranging (LiDAR) experienced fast development over the last decade, making the two technologies an integral component of surveying and mapping. Both technologies are capable of producing dense point clouds of high resolution and accuracy. Despite the many benefits, the two sensors offer different advantages and disadvantages; they can also perform better or worse when encountering different surfaces. Understanding performance differences becomes important for practitioners who are interested in utilizing these technologies and improving decision-making. The paper presents a performance analysis of the two technologies in two study sites with multiple surfaces such as buildings, pavement, grass, sand, and trees. This paper focuses on the uncertainty of the two sensors and the point cloud creation methods. To highlight differences, we perform a cross-section and plane-fitting analysis. We also test the different scanning modes of the sUAS LiDAR unit, which helps us to provide important connections between scanning modes and expected application objectives.