The use of RPAS - Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems in the topographic mapping for mining

Abstract In the light of the technological transformations that have been occurring in the field of Remote Sensing, the objective of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and the quality of the results that could be achieved in the topographic modeling of the terrain with a Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) survey in open-pit mines. The mining activity imposes the recurring topographic survey of mined and service areas that require volume evaluation in an interval of at least one month. In this context, the expectation of adopting traditional remote sensing methods for surveying, instead of land surveys, has always been great. The restrictions on the adoption of the conventional photogrammetric or airborne laser scanning (ALS) methods were related to the need for recurring surveys, which are never simple with the use of manned aerial platforms. In this context, the RPAS opens a window of opportunity that should not be ignored, being the main reason for the case study reported here. The essential data set of the research results from the direct confrontation between two digital terrain models: the first obtained with the RPAS survey executed in 2016 and another one of the same area obtained by a laser aerial survey performed in 2012, which was considered as a quality benchmark. The results recommended that the implementation of mapping solutions with RPAS consider the quality constraints of the photogrammetry in order to improve final results with the theoretical and operational knowledge that underpin the photogrammetric process.