Estimating Stockpile Volume Using Drone Photography: A Marker-Based Approach

This paper presents a new methodology to accurately calculate the volume of stockpiles. The proposed method has been verified using a stockpile with a known volume. The point cloud has been generated using photogrammetry techniques with images acquired in two scenarios: first, by placing markers Ground Control Points (GCP) without the help of a Global Navigation Satellite System - Real-Time Kinematic (GNSS-RTK), as proposed in the methodology, and second, without placing any markers GCP. It has been observed that the proposed methodology illustrates a volume error of $\mathbf{1. 2 5 \%}$ when markers are placed and a volume error of $8 \%$ when GCPs are completely abandoned. Moreover, this methodology requires less manpower and is cost-effective, providing highly accurate volume measurements compared to RTK-enabled drones.