DEM generation of intertidal zone in Korea using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

In this study, we generated Digital Elevation Model (DEM) from Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) to confirm the suitability of UAV to the tidal flat study. The DEMs were generated from aerial triangulation method using rotary-wing UAV. For the accurate generation of mosaic images and DEM, the distorted images occurred by interior and exterior orientation were corrected using camera calibration. In addition, we set up a Ground Control Points (GCPs) in order to correct of the UAV position error. Therefore, the DEM was obtained with geometric error less than 30 cm. The height of generated DEM by UAV was compared with the levelled elevation by RTK-GPS and TanDEM-X radar satellite DEM. From this study, we could confirm that accurate DEM of the tidal flat can be generated using UAV and these detailed spatial information about tidal flat will be widely used for tidal flat management.