Estimating distribution of precision solar radiation using unmanned aerial vehicle

The aim of this study was to perform a precise spatial distribution of solar radiation estimation using UAV as a way to use solar energy efficiently. Fixed wing UAV was used to acquire image for a precisely topographical map. The whole work can be divided into two step. In first step, images acquired by UAV are used to build a digital surface model based on point cloud method. In the next step, calculated slope and angle data is used to model clear sky solar radiation. The solar radiation data for 2015 was taken from Korean Meteorological Administration (KMA). The highest daily solar radiation appears in May of 22.7 MJ/m
²
, and the lowest daily solar radiation in May appears 15.7MJ/m
²
. And the range of daily solar radiation appears in December is 2.9 MJ/m
²
to 7.1 MJ/m
²
. These results may be useful providing input to agricultural and ecosystem that are dependent on solar radiation, such as engineers, designers, developers, and so forth, during the selection location process for solar installation.