Investigation of the usability of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) data in volume calculations

Volume calculations are used in many engineering studies. Today one of the most important business lines of Surveying Engineering in the construction and mining sector is volume calculation. Volume calculations can be made using data obtained from different methods such as geodetic, photogrammetric and laser scanning. Especially in areas that are risky and difficult to access, it is more appropriate to make volume calculations with the help of aerial or ground photographs of the region rather than measurements on the field. Today photogrammetry has a very important place in the field of cartography. In the production of photogrammetric maps, images are acquired using different platforms. Developing technology has revealed new alternatives in aerial photography. As a result of the technological developments experienced, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) have started to be used in the data produced by remote sensing and photogrammetry. In this study, the volume calculations made using UAV data which have found application in many subjects in recent years, were analyzed from different perspectives. The volume of a known agricultural product storage facility (SILO) and the volume of a fill area were calculated with the help of UAV data. In the calculation made, the volume of the SILO with a regular geometric structure was calculated with an accuracy of 98%, and the volume of the filling area without a regular geometric structure was calculated with an accuracy of 94.38%. Keywords: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Photogrammetry, SILO, Volume calculation