Height uncertainty in digital terrain modelling with unmanned aircraft systems

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the height uncertainty of digital terrain models (DTMs) generated from unmanned aircraft system (UAS) surveys over different surface types -asphalt, gravel and grass. The data used in the study was acquired during two UAS flights performed in spring 2014 with a fixed wing aircraft and two different cameras, from the flying height of about 100 m, and it was processed in different software suites -Agisoft PhotoScan, RapidStation and RapidTerrain. The results show that it is possible to achieve the height uncertainty (expressed as a Root Mean Square Error) in a DTM of below 0.02 m on asphalt surfaces and below 0.04 m on gravel and grass surfaces, provided an overcast sky.