Evaluating the precision and accuracy of low-cost Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers beneath a forest canopy positioned in a crisscross arrangement.

• Yoshimura Tetsuhiko

  Faculty of Life and Environmental Science, Shimane University

• Suzuki Yasushi

  Faculty of Agriculture and Marine Science, Kochi University

Bibliographic Information

Other Title

• 樹冠下における低コストGNSSレシーバによる十字配置測位の精密度および正確度の評価

Abstract

The Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) is a satellite-based navigation system used to determine the geographic location of any point on the Earth’s surface. The technology is key for increasing forest resource management efficiency, in addition to wood production and distribution. However, large positional errors under forest canopies that block and attenuate GNSS signals have posed significant challenges since the introduction of the Global Positioning System (GPS) in forestry in the 1990s. In addition, GNSS receivers with post processing differential correction functions are relatively unaffordable for small-scale forest owners in Japan, which is partly the reason for more than half of forest ownership boundaries in Japan remaining undetermined, which further makes the large-scale management and joint operations in Japanese forestry difficult. In the present study, a novel method of geographical positioning that employs low cost GNSS receivers without post-processed differential correction is proposed and validated in field trials. Five-hour GNSS measurements were made beneath a forest canopy using five GNSS receivers positioned in a crisscross arrangement. The positional data were logged and averaged every five seconds and 300 sets of one-minute GNSS measurements were extracted from the five-hour dataset. As a result, the one-minute GNSS measurements using the arrangement produced lower precision and accuracy errors compared to the conventional averaging method at a single measurement point, and the multi-satellite GNSS measurements further reduced the degree of positional error. The present study demonstrates the potential of carrying out GNSS positioning beneath forest canopies with lower degrees of error and costs and shorter logging times than required previously. However, it is still necessary to improve the portability and practicality of using GNSS equipment in a crisscross arrangement.

Journal

• Journal of The Japan Forest Engineering Society

  Journal of The Japan Forest Engineering Society 34 (4), n/a-, 2019-10-31

  The Japan Forest Engineering Society

Keywords

• GNSS
• precision
• accuracy
• forest canopy
• crisscross arrangement

Details

• CRID: 1390846609785663232
• NII Article ID: 130007771115
• DOI: 10.18945/jjfes.34.197
• ISSN: 21896658
• ISSN: 13423134
• Text Lang: en
• Data Source:
  • JaLC
  • CiNii Articles
  • KAKEN
• Abstract License Flag: Disallowed