Overview and Current Status of Remote Sensing Applications Based on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)

Abstract Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) is presently in continuous development at a rapid pace. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) or more extensively Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) are platforms considered under the RPAs paradigm. Simultaneously, the development of sensors and instruments to be installed onboard such platforms is growing exponentially. These two factors together have led to the increasing use of these platforms and sensors for remote sensing applications with new potential. Thus, the overall goal of this paper is to provide a panoramic overview about the current status of remote sensing applications based on unmanned aerial platforms equipped with a set of specific sensors and instruments.…