Forest Management with Images Captured with Fish-Eye Lenses

Dear Colleagues,

The use of imaging sensors allows the extraction of useful information in different areas. For instance, they make possible a more efficient use of resources while facilitating the realization of different tasks related to forest management. Nevertheless, outdoor environments present characteristics which make the application of image processing techniques a difficult task, e.g., due to lighting conditions or partial occlusions.

To deal with the assessment of variables required for forest management and inventory, several approaches related to remote and proximal sensing techniques have been proposed. In the last decade, approaches based on terrestrial photogrammetry have also started to be developed for this purpose as an alternative to airborne laser scanning, including the use of fish-eye lenses which obtain hemispherical images. Thus, this kind of passive sensors may provide a better option in terms of energy consumption, lower deployment, and data collection costs compared to active sensors.

The emphasis of this Special Issue is placed on the fish-eye sensors oriented toward specific image processing and computer vision applications for forest management. The following is a list of the main topics covered by this Special Issue. The issue will, however, not be limited to these topics:

• Image acquisition devices and systems in forest environments;
• Image processing techniques: color, segmentation, texture analysis, and image fusion;
• Computing vision-based approaches: pattern recognition, 3D scene reconstruction;
• Stereo photogrammetry for forest inventory purposes;
• Applications: leaf area index (LAI), tree diameter at breast height (DBH), height and volume, basal area, crown cover fraction, biomass, number of trees per ha.

Papers must present innovative methods and approaches, or novel applications of existing tools.

Prof. Pedro Javier Herrera Caro
Guest Editor

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• Photogrammetry
• Hemispherical images
• Fish-eye lenses
• Forest management