Comparison of an unmaned aerial vehicle based physical environment with thermal properties from in-situ measurements: Campus of Changwon National University, South Korea

The rapid development of urban areas has adversely affected the thermal environment. Analysis of the various characteristics of the physical environment in urban spaces that affect the thermal environment and appropriate measures for urban and environmental planning are required to address these problems sustainably. Therefore, the application of unmaned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for the precise analysis of the physical environment in urban spaces was studied. The present study compared the thermal properties measured in the field and the physical environment derived using a UAV in the Changwon National University campus in Changwon-si, South Korea. The physical environment was analyzed using UAV-based parameters such as normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and sky view factor (SVF). The thermal property was collected using radiant energy and land surface temperature that were measured using mobile equipment. UAV NDVI and UAV SVF were strongly correlated with the upward and downward long-wave radiation, respectively. The physical environment measured by the UAV was strongly correlated with the thermal properties. Therefore, UAVs could be useful for monitoring the thermal characteristics of urban spaces.