How are Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) Revolutionizing Forest Operations? A Systematic Review of Current...

The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones, in forest operations has increased significantly, with applications ranging from rut and deformation mapping and canopy and gap analysis to road geometry and stockpile/woodchip volume calculations. However, no comprehensive reviews have synthesized the use of UAVs in forest operations. Here we present a systematic review of 48 studies on UAV use in harvesting, logging, site preparation, and forest roads. PRISMA guidelines were used to collect and analyze the literature from the Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus databases. The review reported five major forest operation domains, among which soil disturbance and erosion management received the greatest number of studies, followed by forest harvesting and impact monitoring, whereas UAVs are least commonly applied to forest roads and infrastructure, which remains comparatively understudied. Most used UAVs are multirotor, such as the DJI Phantom 4 Pro equipped with RGB sensors, with Agisoft Metashape being the most common image processing software. Overall, UAV-based methods have been reported to be more efficient, accurate, and cost-effective than traditional surveys. Key limitations include limited battery life, susceptibility to obstacles, and longer processing times. Since 2020, the use of UAVs has increased significantly, peaking in 2023, with the United States and Croatia contributing the most publications. The integration of UAV images with advanced technologies, such as artificial intelligence, is emerging and offers new opportunities for operational monitoring and decision support. Our findings demonstrate that UAVs are essential tools for forest operations, although further technological advancements and improvements are necessary to enhance their effectiveness and overcome current limitations.