Deep Learning Applied to Vegetation Identification and Removal Using Multidimensional Aerial Data

When performing structural inspection, the generation of three-dimensional (3D) point clouds is a common resource. Those are usually generated from photogrammetry or through laser scan techniques. However, a significant drawback for complete inspection is the presence of covering vegetation, hiding possible structural problems, and making difficult the acquisition of proper object surfaces in order to provide a reliable diagnostic. Therefore, this research’s main contribution is developing an effective vegetation removal methodology through the use of a deep learning structure that is capable of identifying and extracting covering vegetation in 3D point clouds. The proposed approach uses pre and post-processing filtering stages that take advantage of colored point clouds, if they are available, or operate independently. The results showed high classification accuracy and good effectiveness when compared with similar methods in the literature. After this step, if color is available, then a color filter is applied, enhancing the results obtained. Besides, the results are analyzed in light of real Structure From Motion (SFM) reconstruction data, which further validates the proposed method. This research also presented a colored point cloud library of bushes built for the work used by other studies in the field.