Novel Method for Monitoring Mining Subsidence Featuring Co-Registration of UAV LiDAR Data and Photogrammetry

Addressing the problem that traditional methods cannot reliably monitor surface subsidence in coal mining, a novel method has been developed for monitoring subsidence in mining areas using time series unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) photogrammetry in combination with LiDAR. A dynamic subsidence basin based on the differential digital elevation model (DEM) was constructed and accuracy of the proposed method was verified, with the uncertainty of the DEM of difference (DoD) being quantified via co-registration of a dense matching point cloud of the time series UAV data. The root mean square error calculated for the monitoring points on the subsidence DEM was typically between 0.2 m and 0.3 m with a minimum of 0.17 m. The relative error between the maximum subsidence value of the extracted profile line on the main section after fitting and the measured maximum subsidence value was not more than 20%, and the minimum value was 0.7%. The accuracy of the UAV based method was at the decimeter level, and high accuracy in monitoring the maximum subsidence value was attained, confirming that an innovative strategy for monitoring mining subsidence was realized.

Automated summary

A novel method has been developed using UAV photogrammetry and LiDAR technology to monitor surface subsidence in coal mining areas. The accuracy of the method was verified by constructing a dynamic subsidence basin and quantifying the uncertainty of the differential digital elevation model. The results showed that the method achieved decimeter-level accuracy and had high accuracy in monitoring the maximum subsidence value.