Precision-enhanced dual-UAV surveying: a hybrid RTK/PPK fusion approach

Abstract

With the rapid development of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology, UAV mapping has been widely adopted in surveying production and smart city applications due to its cost-effectiveness and high efficiency. However, deploying ground control points (GCPs) remains labor-intensive and time-consuming. To address the limitations of current GCP-free UAV mapping-such as significantly lower elevation accuracy compared to horizontal accuracy caused by insufficient redundant observations, and systematic errors accumulating with flight distance-this paper proposes a dual-UAV intersection positioning method. This approach integrates real-time kinematic (RTK) and post-processed kinematic (PPK) positioning for cross-measurements, effectively suppressing random errors through combined adjustment of dual-platform data. Experiments conducted in mountainous and hilly terrains analyzed the impact of intersection angles on measurement accuracy. Results demonstrate that the proposed method complies with the accuracy standards for 1:500 topographic mapping specifications.