Methodology for identifying urban heat island parameters using unmanned aerial vehicles

Abstract

Urban heat islands represent one of the most significant consequences of urbanization and have a direct impact on environmental conditions, energy consumption, and human health. This paper presents the development, implementation, and experimental validation of a lightweight unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-based meteorological measurement system for high-resolution urban heat island analysis. The proposed system integrates temperature, humidity, and multi-directional wind velocity sensors into a compact measurement unit mounted on a UAV platform. A custom multi-directional Pitot-Prandtl tube system was developed to enable wind velocity measurements under UAV operating conditions. Field experiments were conducted at 155 measurement locations in the urban area of Belgrade, Serbia, at various heights. The collected data were processed using geographic information system tools and spatial interpolation methods to generate vertical and horizontal atmospheric profiles. The results demonstrate that the proposed system enables high-resolution identification of urban heat island parameters, though full metrological validation of the individual sensors remains a subject for future work.