Evaluating an Innovative ICT System for Monitoring Small-Scale Forest Operations: Preliminary Tests in Mediterranean Oak Coppices

Abstract

The application of modern technologies to increase the overall sustainability of forest operations is known as precision forest harvesting. Precision forest harvesting can be a very powerful tool; however, it requires modern forest machinery, which is expensive. Given that most of the forest operators in the Mediterranean area are small-scale businesses, they do not have the resources to purchase costly equipment; thus, the application of precision forest harvesting is affected. Bearing this in mind, in this study, we aimed to test the accuracy of the GNSS receiver on which an innovative Information and Communication Technology (ICT) system developed to monitor small-scale forest operations is based. We tested the GNSS’s accuracy by comparing the extraction routes recorded during coppicing interventions in two forest sites located in Central Italy with those obtained with a more high-performing GNSS receiver. We also used linear mixed-effects models (LMMs) to investigate the effects on the GNSS positioning error of topographic features, such as the slope, elevation, aspect and Topographic Position Index (TPI). We found that the average positioning error was about 2 m, with a maximum error of about 5 m. The LMMs showed that the investigated topographic features did not significantly affect the positioning error and that the GNSS accuracy was strongly related to the specific study area that we used as a random effect in the model (marginal coefficient of determination was about 0.13 and conditional coefficient of determination grew to about 0.59). As a consequence of the negligible canopy cover after coppicing, the tested GNSS receiver achieved satisfactory results. It could therefore be used as a visualising tool for a pre-planned extraction route network, allowing the operator to follow it on the GNSS receiver screen. However, these results are preliminary and should be further tested in more experimental sites and various operational conditions.