Abstract
Agricultural aircraft provide a readily available and versatile platform for airborne remote sensing. Although various airborne imaging systems are available, most of these systems are either too expensive or too complex to be of practical use for day-to-day aerial application operations. The objective of this study was to develop a low-cost, user-friendly imaging system that can be easily installed on aerial applicators. An imaging system was assembled using off-the-shelf electronics. The system consisted of a digital camera to capture color images, a GPS receiver to geotag images, a video monitor to view live images, and a remote control to trigger the camera. The camera was attached to an aerial applicator and the GPS unit and video monitor were installed in the cockpit. The parameters of the camera were optimized to acquire images under various altitudes, speeds, and ground cover conditions. Geotagged images taken from individual sites or large areas were viewed and mosaicked together using free and inexpensive software. Aerial applicators can assemble such a system and use it to generate additional revenues from remote sensing services. Analysis of sample images has shown that the imaging system has potential for crop condition assessment and pest detection.
Highlights
Over the last two decades, numerous commercial and custom-built airborne imaging systems have been developed for diverse remote sensing applications, including precision agriculture, pest management, and other agricultural applications.[1,2]
Airborne imaging systems still offer some advantages over satellite imagery due to their relatively low cost, highspatial resolution, easy deployment, and real-time/near-real-time availability of imagery for visual assessment and processing
The imaging system consisted of a Nikon D90 digital complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) camera with a Nikon AF Nikkor 24 mm f/2.8D lens (Nikon Inc., Melville, New York) to capture the color image with up to 4288 × 2848 pixels, a Nikon GP-1A GPS receiver (Nikon Inc.) to geotag the image, an AUVIO 7-in. portable LCD video monitor (Ignition L.P., Dallas, Texas) to view the live image, and a Vello FreeWave wireless remote shutter release (Gradus Group LLC, New York) to trigger the camera
Summary
Over the last two decades, numerous commercial and custom-built airborne imaging systems have been developed for diverse remote sensing applications, including precision agriculture, pest management, and other agricultural applications.[1,2] Commercial availability of high resolution satellite imaging systems (e.g., GeoEye-1 and WorldView 2) in recent years provides new opportunities for remote sensing applications in agriculture.[3,4] airborne imaging systems still offer some advantages over satellite imagery due to their relatively low cost, highspatial resolution, easy deployment, and real-time/near-real-time availability of imagery for visual assessment and processing. They protect forest and play an important role in protecting the public by controlling mosquitoes If these aircraft are equipped with an imaging system, they can be used to acquire aerial imagery for monitoring crop growing conditions, detecting crop pests (i.e., weeds, diseases, and insect damage), and assessing the performance and efficacy of aerial application treatments. This additional imaging capability will increase the usefulness of these aircraft and help aerial applicators to generate additional revenues from remote sensing services. The objectives of this study were to: (1) assemble a low-cost, single-camera imaging system using off-the-shelf electronics; (2) develop procedures for quick image viewing and mosaicking using free and inexpensive software; and (3) demonstrate the usefulness of the imaging system for crop monitoring and pest detection
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