Abstract
Unmanned aircraft system (UAS) is a particularly powerful tool for plant phenotyping, due to reasonable cost of procurement and deployment, ease and flexibility for control and operation, ability to reconfigure sensor payloads to diversify sensing, and the ability to seamlessly fit into a larger connected phenotyping network. These advantages have expanded the use of UAS-based plant phenotyping approach in research and breeding applications. This paper reviews the state of the art in the deployment, collection, curation, storage, and analysis of data from UAS-based phenotyping platforms. We discuss pressing technical challenges, identify future trends in UAS-based phenotyping that the plant research community should be aware of, and pinpoint key plant science and agronomic questions that can be resolved with the next generation of UAS-based imaging modalities and associated data analysis pipelines. This review provides a broad account of the state of the art in UAS-based phenotyping to reduce the barrier to entry to plant science practitioners interested in deploying this imaging modality for phenotyping in plant breeding and research areas.
Highlights
Most air vehicles used for plant phenotyping are based on the concept of a remotely piloted aircraft system (RPAS) as defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)
There are, a diversity of names and nomenclature for these devices depending on country of use, with drones, unmanned air vehicle (UAV), and unmanned aircraft system (UAS) being commonly used terms
In order to avoid ambiguity, we choose to call these systems as UAS, with the definition used by the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA): “an unmanned aircraft and associated elements that are required for the pilot in command to operate safely and efficiently in the national airspace system.” (Public Law 112-95, Section 331 (8-9) United States) [1]
Summary
Most air vehicles used for plant phenotyping are based on the concept of a remotely piloted aircraft system (RPAS) as defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). There are several technical decisions that the practitioner has to make to ensure that the UAS operation and subsequent postprocessing analysis produce actionable information from the plant science perspective. The key decisions a practitioner needs to make include: Which UAV and sensor package should one choose? What are current state-of-the-art applications of UAS in plant phenotyping? This paper reviews the state-of-the-art in UAS deployment, data collection, curation, storage, and analyses, discusses pressing technical challenges, and identifies future trends in this arena. Yes (for takeoff) the state of the art in aerial-based analytics to plant sciences and breeding practitioners who are interested in deploying this phenotyping modality matching their specific phenotyping needs. For complementary reading on UAS phenotyping topics not directly covered in our work, readers can refer to additional review articles [3, 4]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
