Abstract
Rapid technological advances have dramatically increased affordability and accessibility of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and associated sensors. Compact multispectral drone sensors capture high-resolution imagery in visible and near-infrared parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, allowing for the calculation of vegetation indices, such as the normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI) for productivity estimates and vegetation classification. Despite the technological advances, challenges remain in capturing high-quality data, highlighting the need for standardized workflows. Here, we discuss challenges, technical aspects, and practical considerations of vegetation monitoring using multispectral drone sensors and propose a workflow based on remote sensing principles and our field experience in high-latitude environments, using the Parrot Sequoia (Pairs, France) sensor as an example. We focus on the key error sources associated with solar angle, weather conditions, geolocation, and radiometric calibration and estimate their relative contributions that can lead to uncertainty of more than ±10% in peak season NDVI estimates of our tundra field site. Our findings show that these errors can be accounted for by improved flight planning, metadata collection, ground control point deployment, use of reflectance targets, and quality control. With standardized best practice, multispectral sensors can provide meaningful spatial data that is reproducible and comparable across space and time.
Highlights
If the images are stored in several folders, the same operation should be repeated for each folder
This tutorial describes common workflow related to the reflectance calibration of multispectral image data acquired using Parrot Sequoia or MicaSense RedEdge cameras
In the Add Photos dialog choose “Create Multispectral Cameras” option: If the images are stored in several folders, the same operation should be repeated for each folder
Summary
If the images are stored in several folders, the same operation should be repeated for each folder. This tutorial describes common workflow related to the reflectance calibration of multispectral image data acquired using Parrot Sequoia or MicaSense RedEdge cameras. Open Workflow menu and choose Add Photos option.
Published Version (Free)
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