Virginia Commonwealth UniversityVCU Scholars Compass

Capstone Design Expo Posters College of Engineering

2016

Tree Canopy Analysis: Improving Forest and TreeHealth through Aerial Spectral MeasurementYaw AmoatinVirginia Commonwealth University

Adam HrycykVirginia Commonwealth University

Alex YoonVirginia Commonwealth University

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Tree Canopy AnalysisImproving Forest and Tree Health through

Aerial Spectral Measurement

Team Members: Yaw Amoatin,

Adam Hrycyk, Alex Yoon

Faculty Adviser:

Dr. Carl Elks

Sponsor:

Enrichmond

Sponsor Mentor:

Mr. John Sydnor

Synopsis System Design

Conclusion

50% of trees planted each year in the city suffer from

drought distress and varying diseases resulting in premature

mortality.

Lost return on investment, additional manpower to remove

dead trees.

Desire for a more comprehensive solution to city tree

monitoring.

Enhance “Big Data” collection of urban tree health.

Unmanned Aerial System

(UAS) provides a cost effective

platform for large area forest

surveillance.

UAS + GoPro camera +

Modified lens + Software

analysis.

Photo map produced with

adjusted pixel values according

to software analysis.

High photosynthetic activity

zones marked in red and low

to nonexistent zones marked

in blue to purple.

Output log records photo

levels of low activity for further

inspection.

Technical Approach

This system will provide a streamlined, effective method

of tree monitoring to help improve overall tree health and

diversity as well as quality of life for residents and visitors.

It enables early detection of tree distress.

Blue NDVI =NIR−Blue

NIR+Blue

Modified camera lens is equipped with a red-visible

spectrum bandstop filter and a Near-Infrared (NIR)

bandpass filter.

Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) equation

modified to take NIR and Blue pixel values as function

variables.

Resulting value from -1 (Unhealthy) to 1 (Healthy) with 0

indicating lack of vegetation.

Future

Possible system integration with quadcopter Ground

Control Station software for waypoint navigation.

Subsequent waypoint navigation integration with software

analysis for GPS logging.