Unmanned Aerial System for Precision Agriculture

Dr. Dharmendra Saraswat – Dept. of Biol. & Ag. Eng.

Dr. James Robbins – Dept. of Horticulture

Outline

1. Background 2. Nursery Scenarios 3. System Introduction 4. Some Applications 5. Way to Go!!!!

How did we get here? Dr. James Robbins

Team Members Dr. J. Robbins Dr. D.Saraswat University of Arkansas

H. Stoven Oregon State University

Dr. J. Maja University of Florida

S. Doane J Frank Schmidt & Son Nursery

Dr. C. Landgren Dr. J. Owen Oregon State University

May 2008

June 2009

Development of a ground-based remote sensing system

This looks easy

…but many challenges.

Containers: at least 55% of U.S. nursery production

System Overview and Potential Precision

Agriculture Applications

Dr. Dharmendra Saraswat

Systems Overview

Requirements: 1. Platform cost (<$10,000) 2. Capable of Vertical Take-Off and Landing 3. Flight Control Capabilities 4. Ease in Operator’s Training

Systems Overview-contd.

APPA (Autonomous Platform for Precision Agriculture)

Systems Overview-contd.

APPA

Payload Capacity : 2.2 pounds (1 kg) Powered by: Lithium-ion battery, 9-40 minutes Flight Control: a. Camera parallel b. On-board flight and navigation system c. Ability to follow a flight course

determined by pre-loaded waypoints d. Capable of hovering above a point of

interest

Advantages: 1. High spatial resolution- spatial pattern, structure of soil 2. Quick deployment 3. Repeated deployment 4. Ideal for inventory management and other Precision Agriculture applications - field monitoring for irrigation system

failures, - fence integrity inspection, - identify crop stress due to nutrients,

diseases, water, weed, insect, herbicide etc.

APPA

System Overview-contd.

High Resolution

APPA

System Overview-contd.

Google Earth Landsat Satellite

Detailed View of the Field

APPA

System Overview-contd.

Sony NEX-5 Flying Height: 35 m (approx. 115’) Image size: 4592*3056 1 cm resolution = 0.3 acres

Flying Height: 85 m (approx. 279’) 5 cm resolution: approx. 13.7 acres

Flying Height: 60 m (approx. 197’) 2 cm resolution: approx. 1.4 acres

Demo

Applications APPA

Applications APPA

1. Inventory Management a. Christmas Tree Farms b. Open Field Nurseries c. Citrus Orchards 2. Row-Crops 3. Others

Yule Tree Farm- Christmas Tree Farm

Area of Interest

Area of Interest

Area of Interest

Training

Classify

Identify

Count Accuracy

Challenge

Inventory management in open-field nurseries

Plant Count

Inventory management in Pot-in-Pot Nursery

Diameter Estimation/Plant Grade- Citrus

Source: Ehsani, UFL

Sugarcane Fertility Trials

Source: Ehsani, UFL

Visually, this variety in particular seems to be doing better than others on the dark soil

NDVI Image (dark soil vs. regular soil. The dark green shows higher biomass and healthier crop

False color image

Source: Ehsani, UFL

Way to Go!!!

1. Challenges exist for creating image mosaic a. Microsoft Research Image Composite Editor (ICE) b. Ptgui c. Hugin, etc. 2. Distortion removal requires expertise in image

processing

3. Accuracy of on-board GPS needs improvement

4. An open source based system for standardized workflow is to be pursued in long range

Acknowledgements

• Oregon Association of Nurseries (OAN)

• Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA)

• J. Frank Schmidt Family Charitable Foundation

• J. Frank Schmidt & Son Co.

• Bailey Nurseries

• Arkansas Corn and Grain Sorghum Board