scholarly journals An Automatic UAV Based Segmentation Approach for Pruning Biomass Estimation in Irregularly Spaced Chestnut Orchards

Forests ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 308 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salvatore Filippo Di Gennaro ◽  
Carla Nati ◽  
Riccardo Dainelli ◽  
Laura Pastonchi ◽  
Andrea Berton ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Precision Agriculture ◽  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Central Italy ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Biomass Estimation ◽  
Geometric Features ◽  
Unsupervised Segmentation ◽  
Segmentation Approach ◽  
Pruning Residues ◽  
Strategic Support

The agricultural and forestry sector is constantly evolving, also through the increased use of precision technologies including Remote Sensing (RS). Remotely biomass estimation (WaSfM) in wood production forests is already debated in the literature, but there is a lack of knowledge in quantifying pruning residues from canopy management. The aim of the present study was to verify the reliability of RS techniques for the estimation of pruning biomass through differences in the volume of canopy trees and to evaluate the performance of an unsupervised segmentation methodology as a feasible tool for the analysis of large areas. Remote sensed data were acquired on four uneven-aged and irregularly spaced chestnut orchards in Central Italy by an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) equipped with a multispectral camera. Chestnut geometric features were extracted using both supervised and unsupervised crown segmentation and then applying a double filtering process based on Canopy Height Model (CHM) and vegetation index threshold. The results show that UAV monitoring provides good performance in detecting biomass reduction after pruning, despite some differences between the trees’ geometric features. The proposed unsupervised methodology for tree detection and vegetation cover evaluation purposes showed good performance, with a low undetected tree percentage value (1.7%). Comparing crown projected volume reduction extracted by means of supervised and unsupervised approach, R2 ranged from 0.76 to 0.95 among all the sites. Finally, the validation step was assessed by evaluating correlations between measured and estimated pruning wood biomass (Wpw) for single and grouped sites (0.53 < R2 < 0.83). The method described in this work could provide effective strategic support for chestnut orchard management in line with a precision agriculture approach. In the context of the Circular Economy, a fast and cost-effective tool able to estimate the amounts of wastes available as by-products such as chestnut pruning residues can be included in an alternative and virtuous supply chain.

scholarly journals UAV and Machine Learning Based Refinement of a Satellite-Driven Vegetation Index for Precision Agriculture

Sensors ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (9) ◽  
pp. 2530 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vittorio Mazzia ◽  
Lorenzo Comba ◽  
Aleem Khaliq ◽  
Marcello Chiaberge ◽  
Paolo Gay
Keyword(s):  
Satellite Imagery ◽  
Precision Agriculture ◽  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Normalized Difference Vegetation Index ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Inaccurate Information ◽  
Agricultural Applications ◽  
Aerial Vehicle

Precision agriculture is considered to be a fundamental approach in pursuing a low-input, high-efficiency, and sustainable kind of agriculture when performing site-specific management practices. To achieve this objective, a reliable and updated description of the local status of crops is required. Remote sensing, and in particular satellite-based imagery, proved to be a valuable tool in crop mapping, monitoring, and diseases assessment. However, freely available satellite imagery with low or moderate resolutions showed some limits in specific agricultural applications, e.g., where crops are grown by rows. Indeed, in this framework, the satellite’s output could be biased by intra-row covering, giving inaccurate information about crop status. This paper presents a novel satellite imagery refinement framework, based on a deep learning technique which exploits information properly derived from high resolution images acquired by unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) airborne multispectral sensors. To train the convolutional neural network, only a single UAV-driven dataset is required, making the proposed approach simple and cost-effective. A vineyard in Serralunga d’Alba (Northern Italy) was chosen as a case study for validation purposes. Refined satellite-driven normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) maps, acquired in four different periods during the vine growing season, were shown to better describe crop status with respect to raw datasets by correlation analysis and ANOVA. In addition, using a K-means based classifier, 3-class vineyard vigor maps were profitably derived from the NDVI maps, which are a valuable tool for growers.

UAV application for precision agriculture

2019 ◽  
Vol 91 (2) ◽  
pp. 257-263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafal Perz ◽  
Kacper Wronowski
Keyword(s):  
Precision Agriculture ◽  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Normalized Difference Vegetation Index ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Lower Altitude ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Agriculture Industry ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Forest Industries

Purpose The purpose of this study is to show the potentials of a cost-effective unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) system for agriculture industry. The current population growth rate is so vast that farming industry must be highly efficient and optimized. As a response for high quality food demands, the new branch of the agriculture industry has been formed – the precision agriculture. It supports farming process with sensors, automation and innovative technologies. The UAV advantages over regular aviation are withering. Not only they can fly at lower altitude and are more precise but also offer same high quality and are much cheaper. Design/methodology/approach The main objective of this project was to implement an exemplary cost-effective UAV system with electronic camera stabilizer for gaining useful data for agriculture. The system was based on small, unmanned flying wing able to perform fully autonomous missions, a commercially available camera and an own-design camera stabilizer. The research plan was to integrate the platform and run numerous experimental flights over farms, fields and woods collecting aerial pictures. All the missions have been planned to serve for local farming and forest industries and cooperated with local business authorities. Findings In preliminary flight tests, the variety of geodetic, forest and agriculture data have been acquired, placed for post processing and applied for the farming processes. The results of the research were high quality orthophoto maps, 3D maps, digital surface models and images mosaics with normalized difference vegetation index. The end users were astonished with the high-quality results and claimed the high importance for their business. Originality/value The case study results proved that this kind of a small UAV system is exceptional to manage and optimize processes at innovative farms. So far only professional, high-cost UAV platforms or traditional airships have been applied for agriculture industry. This paper shows that even simple, commercially available equipment could be used for professional applications.

scholarly journals Biomass estimation of cultivated red algae Pyropia using unmanned aerial platform based multispectral imaging

Plant Methods ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuai Che ◽  
Guoying Du ◽  
Ning Wang ◽  
Kun He ◽  
Zhaolan Mo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Throughput ◽  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Multispectral Imaging ◽  
Vegetation Indices ◽  
Spectral Imaging ◽  
Shielding Effect ◽  
Quadratic Model ◽  
Biomass Estimation ◽  
Marine Aquaculture ◽  
Significant Difference

Abstract Background Pyropia is an economically advantageous genus of red macroalgae, which has been cultivated in the coastal areas of East Asia for over 300 years. Realizing estimation of macroalgae biomass in a high-throughput way would great benefit their cultivation management and research on breeding and phenomics. However, the conventional method is labour-intensive, time-consuming, manually destructive, and prone to human error. Nowadays, high-throughput phenotyping using unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-based spectral imaging is widely used for terrestrial crops, grassland, and forest, but no such application in marine aquaculture has been reported. Results In this study, multispectral images of cultivated Pyropia yezoensis were taken using a UAV system in the north of Haizhou Bay in the midwestern coast of Yellow Sea. The exposure period of P. yezoensis was utilized to prevent the significant shielding effect of seawater on the reflectance spectrum. The vegetation indices of normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), ratio vegetation index (RVI), difference vegetation index (DVI) and normalized difference of red edge (NDRE) were derived and indicated no significant difference between the time that P. yezoensis was completely exposed to the air and 1 h later. The regression models of the vegetation indices and P. yezoensis biomass per unit area were established and validated. The quadratic model of DVI (Biomass = − 5.550DVI2 + 105.410DVI + 7.530) showed more accuracy than the other index or indices combination, with the highest coefficient of determination (R2), root mean square error (RMSE), and relative estimated accuracy (Ac) values of 0.925, 8.06, and 74.93%, respectively. The regression model was further validated by consistently predicting the biomass with a high R2 value of 0.918, RMSE of 8.80, and Ac of 82.25%. Conclusions This study suggests that the biomass of Pyropia can be effectively estimated using UAV-based spectral imaging with high accuracy and consistency. It also implied that multispectral aerial imaging is potential to assist digital management and phenomics research on cultivated macroalgae in a high-throughput way.

Using photography to estimate above-ground biomass of small trees

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Brandon R. Hays ◽  
Corinna Riginos ◽  
Todd M. Palmer ◽  
Benard C. Gituku ◽  
Jacob R. Goheen
Keyword(s):  
Cost Effective ◽  
Allometric Equation ◽  
Biomass Estimation ◽  
Above Ground Biomass ◽  
Tree Biomass ◽  
East African ◽  
Ground Biomass ◽  
Herbivore Exclusion ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Allometric Relation

Abstract Quantifying tree biomass is an important research and management goal across many disciplines. For species that exhibit predictable relationships between structural metrics (e.g. diameter, height, crown breadth) and total weight, allometric calculations produce accurate estimates of above-ground biomass. However, such methods may be insufficient where inter-individual variation is large relative to individual biomass and is itself of interest (for example, variation due to herbivory). In an East African savanna bushland, we analysed photographs of small (<5 m) trees from perpendicular angles and fixed distances to estimate above-ground biomass. Pixel area of trees in photos and diameter were more strongly related to measured, above-ground biomass of destructively sampled trees than biomass estimated using a published allometric relation based on diameter alone (R2 = 0.86 versus R2 = 0.68). When tested on trees in herbivore-exclusion plots versus unfenced (open) plots, our predictive equation based on photos confirmed higher above-ground biomass in the exclusion plots than in unfenced (open) plots (P < 0.001), in contrast to no significant difference based on the allometric equation (P = 0.43). As such, our new technique based on photographs offers an accurate and cost-effective complement to existing methods for tree biomass estimation at small scales with potential application across a wide variety of settings.

scholarly journals Estimating the Biomass of Waterhyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) Using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index Derived from Simulated Landsat 5 TM

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wilfredo Robles ◽  
John D. Madsen ◽  
Ryan M. Wersal
Keyword(s):  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Normalized Difference Vegetation Index ◽  
Simulated Data ◽  
Water Bodies ◽  
Biomass Estimation ◽  
Aquatic Weed ◽  
Target Area ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Area Index ◽  
Landsat 5 Tm

Waterhyacinth is a free-floating aquatic weed that is considered a nuisance worldwide. Excessive growth of waterhyacinth limits recreational use of water bodies as well as interferes with many ecological processes. Accurate estimates of biomass are useful to assess the effectiveness of control methods to manage this aquatic weed. While large water bodies require significant labor inputs with respect to ground-truth surveys, available technology like remote sensing could be capable of providing temporal and spatial information from a target area at a much reduced cost. Studies were conducted at Lakes Columbus and Aberdeen (Mississippi) during the growing seasons of 2005 and 2006 over established populations of waterhyacinth. The objective was to estimate biomass based on nondestructive methods using the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) derived from Landsat 5 TM simulated data. Biomass was collected monthly using a 0.10m2 quadrat at 25 randomly-located locations at each site. Morphometric plant parameters were also collected to enhance the use of NDVI for biomass estimation. Reflectance measurements using a hyperspectral sensor were taken every month at each site during biomass collection. These spectral signatures were then transformed into a Landsat 5 TM simulated data set using MatLab® software. A positive linear relationship (r2 = 0.28) was found between measured biomass of waterhyacinth and NDVI values from the simulated dataset. While this relationship appears weak, the addition of morphological parameters such as leaf area index (LAI) and leaf length enhanced the relationship yielding an r2 = 0.66. Empirically, NDVI saturates at high LAI, which may limit its use to estimate the biomass in very dense vegetation. Further studies using NDVI calculated from narrower spectral bands than those contained in Landsat 5 TM are recommended.

scholarly journals Smarter Robotic Sprayer System for Precision Agriculture

Electronics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (17) ◽  
pp. 2061
Author(s):  
André Rodrigues Baltazar ◽  
Filipe Neves dos Santos ◽  
António Paulo Moreira ◽  
António Valente ◽  
José Boaventura Cunha
Keyword(s):  
Precision Agriculture ◽  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Reference Value ◽  
Support Vector ◽  
Svm Classifier ◽  
Accuracy Score ◽  
Accuracy And Precision ◽  
Perception System ◽  
Water Rate ◽  
Leaf Density

The automation of agricultural processes is expected to positively impact the environment by reducing waste and increasing food security, maximising resource use. Precision spraying is a method used to reduce the losses during pesticides application, reducing chemical residues in the soil. In this work, we developed a smart and novel electric sprayer that can be assembled on a robot. The sprayer has a crop perception system that calculates the leaf density based on a support vector machine (SVM) classifier using image histograms (local binary pattern (LBP), vegetation index, average, and hue). This density can then be used as a reference value to feed a controller that determines the air flow, the water rate, and the water density of the sprayer. This perception system was developed and tested with a created dataset available to the scientific community and represents a significant contribution. The results of the leaf density classifier show an accuracy score that varies between 80% and 85%. The conducted tests prove that the solution has the potential to increase the spraying accuracy and precision.

scholarly journals Minimizing the Impacts of Desertification in an Arid Region: A Case Study of the West Desert of Iraq

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Khamis Naba Sayl ◽  
Sadeq Oleiwi Sulaiman ◽  
Ammar Hatem Kamel ◽  
Nur Shazwani Muhammad ◽  
Jazuri Abdullah ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Degradation ◽  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Rainwater Harvesting ◽  
Large Change ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Western Desert ◽  
Gis Environment ◽  
Small Change ◽  
Western Desert Of Iraq ◽  
Suitable Land

Currently, desertification is a major problem in the western desert of Iraq. The harsh nature, remoteness, and size of the desert make it difficult and expensive to monitor and mitigate desertification. Therefore, this study proposed a comprehensive and cost-effective method, via the integration of geographic information systems (GISs) and remote sensing (RS) techniques to estimate the potential risk of desertification, to identify the most vulnerable areas and determine the most appropriate sites for rainwater conservation. Two indices, namely, the Normalized Differential Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Land Degradation Index (LDI), were used for a cadastral assessment of land degradation. The findings of the combined rainwater harvesting appropriateness map, and the maps of NDVI and LDI changes found that 65% of highly suitable land for rainwater harvesting lies in the large change and 35% lies in the small change of NDVI, and 85% of highly suitable land lies in areas with a moderate change and 12% lies in strong change of LDI. The adoption of the weighted linear combination (WLC) and Boolean methods within the GIS environment, and the analysis of NDVI with LDI changes can allow hydrologists, decision-makers, and planners to quickly determine and minimize the risk of desertification and to prioritize the determination of suitable sites for rainwater harvesting.

scholarly journals Modelling Acacia saligna invasion on the Adriatic coastal landscape: An integrative approach using LTER data

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 ◽  
pp. 127-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Flavio Marzialetti ◽  
Manuele Bazzichetto ◽  
Silvia Giulio ◽  
Alicia T.R. Acosta ◽  
Angela Stanisci ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Propagule Pressure ◽  
Vascular Plant ◽  
Central Italy ◽  
Coastal Dunes ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Integrative Approach ◽  
Distribution Models ◽  
Adriatic Coast ◽  
The Impact

Invasive Alien Species (IAS) pose a major threat to biodiversity and ecosystem services worldwide. Even if preventing biological invasions should be the most cost-effective way to minimise the impact of IAS on biodiversity, new efforts are necessary to identify early signs of invasion and to assess invasion risk. In this context, the implementation of invasive Species Distribution Models (iSDMs) could represent a sound instrument that merits further research. Acaciasaligna is an Australian vascular plant introduced into Europe during the last half century and is one of the most aggressive IAS in the Mediterranean basin. In this work, we model the occurrence of A.saligna in the coastal landscapes of central Italy (Adriatic coast) while accounting for the simultaneous effect of multiple factors (propagule pressure, abiotic, biotic factors). The iSDM for A.saligna was implemented on a representative tract of the Adriatic coast in central Italy (Molise region), largely included in two Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) sites which actively contribute to the description of the considered ecosystem status and possible future trends. By using a Generalised Linear Model (GLM) with a binomial distribution of errors based on field and cartographic geo-referenced data, we examined the statistical relationship between the occurrence of A.saligna and a comprehensive set of environmental factors. The iSDM effectively captured the role of the different variables in determining the occurrence of A.saligna in the coastal dunes. Its occurrence is primarily related to Wooded dunes with Pinuspinea and/or P.pinaster (EU Habitat 2270) and distance from the sea and, to a lesser extent, with distance from roads and rivers. This research provides a first exploratory analysis of the environmental characteristics that promote the rapid growth and development of A.saligna in Italian dune ecosystems, identifying the habitats that are mainly affected by the invasive process in coastal areas and, by doing so, contributing to filling the gap between theory and practice in conservation decision-making. Finally, the LTER network benefitted from this research, confirming its relevance in providing useful information for modelling and monitoring invasion processes.

scholarly journals A Case Study about the Use of Precision Agriculture Technology Applied to a Zn Biofortification Workflow for Grapevine Vitis vinifera cv Moscatel

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 2
Author(s):  
Diana Daccak ◽  
Inês Carmo Luís ◽  
Ana Coelho Marques ◽  
Ana Rita F. Coelho ◽  
Cláudia Campos Pessoa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Vitis Vinifera ◽  
Precision Agriculture ◽  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Normalized Difference Vegetation Index ◽  
Foliar Application ◽  
Fold Increase ◽  
Production Cycle ◽  
Smart Farming ◽  
Reduced Surface

As the human population is growing worldwide, the food demand is sharply increasing. Following this assumption, strategies to enhance the food production are being explored, namely, smart farming, for monitoring crops during the production cycle. In this study, a vineyard of Vitis vinifera cv. Moscatel located in Palmela (N 38°35′47.113′′ O 8°40′46.651) was submitted to a Zn biofortification workflow, through foliar application of zinc oxide (ZnO) or zinc sulfate (ZnSO4) (at a concentration of 60% and 90%—900 g·ha−1 and 1350 g·ha−1, respectively). The field morphology and vigor of the vineyard was performed through Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) images (assessed with altimetric measurement sensors), synchronized by GPS. Drainage capacity and slopes showed one-third of the field with reduced surface drainage and a maximum variation of 0.80 m between the extremes (almost flat), respectively. The NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) values reflected a greater vigor in treated grapes with treatment SZn90 showing a higher value. These data were interpolated with mineral content, monitored with atomic absorption analysis (showing a 1.3-fold increase for the biofortification index). It was concluded that the used technologies furnishes specific target information in real time about the crops production.

scholarly journals New 30 m resolution Hong Kong climate, vegetation, and topography rasters indicate greater spatial variation than global grids within an urban mosaic

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 1083-1098 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brett Morgan ◽  
Benoit Guénard
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Precision Agriculture ◽  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Normalized Difference Vegetation Index ◽  
City Planning ◽  
Rapid Urbanization ◽  
Local Climate ◽  
Spatial Understanding ◽  
Environmental And Ecological Studies ◽  
Relevant Variables

Abstract. The recent proliferation of high-quality global gridded environmental datasets has spurred a renaissance of studies in many fields, including biogeography. However, these data, often 1 km at the finest scale available, are too coarse for applications such as precise designation of conservation priority areas and regional species distribution modeling, or purposes outside of biology such as city planning and precision agriculture. Further, these global datasets likely underestimate local climate variations because they do not incorporate locally relevant variables. Here we describe a comprehensive set of 30 m resolution rasters for Hong Kong, a small tropical territory with highly variable terrain where intense anthropogenic disturbance meets a robust protected area system. The data include topographic variables, a Normalized Difference Vegetation Index raster, and interpolated climate variables based on weather station observations. We present validation statistics that convey each climate variable's reliability and compare our results to a widely used global dataset, finding that our models consistently reflect greater climatic variation. To our knowledge, this is the first set of published environmental rasters specific to Hong Kong. We hope this diverse suite of geographic data will facilitate future environmental and ecological studies in this region of the world, where a spatial understanding of rapid urbanization, introduced species pressure, and conservation efforts is critical. The dataset (Morgan and Guénard, 2018) is accessible at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.6791276.

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