Think about what you want. Do you want data on plants per acre or do you want accurate plant spacing information? Spacing is the critical factor as that addresses base germination, emergence inhibition and early growth inhibition. Here, pixel resolution and GPS accuracy are the critical factors. It also helps if the drone’s imager allows imaging at an angle. There is no need to image an entire field, just blocks representing soil types/major conditions where a block represents the width of your planter times some length, say 100 feet of so. Imaging needs to be done 2x or 3x. Weed mapping is simple with a hyperspectral system because the spectral signature of a plant is unique by species. Spectral deconvolution allows one to define infestation by species. Foresters have been mapping trees by species for at least two decades and using that information to define where to do airborne fertilizer application. Follow-up allows them to monitor efficacy (i.e., growth rate) by measuring carbon accretion. |