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ARS Home » Plains Area » Fargo, North Dakota » Edward T. Schafer Agricultural Research Center » Sunflower and Plant Biology Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #375616
Research Project: Novel Weed Management Solutions: Understanding Weed-Crop Interactions in Northern Climates

Location: Sunflower and Plant Biology Research

Title: Review on unmanned aerial vehicles, remote sensors, imagery processing, and their applications in agriculture

Author
item Olson, Daniel
item Anderson, James

Submitted to: Agronomy Journal
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/5/2021
Publication Date: 3/9/2021
Citation: Olson, D.O., Anderson, J.V. 2021. Review on unmanned aerial vehicles, remote sensors, imagery processing, and their applications in agriculture. Agronomy Journal. 113(2):971-992. https://doi.org/10.1002/agj2.20595.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/agj2.20595

Interpretive Summary: Drones are unmanned aerial vehicles that can be equipped with sensors for monitoring agriculturally important traits such as crop water status, nutrition, yield and quality, and soil mapping, and detection of weeds, insects, and pathogens. The output data generated using drone technology allows producers to identify and locate problem areas in their fields in near real time and helps drive decisions for improving input efficiency in agricultural systems, resulting in maximum return on investment and reduced environmental impact. Advances in drone technology also allows researchers options for collecting measurements on traits such as height assessment, biomass estimation, temperature, and canopy reflectance, which enhances data collection in a non-destructive, objective manner. This review covers more than 100 articles that were obtained from the existing literature and illustrates common drone types, common sensor types, imagery processing options, and the practical application of them in the modern agricultural industry.

Technical Abstract: Drones are becoming more technologically advanced and common place within the agricultural industry. In addition, sensors they can be equipped with are also experiencing rapid technological advancement. These advancements offer those involved in the agricultural industry with an extremely powerful tool that can be applied to numerous applications including assessment of crop water status, nutrition, yield and quality, and soil mapping, and detection of weeds, insects, and pathogens. Drones enable producers to identify and locate problem areas in their fields in near real time and take corrective actions once these areas are verified. Output analyses from drone captured data helps drive decisions for improving input efficiency in agricultural systems, which can result in maximum return on investment and reduced environmental impact. The drone also offers researches the ability to obtain various phenotypic measurements such as height assessment, biomass estimation, temperature, and canopy reflectance. This greatly expedites data collection for the agricultural researcher in a non-destructive, objective manner. This review covers more than 100 articles that were obtained from the existing literature and illustrates common drone types, common sensor types, imagery processing options, and the practical application of them in the modern agricultural industry.