Precision Agriculture

Drones are a farmer’s friend in more ways than one. Most farms are spread over many acres of land and farmers spend a lot of time trying to survey the farms for drainage or irrigation problems, diseases affecting the plants, the growth rate of the crops, and checking the soil quality. Drones are capable of doing all of this work and much more.

This makes them very suitable for farmers. Some drone startups are even beginning to trial the use of drones for planting the crops. Drones can also spray the crops with necessary insecticides or pesticides (not in Canada) and they can spray nutrients to the ground quickly and very easily. The whole process is completed in less time making it more viable for farmers.

While drones require a one-time investment, they can serve many purposes, from monitoring the crops and soil to surveying the farm for intruders. They can also be used to keep an eye on the farm animals when they go out to graze.

Multi Spectral Technology

Chlorophyll Map: The red edge spectral band is the star here, working in conjunction with the other bands to provide a more accurate measure of not just plant vigor but plant health.

NDVI Layer:This commonly known index compares the reflectance of the red band with that of the near-infrared band. However, this index alone provides limited information.

Digital Surface Model:A DSM is an astonishingly advantageous tool in any agronomist’s arsenal, primarily because of its use in evaluating surface properties and water flow.

RGB Image: RedEdge-MX features global shutters for distortion-free images, including narrowband red, green, and blue bands for RGB color images that when processed are aligned to all visible and non-visible bands and vegetation indices.

Precision Agriculture

Agriculture is all about understanding what’s happening in the field, in order to increase yield and improve efficiency. With drone mapping, growers and agronomists have detailed insights about crops that would not be noticeable on foot or by traditional land-based methods.


Applications and Benefits

• Crop scouting: Using drones is a much quicker, simpler way of scouting crops to find irregularities and issues. Scouting can reduce variability and solve problems faster.

• Soil mapping: Identify crop variation and damage across an entire field in a matter of hours.

• Irrigation optimization: Drone imagery helps identify irregularities in irrigation based on vegetative cover and other indicators that can only be seen from overhead. With the imagery, adjustments and irrigation uniformity can be made and achieved.

• Drainage repair: Fix drainage issues so that water is consistent across the crop.

• Yield optimization: Make the right crop adjustments faster with instant data and detailed mapping.

• Plant counting and yield projection: Generate plant counts and make accurate projections based on detailed, high-resolution mapping.

• Nitrogen application: See nitrogen deficiencies in crops and make better-informed decisions about issues like crop reseeding and targeted nutrient applications. Generate Variable Rate Prescriptions for Nitrogen and Pesticides.

• Emergence/Stand count: Determine if replanting is required in any areas.

• Equipment malfunction detection: Catch equipment issues that result in uneven seeding, pesticides distribution or replanting or gaps in plants.

• Pest issues: Determine if any areas are having pest issues, and assess the effectiveness of pest control strategies.

• Assess and clean-up damage after a storm: Capture a complete picture of the field and generate a detailed Skymatics crop damage report for a greater understanding of the storm’s damage.

• Insurance claim forensics: Reduce crop loss and assess crop damage to negotiate fair loss percentages.

• Monitor Livestock: Keep track of livestock and grazing patterns.

• Stockpile Measuring: Monitor the supply and use of feed and fertilizer by measuring its cut-and fill volume.

If you would like more information please contact me
John Johnstone (647) 241-9007
jj@omniviewtech.ca

Ultra-High Resolution, Unlimited Analytical Capabilities RGB, Multispectral, and Thermal imagery at higher resolutions for advanced vegetation research applications

Irrigation Scheduling

Determining irrigation time, frequency, and duration is a critical factor in production agriculture since it directly impacts the health of crops. Altum-PT thermal imagery provides powerful insights into water management, helping irrigation managers determine the correct watering and identify leaks or clogs in the irrigation system by the difference in crop canopy and soil temperature.

Disease, Pest and Nutrient Deficiency Detection

With the high-resolution multispectral imagery from Altum-PT, users have a better chance to identify problems affecting the physiology of the plant canopy. Diseases, insects, and nutrient issues often cause physiological damage before symptoms are visible in RGB. Using the different multispectral indices and composites of the pan-sharpened data, these issues can be detected sooner.

Plant Phenotyping

Manually measuring plant characteristics is time-consuming. Altum-PT captures more data in less time, allowing researchers to more easily understand how different traits react to different growing conditions.

Fruit Yield Estimations

Popular fruit yield estimation methods like manual fruit count or time series analysis are time-consuming and expensive. Altum-PT offers a combination of high-resolution RGB, multispectral, and thermal imagery, enabling more precise yield predictions by allowing algorithm-based fruit counts and temperature analysis.

Water Stress Prediction

Canopy temperature is a valuable indicator of plant stress. Altum-PT thermal imager allows farmers to periodically evaluate plant physiological status and detect subtle changes in canopy temperature that could be an indicator of water stress.

Pressure Issues and Clog Detection in Irrigation Systems

Altum-PT's thermal imagery can help identify clogs and irrigation leaks through the water cooling effects or lack thereof on the vegetation and ground. Areas with excessive irrigation will appear noticeably cooler than the rest of the field. Areas with no irrigation will show higher temperatures than the rest of the field.