Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) operated spectral camera system for forest and agriculture applications

Heikki Saari, I. Pellikka, L. Pesonen, S. Tuominen, J. Heikkilä, Christer Holmlund, Jussi Mäkynen, Kai Ojala, Tapani Antila

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference article in proceedingsScientificpeer-review

    112 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland has developed a Fabry-Perot Interferometer (FPI) based hyperspectral imager compatible with the light weight UAV platforms.
    The concept of the hyperspectral imager has been published in the SPIE Proc. 7474 and 7668. In forest and agriculture applications the recording of multispectral images at a few wavelength bands is in most cases adequate.
    The possibility to calculate a digital elevation model of the forest area and crop fields provides means to estimate the biomass and perform forest inventory. The full UAS multispectral imaging system will consist of a high resolution false color imager and a FPI based hyperspectral imager which can be used at resolutions from VGA (480 x 640 pixels) up to 5 Mpix at wavelength range 500 - 900 nm at user selectable spectral resolutions in the range 10...40 nm @ FWHM. The resolution is determined by the order at which the Fabry- Perot interferometer is used.
    The overlap between successive images of the false color camera is 70...80% which makes it possible to calculate the digital elevation model of the target area. The field of view of the false color camera is typically 80 degrees and the ground pixel size at 150 m flying altitude is around 5 cm. The field of view of the hyperspectral imager is presently is 26 x 36 degrees and ground pixel size at 150 m flying altitude is around 3.5 cm.
    The UAS system has been tried in summer 2011 in Southern Finland for the forest and agricultural areas. During the first test campaigns the false color camera and hyperspectral imager were flown over the target areas at separate flights. The design and calibration of the hyperspectral imager will be shortly explained.
    The test flight campaigns on forest and crop fields and their preliminary results are also presented in this paper
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationProceedings of the SPIE
    Subtitle of host publicationRemote Sensing for Agriculture, Ecosystems, and Hydrology XIII
    PublisherInternational Society for Optics and Photonics SPIE
    Number of pages15
    ISBN (Print)978-0-8194-8801-5
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2011
    MoE publication typeA4 Article in a conference publication
    EventSPIE Remote Sensing. Remote Sensing for Agriculture, Ecosystems, and Hydrology XIII - Prague, Czech Republic
    Duration: 19 Sept 201121 Sept 2011

    Publication series

    SeriesProceedings of SPIE
    Volume8174

    Conference

    ConferenceSPIE Remote Sensing. Remote Sensing for Agriculture, Ecosystems, and Hydrology XIII
    Country/TerritoryCzech Republic
    CityPrague
    Period19/09/1121/09/11

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