Remote sensing system for field information using an unmanned helicopter
2007
Sugiura, R.(Hokkaido Univ., Sapporo (Japan))
Unmanned helicopters are smaller than full-scale manned helicopters and have been used primarily in agriculture, especially for chemical spraying. The number of unmanned helicopters is increasing among large-scale farmers or contractors in Japan. However, to justify the high cost of unmanned helicopters, helicopter manufacturers and farmers are seeking more ways to utilise them in agriculture. In this paper, an unmanned helicopter is proposed as one of remote sensing platforms for field monitoring. Non-contact crop sensing is one of the key issues in precision farming. Therefore, this technology would contribute to precision agriculture in Japan. If a small, readily manoeuvrable, low-altitude aerial platform (e.g., unmanned helicopter) could be introduced as a tool for crop status sensing, it would offer significant advantages over remote sensing methods. As generally known, the aerial manoeuvrability of a helicopter exceeds that of an aircraft. A helicopter can cruise any direction and vertical take-off and hover flight are also possible. These abilities provide more flexibility as well as more efficiency for remote sensing. Helicopter-captured image has high spatial resolution due to their low-altitude flight. Another benefit in using unmanned helicopters is that they can be operated by farmers themselves. It allows them to obtain imagery almost immediately. Thereby, the obtained data can be instantly used for crop production management and precision farming, such as variable rate technology. The objective of this study is to develop a remote sensing system that can generate a precise field map of crop status and field information using an unmanned helicopter.
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