Preliminary Results from Three Years of UAS-Based GNSS-R Field Campaign Over Agricultural Fields For Field-Scale Soil Moisture Retrieval

Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) play an essential role in providing high-resolution information for precision agriculture (PA). Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Reflectometry (GNSS-R) from a UAS can provide higher spatial and temporal resolution for soil moisture (SM) retrievals. This study summarizes and analyzes of a three-year-long field campaign including comprehensive GNSS-R and ancillary data from crop fields. The field data collections were conducted on 210 by 110 m (2.31 ha) corn and cotton fields over 3 years from 2021 to 2023. The results indicate that high-resolution SM measurement can be achieved with a low-cost GNSS-R system onboard a mid-size UAS platform for use in PA applications.