UAV-based multispectral environmental monitoring

Accurate and up-to-date soil monitoring allow farmers to take rapid, targeted action in case of nutrient deficiencies and pest infestation. This is essential for the maximization of crop-yields. This paper describes an airborne multi-spectral imaging system which is able to simultaneously capture three visible and two near infrared channels. The system was integrated in a Schiebel CAMCOPTER^® S-100 UAV for data acquisition. Results show that the system is able to classify different types of vegetation by calculating vegetation indices.