Design and Development of a Drone Based Hyperspectral Imaging System

In this project, an experimental study on disease detection and nutrient extraction of plantation such as oil palm will be carried out using a drone based hyperspectral imaging system developed by Centre for Remote Sensing and Surveillance Technologies (CRSST), Multimedia University (MMU), Malaysia. The major advantages of this system are light weight (approximately 250g for sensor) and larger number of band selection (from 500nm to 900nm) compared to a conventional multispectral camera. A customised multirotor drone has been designed and developed for longer endurance operation and to carry the non-standard payload i.e. hyperspectral camera. Preliminary testing has been performed in laboratory and oil palm plantation to verify the developed system. Initial results show that the hyperspectral data are suitable to be used for differentiation of the healthiness level of the oil palm plantation.