Development of remote sensing technologies using active LIDAR sensors mounted on UAVs for use in precision agriculture
OBJECTIVE OF THE ACTION:
The UAV-LIDETECT project proposes the use of autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for advanced remote sensing applications in the field of Precision Agriculture using active LIDAR (Laser Scanner with Ranging) sensors. Precision Agriculture applications range from real-time monitoring to detect nutrient deficiencies to minimizing the use of crop protection agents and eliminating water stress. The fundamental objective of the UAV-LIDETECT project is the development of technologies that will enable, in the short to medium term, the economically affordable application of remote sensing in the field of precision agriculture using autonomous UAVs.
MAIN OBJECTIVES:
The fundamental objectives of the project are the following:
- Development of new methodologies that allow the automatic creation of 3D maps from data obtained by active LIDAR (laser range scanner) sensors mounted on UAVs.
- Development of software tools that reduce the time required to provide services, that is, the time between the client’s contracting of services and the delivery of services to the client.
- Development of operational concepts to enable legal provision of services, as one of the biggest obstacles to the effective incorporation of UAVs into civil applications is related to legal issues.
- Adaptation of the UAV aerial platform to meet application requirements: the various sensors and the necessary computing capacity will be integrated into a dedicated autonomous system, minimizing energy consumption and weight.
- Conducting field demonstrations, conducting various experiments to obtain information on the application’s features and possible improvements.
PARTICIPANTS:
Leader: FADA-CATEC
Partners: Individual project.
TOTAL BUDGET: €128,800
PROJECT DURATION: The project has a duration of two years, during the period 2013 – 2015.
Id. Project/File No.: PI_57195
FUNDING: UAV-LIDETECT is funded by the Order of Incentives for Agents of the Andalusian Knowledge System, from the Ministry of Economy, Innovation, Science and Employment of the Andalusian Regional Government, in the form of a knowledge application project.
An example of the map generated with the software tools developed in the project is shown below, in which the measurements from the LIDAR sensor on board the aircraft have been combined with the positioning and attitude information from the UAV.
