Continued development of autonomous mobile ground control point for increasing the accuracy of unmanned aerial-vehicle-based phenotyping

Collin J. McLeod; J. Alex Thomasson

doi:10.1117/12.2663661

13 June 2023 Continued development of autonomous mobile ground control point for increasing the accuracy of unmanned aerial-vehicle-based phenotyping

Collin J. McLeod, J. Alex Thomasson

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 12539, Autonomous Air and Ground Sensing Systems for Agricultural Optimization and Phenotyping VIII; 125390D (2023) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2663661
Event: SPIE Defense + Commercial Sensing, 2023, Orlando, Florida, United States

Abstract

The accuracy of data collected by Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for phenotyping is limited by current sensor technology. Ground control points (GCPs) and calibrate reflectance panels can increase the accuracy of the data with a few limitations. GCPs require additional labor and time to set up in large agricultural settings and calibrated panels can generally only be imaged prior to takeoff, limiting their usefulness for calibrating large sets of data through changing atmospheric conditions. An autonomous mobile ground control point (AMGCP) solves these problems by providing an efficient means of georeferencing and calibration of radiometric, height, and thermal data across large fields. Previous development of such a system has included laboratory and limited field testing. An improved version of an AMGCP was designed, constructed, and field tested. Among the improvements, certain suspension components were redesigned to provide a more robust vehicle with a broader range of motion under challenging terrain. Other improvements included changes to thermal calibration panels on the AMGCP. Target values for cooling temperature were modified to be more in line with expected values for canopy temperature, in order to enable ready measurement of canopy-temperature depression. This modification required a redesign of cooling components to increase the temperature differential that could be achieved. Additionally, the emissivity of the panel materials was modified to raise the emissivity of the panel surface. These modifications, along with others have enabled the AMGCP to be more effective in real world conditions.

Conference Presentation

Citation Download Citation

Collin J. McLeod and J. Alex Thomasson "Continued development of autonomous mobile ground control point for increasing the accuracy of unmanned aerial-vehicle-based phenotyping", Proc. SPIE 12539, Autonomous Air and Ground Sensing Systems for Agricultural Optimization and Phenotyping VIII, 125390D (13 June 2023); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2663661

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