Chapter 8

UAV Remote Sensing in Precision Agriculture

Advantages and Limitations of UAV Remote Sensing

Advantages of UAV Remote Sensing

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are particularly versatile instruments and capable of carrying out remote sensing operations quickly and accurately, even in unfavorable weather conditions (such as in the presence of fog); UAVs offer spatial and temporal resolutions that other systems, such as satellite systems, do not guarantee. UAV remote sensing systems are often operated at very low altitudes, especially in precision agriculture, for very high-resolution images (1mm–5cm/pixel). Most satellites, such as Landsat 8, are only capable of imaging individual fields on very specific days and times of day. This is especially a problem if the scheduled day for data acquisition is overcast. Conversely, UAV data can be obtained over a field on any given day, provided an acceptable time window is available, and image data collection is largely independent of time and atmospheric conditions, such as overcast skies.

Limitations of UAV Remote Sensing

In spite of the potential advantages of UAVs in agriculture, there are several challenges that affect the performance and applicability of these systems: (1) relatively small area coverage compared to areas observed with manned aerial aircraft and satellites, which requires mosaicking of multiple UAV remote sensing images; (2) data acquisitions not often simultaneous to acquisitions from space-borne sensors—this, in turn, can limit the analysis of multi-scale monitoring applications; (3) UAV operational constraints in high winds and/or during precipitation; (4) significant investment in UAV systems—drones and sensors; (5) significant investment in UAV pilot training, and (6) basic knowledge of remote sensing.

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