New Trends in Remote Sensing Multispectral Monitoring of Plant Phenotypic Characteristics
A special issue of Remote Sensing (ISSN 2072-4292). This special issue belongs to the section "Remote Sensing in Agriculture and Vegetation".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 August 2026 | Viewed by 234
Editors
Interests: smart and precision agriculture; hyperspectral remote sensing; plant physiology
Interests: crop phenomics; remote sensing; artificial intelligence
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The accurate and high-throughput monitoring of plant phenotypic characteristics is fundamental to advancing plant science, precision agriculture, and ecosystem management. Multispectral remote sensing has long been a cornerstone of this effort, providing key insights into vegetation health, structure, and function through quantified spectral indices. However, the field is undergoing a rapid transformation driven by technological convergence. The proliferation of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and miniaturized multispectral sensors has revolutionized data collection, enabling unprecedented spatial, temporal, and spectral resolution. Concurrently, the integration of this data with other sensing modalities (e.g., thermal, hyperspectral, LiDAR) and the application of machine learning and artificial intelligence are creating new paradigms for data analysis. This evolution is moving the discipline beyond traditional proxy measurements towards direct, automated, and multi-dimensional assessments of complex plant traits from the leaf to the canopy scale, unlocking new potential for understanding genotype–environment–phenotype interactions.
This Special Issue aims to compile cutting-edge research and reviews that showcase the latest methodological advancements and novel applications of multispectral monitoring for plant phenotyping. We seek contributions that demonstrate how new sensor platforms, data fusion strategies, and analytical algorithms are pushing the boundaries of what can be measured and understood. This Special Issue will highlight studies that bridge scales, integrate diverse data sources, and provide actionable insights for plant breeding, crop management, and ecological monitoring. The focus will be on technological innovation in sensing methodologies and its ability to solve critical challenges in the plant sciences, agriculture, and environmental sustainability. Hence, multisource data integration (e.g., multispectral, hyperspectral, and thermal), multiscale approaches, or studies focused on agriculture and vegetation, amongst other topics, are welcome. Articles may address, but are not limited, to the following topics:
- Plant functional traits;
- Plant ecology;
- Agricultural practice;
- Plant abiotic/biotic stress;
- Plant physiology;
- High-throughput phenotyping;
- Precision agriculture;
- Vegetation indices;
- Traits extraction;
- Genotype–environment–phenotype interactions.
Dr. Kaihao Cheng
Dr. Shichao Jin
Dr. Dong Li
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Remote Sensing is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- plant phenotyping
- multispectral remote sensing
- spectral data fusion
- vegetation indices
- plant functional traits
- plant abiotic/biotic stress
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