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Remote Sensing in Precision Agriculture Production

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: closed (31 December 2023) | Viewed by 7063

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, University Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
Interests: remote sensing; precision agriculture; GIS; decision support systems; land management
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
School of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA, USA
Interests: remote sensing; multispectral and hyperspectral imaging; thermal imaging

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Guest Editor

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Guest Editor
Department of Agriculture Technology, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia
Interests: precision agriculture; digital agriculture

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Improving agricultural productivity requires innovative solutions that offer a better yield and quality for indoor and outdoor farming. Farmers require precision technology to obtain and interpret data to better control crop growth, preventing losses caused by adverse weather conditions or infectious pests and thus facilitating return on investments. Every year, plant diseases contribute to significant losses in global harvest, costing an estimated USD 220 billion. The abundant use of chemicals such as bactericides, fungicides, and nematicides to control plant diseases is causing adverse effects on many agroecosystems. Since the early years of precision agriculture, remote sensing has been one of the main methods for monitoring crop growth and generating data for predictive and prescriptive analytics, such as yield prediction and optimization of fertilizer use. Remote sensing plays an important role in site-specific management by providing technology and methodologies to respond to various challenges in modern farming, including precision crop monitoring, resource management, early disease detection, yield estimation, plant phenotyping, estimation of the leaf area index, and many more. With the advances in electronic and information technologies, various sensing systems and algorithms have been developed for remote sensing in precision agriculture. Currently, there are three main remote sensing platforms for this purpose: close-range, such as ground-based or handheld sensors; middle-range, such as drone-based sensors or imaging devices mounted on autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs); and far-range platforms, such as piloted airplanes or satellite-based sensors. More recently, different customized algorithms and techniques, including artificial intelligence and machine learning methods, have been proposed to process remote sensing data.

This Special Issue aims to bring together research reports that describe new, recently developed perspectives in remote sensing for precision agriculture applications, based on innovative tools emerging from basic and applied research. The objective of the Special Issue is to increase awareness of the implications of using remote sensing solutions, including but not limited to (1) data generation and comparison using smart sensors and satellite imagery, (2) data analysis methods for estimation of crop trains, (3) monitoring of crop growth for the detection of crop stress, estimation of yield for recommending harvesting dates, and improving crop quality, (4) precision management of resources from different remote sensing platforms for managing plant disease problems in a balanced and optimized manner, and (5) the use of artificial intelligence, Internet-of-Things, digital twin, and other new cutting-edge research topics in the area of remote sensing for precision agriculture.

Prof. Dr. Abdul Rashid Mohamed Sharif
Dr. Sanaz Shafian
Dr. Redmond R. Shamshiri
Dr. Siva Kumar Balasundram
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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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

  • precision farming
  • remote sensing
  • crop growth
  • yield monitoring
  • variable applicator

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

27 pages, 9769 KiB  
Article
Comparing Remote and Proximal Sensing of Agrometeorological Parameters across Different Agricultural Regions in Croatia: A Case Study Using ERA5-Land, Agri4Cast, and In Situ Stations during the Period 2019–2021
by Dora Kreković, Vlatko Galić, Krunoslav Tržec, Ivana Podnar Žarko and Mario Kušek
Remote Sens. 2024, 16(4), 641; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs16040641 - 8 Feb 2024
Viewed by 1128
Abstract
The paper evaluates the usability of remote satellite-based and proximal ground-based agrometeorological data sources for precision agriculture and crop production in Croatia. The compared agrometeorological datasets stem from the open-access data sources Copernicus CDS and the Agri4Cast portal, and commercial in situ agrometeorological [...] Read more.
The paper evaluates the usability of remote satellite-based and proximal ground-based agrometeorological data sources for precision agriculture and crop production in Croatia. The compared agrometeorological datasets stem from the open-access data sources Copernicus CDS and the Agri4Cast portal, and commercial in situ agrometeorological stations (PinovaMeteo) which monitor environmental parameters relevant to the physiological state of crops. The study compares relevant parameters for 10 different locations in Croatia for three consecutive years (2019, 2020, and 2021) to investigate whether model-based data from ERA5-Land and Agri4Cast are well-correlated with ground measurements from independent in situ stations (PinovaMeteo) for specific agrometeorological parameters (air and soil temperature, and precipitation). Our results indicate the following: both the ERA5-Land and Agri4Cast datasets show mostly strong positive correlations with ground observations for air temperature, modest correlations for soil temperature, but modest or even low correlations for precipitation. Analysis of the residuals indicates higher overall residual values, especially in areas with complex topography and near large bodies of water or the sea, and deviations of residuals that may limit the usability of satellite- and model-based data for decision-making in agriculture. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing in Precision Agriculture Production)
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23 pages, 10295 KiB  
Article
Estimation of Bale Grazing and Sacrificed Pasture Biomass through the Integration of Sentinel Satellite Images and Machine Learning Techniques
by Milad Vahidi, Sanaz Shafian, Summer Thomas and Rory Maguire
Remote Sens. 2023, 15(20), 5014; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15205014 - 18 Oct 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1512
Abstract
Quantifying the forage biomass in pastoral systems can be used for enhancing farmers’ decision-making in precision management and optimizing livestock feeding systems. In this study, we assessed the feasibility of integrating Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 satellite imagery with machine learning techniques to estimate the [...] Read more.
Quantifying the forage biomass in pastoral systems can be used for enhancing farmers’ decision-making in precision management and optimizing livestock feeding systems. In this study, we assessed the feasibility of integrating Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 satellite imagery with machine learning techniques to estimate the aboveground biomass and forage quality of bale grazing and sacrificed grassland areas in Virginia. The workflow comprised two steps, each addressing specific objectives. Firstly, we analyzed the temporal variation in spectral and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) variables derived from Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 time series images. Subsequently, we evaluated the contribution of these variables with the estimation of grassland biomass using three machine learning algorithms, as follows: support vector regression (SVR), random forest (RF), and artificial neural network (ANN). The quantitative assessment of the models demonstrates that the ANN algorithm outperforms the other approaches when estimating pasture biomass. The developed ANN model achieved an R2 of 0.83 and RMSE of 6.68 kg/100 sq. meter. The evaluation of feature importance revealed that VV and VH polarizations play a significant role in the model, indicating the SAR sensor’s ability to perceive changes in plant structure during the growth period. Additionally, the blue, green, and NIR bands were identified as the most influential spectral variables in the model, underscoring the alterations in the spectrum of the pasture over time. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing in Precision Agriculture Production)
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22 pages, 7919 KiB  
Article
Inversion of Leaf Area Index in Citrus Trees Based on Multi-Modal Data Fusion from UAV Platform
by Xiaoyang Lu, Wanjian Li, Junqi Xiao, Hongyun Zhu, Dacheng Yang, Jing Yang, Xidan Xu, Yubin Lan and Yali Zhang
Remote Sens. 2023, 15(14), 3523; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15143523 - 12 Jul 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1845
Abstract
The leaf area index (LAI) is an important growth indicator used to assess the health status and growth of citrus trees. Although LAI estimation based on unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) platforms has been widely used for field crops, mainly focusing on food crops, [...] Read more.
The leaf area index (LAI) is an important growth indicator used to assess the health status and growth of citrus trees. Although LAI estimation based on unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) platforms has been widely used for field crops, mainly focusing on food crops, less research has been reported on the application to fruit trees, especially citrus trees. In addition, most studies have used single-modal data for modeling, but some studies have shown that multi-modal data can be effective in improving experimental results. This study utilizes data collected from a UAV platform, including RGB images and point cloud data, to construct single-modal regression models named VoVNet (using RGB data) and PCNet (using point cloud data), as well as a multi-modal regression model called VPNet (using both RGB data and point cloud data). The LAI of citrus trees was estimated using deep neural networks, and the results of two experimental hyperparameters (loss function and learning rate) were compared under different parameters. The results of the study showed that VoVNet had Mean Squared Error (MSE), Mean Absolute Error (MAE), and R-Squared (R2) of 0.129, 0.028, and 0.647, respectively. In comparison, PCNet decreased by 0.051 and 0.014 to 0.078 and 0.014 for MAE and MSE, respectively, while R2 increased by 0.168 to 0.815. VPNet decreased by 0% and 42.9% relative to PCNet in terms of MAE and MSE to 0.078 and 0.008, respectively, while R2 increased by 5.6% to 0.861. In addition, the use of loss function L1 gave better results than L2, while a lower learning rate gave better results. It is concluded that the fusion of RGB data and point cloud data collected by the UAV platform for LAI estimation is capable of monitoring citrus trees’ growth process, which can help farmers to track the growth condition of citrus trees and improve the efficiency and quality of orchard management. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing in Precision Agriculture Production)
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21 pages, 10743 KiB  
Article
Estimation of Anthocyanins in Whole-Fertility Maize Leaves Based on Ground-Based Hyperspectral Measurements
by Shiyu Jiang, Qingrui Chang, Xiaoping Wang, Zhikang Zheng, Yu Zhang and Qi Wang
Remote Sens. 2023, 15(10), 2571; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15102571 - 15 May 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1635
Abstract
The estimation of anthocyanin (Anth) content is very important for observing the physiological state of plants under environmental stress. The objective of this study was to estimate the Anth of maize leaves at different growth stages based on remote sensing methods. In this [...] Read more.
The estimation of anthocyanin (Anth) content is very important for observing the physiological state of plants under environmental stress. The objective of this study was to estimate the Anth of maize leaves at different growth stages based on remote sensing methods. In this study, the hyperspectral reflectance and the corresponding Anth of maize leaves were measured at the critical growth stages of nodulation, tasseling, lactation, and finishing of maize. First-order differential spectra (FD) were derived from the original spectra (OS). First, the spectral parameters highly correlated with Anth were selected. A total of two sensitive bands (Rλ), five classical vegetation indices (VIS), and six optimized vegetation indices (VIC) were selected from the original and first-order spectra. Then, univariate regression models for Anth estimation (Anth-UR models) and multivariate regression models for estimating anthocyanins (Anth-MR models) were constructed based on these parameters at different growth stages of maize. It was shown that the first-order spectral conversion could effectively improve the correlation between Rλ, VIC, and Anth, and VIC are usually more sensitive to Anth than VIS. In addition, the overall performance of Anth-MR models was better than that of Anth-UR models. Among them, Anth-MR models with the combination of three types of spectral parameters (FD(Rλ) + OS_VIC + FD_VIC/VIS) as inputs had the best overall performance. Moreover, different growth stages had an impact on the Anth estimation models, with tasseling and lactation stages showing better results. The best-performing Anth-MR models for these two growth stages were as follows. For the tasseling stage, the best model was the FD(Rλ) + OS_VIC + VIS-based SVM model, with an R2 of 0.868, RMSE of 0.007, and RPD of 2.19. For the lactation stage, the best-performing model was the FD(Rλ) + OS_VIC + FD_VIC-based RF model, with an R2 of 0.797, RMSE of 0.007, and RPD of 2.24. These results will provide a scientific basis for better monitoring of Anth using remote sensing hyperspectral techniques. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing in Precision Agriculture Production)
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