A Drone-based Prototype Design and Testing for Under-the-canopy Imaging and Onboard Data Analytics

Current proposed solutions for plant phenotyping using autonomous vehicles include aerial photography via the use of drones and under-the-canopy imaging using ground vehicles. In this paper, we propose a hybrid solution to be able to reap the benefits of the maneuverability of drones but the same quality of under-the-canopy images that can be obtained from ground vehicles. Our system utilizes a telescopic arm to deploy a camera into the plant foliage. On-board image processing is utilized to identify plant features. This technology is vital in detecting early stage issues such as diseases, bacteria and pest that arise in crop plants. Copyright (C) 2022 The Authors.