{"id":2602,"date":"2020-03-19T21:44:38","date_gmt":"2020-03-19T20:44:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spectors.eu\/wordpress\/?p=2602"},"modified":"2020-04-21T10:57:38","modified_gmt":"2020-04-21T08:57:38","slug":"temporal-and-spatial-heterogeneity-of-plant-growth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spectors.eu\/wordpress\/temporal-and-spatial-heterogeneity-of-plant-growth\/","title":{"rendered":"Temporal and Spatial Heterogeneity of Plant Growth"},"content":{"rendered":"

Forschungszentrum J\u00fclich (FZ J\u00fclich;\u00a0www.fz-juelich.de<\/a>) is one of the biggest research facilities in Germany. Within the scope of the SPECTORS project, FZ J\u00fclich is developing remote sensing and data processing technology for precision farming as well as for increasing the digitalization in agriculture.<\/p>\n

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Research in FZ J\u00fclich<\/b><\/p>\n

There are three core research focuses in FZ J\u00fclich: Energy, Information Technology, and Bio-Economy. Inside the Bio-Economy field, there is the Institute of Bio- and Geosciences: Plant Sciences (IBG-2), in which the Shoot Dynamics Group is responsible for the SPECTORS project. The team aims at developing remote sensing and airborne approaches in advancing plant-based agricultural applications, in particular phenotyping and precision agriculture. One major contribution is a lodging assessment approach that is based on canopy height.<\/p>\n

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Lodging assessment using canopy height<\/b><\/p>\n

In agriculture, lodging refers to the permanent displacement of crops from the upright position, which can lead to a reduced yield. Traditionally, lodging assessment is conducted via manual field surveys that are not only time and cost consuming, but also subjective. To obtain an efficient and accurate approach, which can objectively quantify lodging, FZ J\u00fclich decided to use unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to acquire high spatial resolution data. With the use of UAVs, FZ J\u00fclich successfully derived canopy height from RGB data, which can then be used to quantify the lodging percentage and lodging severity of barley.<\/p>\n

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Visualization of the canopy height model (in meters) for selected barley plots in side view (left) and nadir top view (right) (Wilke et al. 2019)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

The developed lodging assessment process was done using a predefined threshold at which the lodging occurs. Unlike many traditional and subjective approaches, FZ J\u00fclich determined the threshold by using a mathematical technique. Using the lodging percentage thresholds, a precise detection of lodged areas was obtained which enables the further assessment of lodging severity.<\/p>\n

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RGB images of barley plots showing different types of lodging (top) and corresponding lodging severities derived from the canopy height model (middle) as well as the canopy height distributions with exemplary visualization of different lodging percentage thresholds (bottom) (Wilke et al. 2019)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

The developed lodging assessment approach had been tested on datasets with different ground sampling distances. The results were promising \u2013 even at the highest flight altitude (100 m), the developed approach still let to a high accuracy. This increases the practicability of the developed approach especially for larger agricultural fields where fixed-wing UAVs are often used.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, the approach was proven to be more independent from external conditions compared to other methods that used texture or thermal differences. Thus, it can be applied in real-world applications such as insurance matters, precision farming and breeding research.<\/p>\n

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HyPlant for vegetation monitoring<\/b><\/p>\n

Apart from the lodging assessment project, FZ J\u00fclich had further developed its airborne sensor processing chain within the SPECTORS project. HyPlant is a high-performance airborne imagining spectrometer for vegetation monitoring developed by FZ J\u00fclich (in cooperation with SPECIM Spectral Imaging Ltd in Finland) and is dedicated to measure sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF). SIF is a very tiny signal (650 \u2013 850 nm) which is emitted from leaves during the process of photosynthesis, and is crucial for monitoring the current status of vegetation.<\/p>\n

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Development of an automated processing chain for Hyplant (Siegmann et al. 2019)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

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Choice of UAVs<\/b><\/p>\n

Depending on the payload and the study area, FZ J\u00fclich chooses the most suitable UAV platform for the task. There are three types of UAV platforms available at IBG-2: multicopter, fixed-wing glider, and airship.<\/p>\n

From their experiences, the multicopter platform is a perfect platform for positioning an imaging sensor over agricultural experimental fields because of its capability of maintaining an accurate hovering position.<\/p>\n

A fixed-wing glider, in comparison to a multicopter, offers a better stability and longer flight duration. Therefore, it is well-suited for mapping larger agricultural areas such as the experimental field affected by lodging shown above. In 2016, FZ J\u00fclich together with the company Aeromedes built a fixed-wing glider (named \u201cField Glider\u201d) with a wingspan of 4 m and a flight duration of 40 minutes.<\/p>\n

A 10 m sized Helium-filled airship that can be flown over agricultural areas for a long period of time was acquired in 2013. The high payload (maximum 5 kg), the smooth flight and low vibrations make the airship a great platform for scientific tools, complementing other small UAV platforms.<\/p>\n

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Different UAV platforms at FZ J\u00fclich IBG-2. (top) Multicopter: Falcon-8; (bottom left) Fixed-wing glider: \u201cField Glider\u201d, and (bottom right) Airship: Zeppelin<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

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\n\nWords about SPECTORS<\/strong>\n\n<\/div> <\/div>
Being part of the SPECTORS consortium is a good opportunity to get in touch with other research groups and companies in the Netherlands as well as in Germany. The close cooperation between research and industrial partners allowed discussing how current scientific ideas and findings can be transferred into real-world products. In our opinion, the latter is one of the greatest strengths of the SPECTORS project.<\/div>
\"\"Dr. Bastian Siegmann<\/span><\/span>Remote Sensing Researcher<\/span><\/div><\/blockquote><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

Further readings<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wilke, N.; Siegmann, B.; Klingbeil, L.; Burkart, A.; Kraska, T.; Muller, O.; van Doorn, A.; Heinemann, S.; Rascher, U. (2019). Quantifying Lodging Percentage and Lodging Severity Using a UAV-Based Canopy Height Model Combined with an Objective Threshold Approach.\u00a0Remote Sensing, 11(5)<\/i>, pp. 515. [Online] Available at:\u00a0https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2072-4292\/11\/5\/515<\/a>, Accessed on 14th April, 2020.<\/p>\n

Siegmann, B.; Alonso,L.; Celesti, M.; Cogliati, S.; Colombo, R.; Damm, A.; Douglas, S.; Guanter, L.; Hanu\u0161, J.; Kataja, K.; Kraska, T.; Matveeva, M.; Moreno, J.; Muller, O.; Pikl, M.; Pinto, F.; Quir\u00f3s Vargas, J.; Rademske, P.; Rodriguez-Morene, F.; Sabater, N.; Schickling, A.; Sch\u00fcttemeyer, D.; Zemek, F.; Rascher, U. (2019). The High-Performance Airborne Imaging Spectrometer HyPlant\u2014From Raw Images to Top-of-Canopy Reflectance and Fluorescence Products: Introduction of an Automatized Processing Chain.\u00a0Remote Sensing, 11(23)<\/i>, 2760. [Online] Available at:\u00a0https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2072-4292\/11\/23\/2760\/htm<\/a>, Accessed on 14th April, 2020.<\/p>\n

Forschungszentrum J\u00fclich. (n.d.). Institute of Bio- and Geosciences Plant Sciences (IBG-2): Shoot Dynamics. [Online] Available at:\u00a0https:\/\/www.fz-juelich.de\/ibg\/ibg-2\/EN\/Research\/ResearchGroups\/shoot_dynamics\/challenges\/challenges_node.html<\/a>, Accessed on 14th April, 2020.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Forschungszentrum J\u00fclich. (n.d.). HyPlant. [Online] Available at:\u00a0https:\/\/www.kfa-juelich.de\/ibg\/ibg-2\/EN\/Research\/ResearchGroups\/shoot_dynamics\/technologies\/HyPlant\/HyPLant_node.html<\/a>, Accessed on 14th April, 2020.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Forschungszentrum J\u00fclich. (n.d.). Field investigations from the air with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV\u2019s). [Online] Available at:\u00a0https:\/\/www.kfa-juelich.de\/ibg\/ibg-2\/EN\/Research\/ResearchGroups\/shoot_dynamics\/technologies\/UAV\/UAV_node.html;jsessionid=4C5B5D9DB90DA9121047344C893D0FCF<\/a>, Accessed on 14th April, 2020.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

SPECTORS EUROPE. (2020). Interview of Dr. Bastian Siegmann. [Online] Available at:\u00a0https:\/\/youtu.be\/7nFKLrIWMcg<\/a>, Accessed on 16th March, 2020.<\/p>\n

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