A method estimating plant height and stem number of rice plants in wide areas using UAV-LiDAR measurements has been researched.
We have proposed the following fundamental methods applying to 3D point-cloud data in nadir observation obtained from a non-survey grade LiDAR above rice canopies (the range accuracy is in centimeters);
The accuracy of these were evaluated based on field observation data and there was less than a 10% relative error in both
We conducted experiments to evaluate the plant height estimation method in 2016. In these experiments, 3D point-cloud data of rice plants were recorded by the UAV-LiDAR system made by us *3 in low attitude flights (about 5m). With results of the experiments, it is possible to estimate the plant height of rice plants in wide areas by using UAV-LiDAR observations.
Related Papers:
*1:Phan,Takahashi et al.: Method for estimating rice plant height without ground surface detection using laser scanner measurement, J. Appl. Remote Sens., 10(4), 046018, 2016,doi: 10.1117/1.JRS.10.046018.
*2:Phan,Takahashi et al.: Fundamental study for estimating rice-plant stem number using laser scanner measurements, J. Appl. Remote Sens.,11(3), 036012 (2017), doi: 10.1117/1.JRS.11.036012.
*3:Odaka,Takahashi et al.: A Study for the Estimation of Rice Plant Height using a Laser Scanner System onboard a Small UAV, Journal of Applied Survey Technology (Japan association of surveyors) , 28, pp.41-49 (2017).