Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems and Agro-Terrestrial Surveys Comparison for Generating Digital Elevation Surfaces for Irrigation and Precision Grading

Advances in remote sensing and small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) have been applied to various precision agriculture applications. However, there has been limited research on the accuracy of real-time kinematic (RTK) sUAS photogrammetric elevation surveys, especially in preparation for precision...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Drones (Basel) 2023-11, Vol.7 (11), p.649
Main Authors: Pickett, Richard A., Nowlin, John W., Hashem, Ahmed A., Reba, Michele L., Massey, Joseph H., Alsbrook, Scott
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accuracy
aerial survey
Aerial surveys
Agricultural aircraft
Agricultural production
Agriculture
agro-terrestrial survey
Aircraft
Computer software industry
Drone aircraft
Efficiency
Elevation
Farmworkers
Floods
Furrow irrigation
Geospatial data
Hole size
International economic relations
Irrigation
Irrigation efficiency
irrigation planning
Irrigation systems
Kinematics
Levees
Levees & battures
Photogrammetry
precision grading
Receivers & amplifiers
Remote sensing
Rice
RTK
sUAS
Technology
Topography
Unmanned aerial vehicles
Unmanned aircraft
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Summary:Advances in remote sensing and small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) have been applied to various precision agriculture applications. However, there has been limited research on the accuracy of real-time kinematic (RTK) sUAS photogrammetric elevation surveys, especially in preparation for precision agriculture practices that require precise topographic surfaces, such as increasing irrigation system efficiency. These practices include, but are not limited to, precision land grading, placement of levees, multiple inlet rice irrigation, and computerized hole size selection for furrow irrigation. All such practices rely, in some way, on the characterization of surface topography. While agro-terrestrial (ground-based) surveying is the dominant method of agricultural surveying, aerial surveying is emerging and attracting potential early adopters. This is the first study of its kind to assess the accuracy, precision, time, and cost efficiency of RTK sUAS surveying in comparison to traditional agro-terrestrial techniques. Our findings suggest sUAS are superior to ground survey methods in terms of relative elevation and produce much more precise raster surfaces than ground-based methods. We also showed that this emergent technology reduces costs and the time it takes to generate agricultural elevation surveys.
ISSN:2504-446X
2504-446X
DOI:10.3390/drones7110649