Development of an Integration Sensor and Instrumentation System for Measuring Crop Conditions.

In agricultural production, biomass density, crop height, and degree of coverage are important parameters for the assessment of crop conditions. Based on these parameters, the amount of fertilizers and pesticides for the site-specific crop management can be optimized. An integrated sensor and instrumentation system will be developed to measure real-time crop conditions including normalized difference vegetative index (NDVI), biomass, crop canopy structure, and crop height.  Individual sensor components will be calibrated and tested under laboratory and field conditions prior to system integration.  The integration system includes crop height sensor, crop canopy analyzer for leaf area index and PAR (Photosynthetically Active Radiation), NDVI sensor, multispectral camera, and a hyperspectral radiometer. The system will be interfaced with a DGPS receiver to provide spatial coordinates for all sensor readings. Data will be imported into a GIS for georeferencing purposes. The experimental design will be a randomized complete bock (3 reps) with treatments arranged as split-split plots. The SAS Proc Glimmix will be used for data analyses.  Multisensor data fusion will integrate and analyze data from these sensors to provide an assessment of crop structure and environment.