Development of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) for hyper-resolution vineyard mapping based on visible, multispectral and thermal imagery

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are an exciting new remote sensing tool capable of acquiring high resolution spatial data. This study has developed a UAV capable of collecting hyper resolution visible, multispectral and thermal imagery for application to Precision Viticulture (PV). Traditional modes of data collection are not well suited to the detection of subtle but important changes in vineyard structure given low temporal and spatial resolutions. Mapping with UAVs has the potential to provide imagery at an unprecedented spatial and temporal resolution. We present a technical description of our UAV and its payload options including visible imagery which is processed using feature matching and photogrammetric techniques to create Digital Surface Models (DSMs) of the vineyards. A thermal infrared camera is used to map soil moisture enabling assessment of irrigation efficiency, and a six-band multispectral camera enables the calculation of vegetation indices that relate to vineyard vigour and health.