Multi-angular Multispectral Sensing of Barley Awn Coloring

Abstract

Barley awn coloring is a descriptive trait for barley (Hordeum vulgare) testing by the European Union. Rating the coloring visually is difficult and measuring canopy reflectance by a multispectral canopy might be more accurate. Reflectance of barley canopies with different awn coloring levels was measured from different viewing angles using a multispectral camera mounted to an unmanned aerial vehicle. The bi-directional reflectance distribution of the canopies was determined and used for deriving the anthocyanin reflection index, which was then used to identify the optimal viewing angles for the detection of Barley awn coloring. The index differed between the canopies without awn coloring and the canopies with awn coloring. The proposed method failed to detect subtle changes of awn coloring but it might be further improved and used to characterize canopy traits from multiple viewing angles.

Prof. Dr. Kang Yu

Professor of Precision Agriculture

My research interests include precision crop farming, hyperspectral remote sensing, and AI in agriculture.