Development of a Near Ground Remote Sensing System.

Area of Science:

• Agricultural Engineering
• Remote Sensing Technology
• Robotics and Control Systems

Background:

• Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) show promise in agriculture but face limitations like weather, location, and flight preparation time.
• Existing UAV remote sensing experiments require improvement in performance and exploration of new applications.
• Near-ground remote sensing offers an alternative to overcome UAV operational constraints.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel near-ground remote sensing platform to facilitate agricultural remote sensing research.
• To enhance the stability and accuracy of remote sensing data acquisition.
• To provide a versatile platform for exploring new applications in precision agriculture.

Main Methods:

• A platform integrating mechanical structures (horizontal rail, vertical cylinder, 3-axis gimbal), power, control systems, and onboard applications was designed.
• The platform incorporates five degrees of freedom (horizontal, vertical, pitch, roll, yaw) controlled by stm32 ARM microcontrollers.
• A multispectral camera was mounted on a CAN bus-controlled gimbal stabilizer, with a C++ graphical user interface for operation.

Main Results:

• The developed platform demonstrated high accuracy, with horizontal repeat accuracy under 2 mm and vertical repeat accuracy under 1 mm.
• System stability was confirmed through vibration analysis, with readings below 2 g, indicating an acceptable operational level.
• The laser distance meter and 3-axis vibration analyzer validated the system's performance metrics.

Conclusions:

• The near-ground remote sensing platform exhibits high accuracy and stability, making it suitable for agricultural research.
• This system effectively addresses limitations associated with UAV-based remote sensing in agriculture.
• The platform provides a reliable tool for various near-ground remote sensing studies, advancing precision agriculture.