Multitemporal monitoring of fruit orchard vitality with multisensor Belair data

An accurate monitoring of orchard productivity is essential to make the right decision on site specific orchard management and thus to maximize the profitability. Traditionally, this is performed with visual observations which are labor intensive and prone to human errors. Automating this process based on remote sensing observations can lead to a less time consuming and more cost effective solution. An automated, objective collection of this information about the fruit tree productivity would therefore be an enormous added value for taking the right decisions for labour input and for plant protection. The HyperTemp project aims at developing an optimized orchard tree productivity monitoring system by integrating multi-date and multi-sensor remote sensing and in-situ data. An accurate productivity monitoring system provides the opportunity to increase profitability and reduce the environmental effects of farming by more closely matching the application of inputs such as pesticides and fertilizers with actual conditions in specific parts of the field. Plant vitality parameters which determine the productivity, and that will be taken into account in this study, include plant biomass, LAI, biochemical parameter content (chlorophyll, anthocyanins), photosynthetic efficiency (PRI index).

Keywords:Fruit orchards, remote sensing, multi-temporal, multi-sensor, productivity, vitality, monitoring, precision agriculture

Disciplines:Catalysis and reacting systems engineering, Chemical product design and formulation, General chemical and biochemical engineering, Process engineering, Separation and membrane technologies, Transport phenomena, Other (bio)chemical engineering