Fri, Aug 08, 2008
U-MAP Program Aims To Monitor Land Suitability
QinetiQ, working in partnership with Aberystwyth University's
new biosciences centre IBERS, has successfully completed the UK's
first flight of an autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for
agricultural monitoring.
The flight was the culmination of phase one of the pioneering
U-MAP program, a project supported by the Welsh Assembly
Government. U-MAP (UAVs for Managing Agricultural Practice) has
demonstrated the feasibility of using a UAV to deliver high
resolution images to the agricultural, forestry and environmental
monitoring sectors.
Farmers and foresters increasingly need accurate and timely
information on the state of the land they occupy. For example by
mapping the fertilizer requirements of arable crops, farmers can
ensure they only apply the precise amount of fertilizer required,
saving them money and preventing the pollution that occurs when
nitrate fertilizers are over-applied.
The QinetiQ team acted as systems integrator for the specially
adapted UAV platform and flew a total of more than 15 flights
during the "work-up" phase and in support of data gathering. The
UAV captured specialized video images that were used to create NDVI
(normalised difference vegetation index) maps – sensitive
indicators of the amount of vegetation present that can be used to
determine fertilizer requirements.
"The UMAP project brings together emerging UAV technology with
the growing need for farmers to fully understand the land they have
under cultivation," commented Clive Richardson, Chief Operating
Officer for QinetiQ's EMEA business. "With these recent flights we
have successfully shown that UAVs are an affordable and flexible
alternative to manned aircraft and satellites for the remote
sensing of agricultural land."
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