Collab With Stetson University To Get Handle On Lake’s Health

Researchers at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University are collaborating with Stetson University’s Institute of Water and Environmental Resilience using drones to capture aerial imagery of aquatic vegetation that will be used to train AI models to automatically classify plant life and examine the health of waterways such as lakes, rivers, and other bodies of water.

The project’s UAVs are equipped with a variety of cameras and sensors to find and collect images of aquatic plants on the shoreline of Lake Beresford just west of DeLand, Florida.

Dr. Dan Macchiarella, professor in the Department of Aeronautical Science said, “Our flight missions have been aimed at gathering images to train the AI. We started with water lettuce, but we are looking at expanding out beyond that.”

Water lettuce is an aggressive invasive weed that can rapidly overrun rivers and lakes, and crowd out native plants and animals. It forms dense mats that can also restrict the flow of water, creating conditions hostile to animal life.

The data gathered from the project will also be used to evaluate and assess the diversity and number of plants that provide understanding of the health of the body of water. Multispectral imaging is used to detect light bands to determine plant health. Thermal sensors are used to display data on temperature differences in Lake Beresford.

Macchiarella explained, “There is a theory that there is a spring in that lake. We’re looking if we can see a temperature difference to indicate the location of a spring in the lake because a spring is always 72 degrees.”

The research is funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

FMI:  daytonabeach.erau.edu/ , www.stetson.edu/