Proceedings Article | 15 November 2019
KEYWORDS: Unmanned aerial vehicles, Vegetation, Sensors, Infrared sensors, Agriculture, RGB color model, Forward looking infrared, Absorption, Infrared imaging, Thermography
The corn cultivation area in South Korea has been steadily decreasing every year since 1990. Although field cultivation of corn is continuously decreasing, cultivation in the paddy field is slightly increasing every year. In particular, field cultivation has decreased rapidly, from 25,207 ha in 1990 to 17,131 ha in 2004 and 14,183 ha in 2018. On the other hand, the cultivation of paddy field grew rapidly, from 780 ha in 1990 to 1087 ha in 2004 and 1289 ha in 2018. This phenomenon is interpreted as a result of the rapid development of alternative crops in response to the FTA (Free Trade Agreement), the opening of the agricultural products market, as well as the increase of rice production and the decrease of domestic rice consumption due to the decrease of rice farm income. The consumption of waxy corn has increased rapidly, but the cultivation area decreased rapidly from 1990 to 2008. In addition, as the importance of waxy corn as a health food and high-income crop has become emphasized, the area of waxy corn cultivation has increased, and research on the advancement of related cultivation technology has been actively carried out. Unlike other corn exporting countries, South Korea cultivates a variety of crops in a narrow cultivation area. Most of the corn cultivated has been grown mainly in field soils, but some farmers prefer to cultivate high yield crops in field soils. However, in order to increase the area of corn cultivation, these efforts are somewhat limited. Therefore, in this study, we try to understand growth information by combining unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and sensor technology as an experimental study to expand the cultivation area of corn and paddy soils. In this study, periodic monitoring of the corn cultivation area was carried out using a UAV and a multi spectral and thermal sensor. Corn growth was closely related to the NDVI (normalized difference vegetation index) and CWSI (crop water stress index). According to the growth of corn, high NDVI points were determined to have a low CWSI, indicating an inverse correlation. In particular, crops that grow rapidly and require moisture and nutrient absorption, such as corn, are sensitive to the vegetation index as well as CWSI, which is sensitive to water shortage. Therefore, in order to increase the yield of corn, it is important to properly supply nutrients and water at the optimum time. In the future, there will be a need for ways to manage crop growth and pests through continuous monitoring of growth conditions, as well as the NDVI and CWSI. Through this study, it was found that the use of UAVs and sensors can be very useful to determine size and growth status according to the growth of corn. In recent years, the growing cultivation of corn in paddy fields has become very important to establish the irrigation conditions and the drainage of water, so the utilization of NDVI and CWSI will be very useful.
