Projects

Hyperspectral and thermal imaging for precision agriculture and forestry applications – the University of Melbourne’s Airborne Remote Sensing Facility.

The main research areas and projects of the HyperSens Laboratory are:

1. High resolution hyperspectral, multispectral and thermal remote sensing methods for vegetation stress detection in precision agriculture and forestry
2. Plant functioning and plant trait retrieval methods, including chlorophyll fluorescence and physiologically-based indicators of plant health using airborne imaging spectroscopy
3. Pre-visual biotic stress detection of harmful diseases using deep learning algorithms linked to physically-retrieved plant traits
4. Nutrient assessment of vegetation using VIS-NIR-SWIR airborne imaging spectroscopy and specific plant traits related to physiological condition
5. Water stress detection and precision irrigation methods derived from thermal imaging and water-stress indicators obtained from airborne sensors

Our main areas of engagement with industry:

1. Research contracts and advisory activities in the context of imaging spectroscopy, multispectral scanning, processing and calibration of remote sensing cameras using laboratory instrumentation
2. Software designed for processing and image calibration can be adapted to the needs by industrial partners, particularly for RGB, CIR, multispectral and hyperspectral imaging sensors
3. Advisory activities in the context of remote sensing for precision agriculture, both from manned and unmanned vehicles and platforms
4. Research and service contracts in topics related to water and nutrient stress detection, large-scale imaging of farms and forestry areas, and monitoring activities using innovative cameras
5. Image acquisition and algorithm development for plant breeding, plant trait retrievals and high-throughput data collection using high-resolution imaging spectroscopy and thermal cameras