title: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for High-Throughput Phenotyping and Agronomic Research.
abstract: Advances in automation and data science have led agriculturists to seek real-time, high-quality, high-volume crop data to accelerate crop improvement through breeding and to optimize agronomic practices. Breeders have recently gained massive data-collection capability in genome sequencing of plants. Faster phenotypic trait data collection and analysis relative to genetic data leads to faster and better selections in crop improvement. Furthermore, faster and higher-resolution crop data collection leads to greater capability for scientists and growers to improve precision-agriculture practices on increasingly larger farms; e.g., site-specific application of water and nutrients. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have recently gained traction as agricultural data collection systems. Using UAVs for agricultural remote sensing is an innovative technology that differs from traditional remote sensing in more ways than strictly higher-resolution images; it provides many new and unique possibilities, as well as new and unique challenges. Herein we report on processes and lessons learned from year 1-the summer 2015 and winter 2016 growing seasons-of a large multidisciplinary project evaluating UAV images across a range of breeding and agronomic research trials on a large research farm. Included are team and project planning, UAV and sensor selection and integration, and data collection and analysis workflow. The study involved many crops and both breeding plots and agronomic fields. The project's goal was to develop methods for UAVs to collect high-quality, high-volume crop data with fast turnaround time to field scientists. The project included five teams: Administration, Flight Operations, Sensors, Data Management, and Field Research. Four case studies involving multiple crops in breeding and agronomic applications add practical descriptive detail. Lessons learned include critical information on sensors, air vehicles, and configuration parameters for both. As the first and most comprehensive project of its kind to date, these lessons are particularly salient to researchers embarking on agricultural research with UAVs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 77843, United States of America.|Texas A&M AgriLife Research, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 77843, United States of America.
authors.forename: Yeyin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 77843, United States of America.|Texas A&M AgriLife Research, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 77843, United States of America.
authors.forename: J Alex
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Thomasson
authors.affiliation: Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 77843, United States of America.|Texas A&M AgriLife Research, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 77843, United States of America.
authors.forename: Seth C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Murray
authors.affiliation: Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 77843, United States of America.
authors.forename: N Ace
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Pugh
authors.affiliation: Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 77843, United States of America.|Texas A&M AgriLife Research, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 77843, United States of America.
authors.forename: William L
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Rooney
authors.affiliation: Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 77843, United States of America.|Texas A&M AgriLife Research, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 77843, United States of America.
authors.forename: Sanaz
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shafian
authors.affiliation: Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 77843, United States of America.|Texas A&M AgriLife Research, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 77843, United States of America.
authors.forename: Nithya
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Rajan
authors.affiliation: Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 77843, United States of America.
authors.forename: Gregory
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rouze
authors.affiliation: Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 77843, United States of America.|Texas A&M AgriLife Research, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 77843, United States of America.
authors.forename: Cristine L S
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Morgan
authors.affiliation: Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 77843, United States of America.|Texas A&M AgriLife Research, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 77843, United States of America.
authors.forename: Haly L
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Neely
authors.affiliation: Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 77843, United States of America.|Texas A&M AgriLife Research, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 77843, United States of America.
authors.forename: Aman
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rana
authors.affiliation: Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 77843, United States of America.|Texas A&M AgriLife Research, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 77843, United States of America.
authors.forename: Muthu V
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Bagavathiannan
authors.affiliation: Department of Aerospace Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 77843, United States of America.
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Henrickson
authors.affiliation: Department of Aerospace Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 77843, United States of America.
authors.forename: Ezekiel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bowden
authors.affiliation: Department of Aerospace Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 77843, United States of America.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Valasek
authors.affiliation: Department of Geography, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 77843, United States of America.
authors.forename: Jeff
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Olsenholler
authors.affiliation: Department of Geography, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 77843, United States of America.
authors.forename: Michael P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Bishop
authors.affiliation: LASERS Laboratory, Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 77843, United States of America.
authors.forename: Ryan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sheridan
authors.affiliation: LASERS Laboratory, Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 77843, United States of America.
authors.forename: Eric B
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Putman
authors.affiliation: LASERS Laboratory, Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 77843, United States of America.|Texas A&M AgriLife Research, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 77843, United States of America.
authors.forename: Sorin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Popescu
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 77843, United States of America.
authors.forename: Travis
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Burks
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 77843, United States of America.
authors.forename: Dale
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cope
authors.affiliation: Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 77843, United States of America.|Texas A&M AgriLife Research, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 77843, United States of America.
authors.forename: Amir
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ibrahim
authors.affiliation: Texas A&M AgriLife Research, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 77843, United States of America.
authors.forename: Billy F
authors.initials: BF
authors.lastname: McCutchen
authors.affiliation: Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 77843, United States of America.|Texas A&M AgriLife Research, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 77843, United States of America.
authors.forename: David D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Baltensperger
authors.affiliation: Texas A&M AgriLife Research, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 77843, United States of America.
authors.forename: Robert V
authors.initials: RV
authors.lastname: Avant
authors.affiliation: Texas A&M AgriLife Research, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 77843, United States of America.
authors.forename: Misty
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vidrine
authors.affiliation: USDA-Agricultural Research Service, Aerial Application Technology Research Unit, 3103 F&B Road, College Station, Texas, 77845, United States of America.
authors.forename: Chenghai
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture; D057166:High-Throughput Screening Assays; D010641:Phenotype; D058998:Remote Sensing Technology / Q000379:methods*; D012987:Soil
chemical_list: D012987:Soil