Our DJI Mavic 3 Enterprise Multispectral drone is equipped with a multispectral camera that helps assess crop health by capturing images across multiple wavelengths of light. Here’s how:
The camera captures data in 4 spectral bands, those being red, green, blue, and near-infrared (NIR) wavelengths. Each band provides different information about plant health.
By analysing the data from these bands, specific indices like the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) can be calculated. NDVI helps distinguish healthy and stressed plants by measuring how much light is absorbed by chlorophyll and how much is reflected in the NIR range. Healthy plants absorb red light and reflect more NIR light, while stressed plants (due to lack of moisture, disease, or nutrient deficiency) may reflect red light & reflect less NIR light. This difference in reflectance can indicate dry/wet areas, crop health, or weed infestation.
Our multispectral drone captures the images in a grid pattern over the crop, vineyard, orchard or forest. After flying, the data is processed using software that analyses the spectral information to generate maps showing variations in crop situation.
This capability allows you to monitor crop health in real-time, enabling you to make informed decisions about irrigation, fertilization, and chemical application, which using our sprayer/spreader drone, can be done at variable rates based off the captured information (see Variable Rate Applications).
