BODKIN DESIGN & ENGINEERING LLC — Department of Agriculture SBIR Phase I: 8.4

Description

As drought persists in certain areas of the western U.S., precision farming techniques are being developed to control irrigation as well as pesticide and fertilizer application in order to ensure crop health and conserve resources by preventing over-application. Water stress as well as disease and nutrient stresses of crops can be estimated by measuring optical spectral reflectance off canopies. Remote sensing using satellites or manned aircraft suffers from data availability due to low frequency collection, weather condition and high cost.In this program, Bodkin Design and Engineering (BDE) will adapt our miniature hyperspectral imager to crop drought stress detection. During the Phase I program, BDE's snapshot hyperspectral imager will be mounted on an observation tower and will be used to measure crop water stress at the Colorado State University's (CSU's) Limited Irrigation Research Facility located near Greeley, Colorado. Results will be used to develop a narrow-band hyperspectral imager working at the red edge of the maximum slope of vegetation reflectance. By precisely measuring the red edge with high spectral resolution, the blue shift, indicative of water stress, can be accurately characterized. This improvement on the water stress index will be used to perform more accurate water stress detection. In Phase II a dedicated narrow-band hyperspectral imager tailored to this detection will be developed as a commercial product for integration with small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).