UAV low-cost system for evaluating and monitoring the growth parameters of crops

New generation sensors (RGB, thermal, NIR and multispectral cameras) on unmanned aerial vehicles are continuously being developed for precision farming applications. In particular, this paper presents a study and an experimentation linked to the determination of viticulture growth indices by integrating the innovative techniques of digital photogrammetry from UAV platform, GPS satellite technique and traditional measures. Furthermore we demonstrate that the products from the processed raw-data represent good quality support to determine health state of the crop, and provide in addition a quantitative evaluation of the observed data. Through the use of such a technology it is possible to improve productivity between 15% and 17%, reducing the market price of the product and the costs of control and management. In particular, during the monitoring campaign lasting three years from 2015 to 2017, it was possible to observe that vine cultivation increased the growth index by about 12% following the corrections resulting from the critical interpretation of the results.