European Facility For Airborne Research

EUFAR together with VITO is organising an expert workshop on hyperspectral imaging from UAVs with applications in precision farming. Hosted by the University of Milano-Bicocca, this workshop will bring together experts in UAV hyperspectral image processing with the aim of presenting the state-of-the art in high spatial, high spectral remote sensing and in miniaturised hyperspectral sensors and technology. The workshop will also serve to identify gaps in bringing the knowledge to an operational system, i.e. bridge the gap between research and farmers/ industry. Application with abstract and CV must be emailed to bureau@eufar.net and stephanie.delalieux@vito.be before 21 October 2016. EUFAR will cover accommodation with a max. of two nights (13 and/or 14 December 2016) and limited travel expenses for selected applicants.

Workshop Abstract

Increasing food production in a sustainable way is one of the major challenges to meet the needs of the world’s growing population. Since the area of land suitable for agriculture is limited, optimization of crop quality from existing agricultural land becomes of utmost importance. Precision farming, through the optimal use of inputs, e.g., water, fertilizers, and pesticides, enables farmers a more effective and efficient use of their existing land to increase crop size and quality. However, to determine the optimal use of inputs, and allow a time- and site-specific treatment against production limiting factors with the goal of optimizing yield, a continuous monitoring and proper understanding of plant physiological processes in relation to the environment is essential. Remote sensing has proven to be a powerful tool for the monitoring of the Earth’s surface on a global, regional and even local scale as current agricultural management decisions require insight on within field variability. Recent developments in sensor and information technologies have led to a huge improvement of the perception of our surroundings. Hyperspectral imaging from Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) is able to capture the desired high spectral and spatial information, furthermore providing temporal flexibility to bridge the gap between information needs and data availability for precision farming.

The main purpose of the Expert Working Group meeting on UAV based precision farming using hyperspectral imaging sensors is to bring together experts in order to:
* present the state-of-the art in high spatial, high spectral remote sensing
* present state-of-the art in miniaturized hyperspectral sensors and technology
* identify gaps in bringing the knowledge to an operational system - bridge the gap between research and farmers/ industry

• Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems / UAS
• Hyperspectral Remote Sensing

• AASEN Helge
• BERRA Elias
• BURKART Andreas
• CELESTI Marco
• DELALIEUX Stephanie
• DEMARCHI Luca
• LIEBISCH Frank
• MAES Wouter
• OXFORD William
• REUSEN Ils
• ROSSINI Micol
• TITS Laurent
• TOMELLERI Enrico
• VANBRABANT Yasmin
• VERRELST Jochem
• ZABALA Stephania