Hyperspectral imaging in agriculture

Spectral imaging is the detection of light reflected by the crop with the use of specialized sensors. It is measured in spectral bands. The higher the number of bands the higher the accuracy, the flexibility and information content. Spectral imaging is widely used now in agriculture and precision farming.

Currently satellites and drone fitted cameras are using multispectral imaging technology. Multispectral technology (5–7 bands) can offer a good overview of crop such as overall growth and NDVI, but fails to do so in an integrated scalable way and to tackle more complex problems such as weeds, pests, diseases and PK deficiency. Hyperspectral technology used by Gamaya, with its higher detection capabilities due to higher number of spectral bands can develop solutions for almost any problem encountered in the field. Hyperspectral imaging in agriculture allows to significantly extend the range of farming issues and applications that can be addressed using remote sensing.

Almost every farming issue (weeds, diseases, nutrient deficiency, etc.) changes a physiology of the plant, and therefore affects its reflective properties. Healthy crop and crop that is affected by disease reflect the sun light differently. Using hyperspectral imaging it’s possible to detect very small changes in the physiology of the plant and correlate it with spectrum of reflected light.

Unique hyperspectral camera, developed by Gamaya, has 41 spectral bands, which allows us to make 41 measurements of spectrum versus 5–7 measurements done using multispectral cameras. This results in a significantly higher information content of the data acquired using our hyperspectral imaging camera. High spectral resolution of our data allows for detection and identification of inferring biological and chemical processes in crops, which opens up a full range of applications in precision agriculture.