High Performance Multispectral Camera for Aerial Operation

无人驾驶飞行器（uav或无人机）是航空成像和测绘的低碳排放替代方案。多光谱和高光谱成像使用更窄的波段传感，更多的波段，通常，可见光和非可见光波长的光来观察RGB相机或肉眼不可见的东西。**Stream Technologies选择了10个波段和图像后处理算法，提供了对**植物物种，营养和疾病胁迫的洞察，这是精准农业的有价值的指示。不幸的是，他们的相机的质量和尺寸的光学和电子使得它很难安装在大多数无人机。狭窄的视野需要比加拿大交通部通常授予无人机更高的航空摄影高度。**我们的实验室在建造和操作无人机和生产地理校正图像方面拥有6年以上的经验，**包括建造紧凑型光学系统和机载电子设备，用于捕获和标记带有适当元数据的图像。在之前与Stream Technologies的合作中，我们展示了一种无人机搭载的多光谱相机和农业应用。我们已经收到加拿大交通部的批准，将在农业用地上进行**实地测试。在这个项目中，多光谱相机将扩展到更多的频段和更高的性能，包括比现有系统更高的帧率和更高的分辨率。将探索一种新的基于fpga的相机后端，以显着降低相机的质量和成本。

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs or drones) are a low-carbon emission alternative for aerial imaging and**mapping. Multispectral and hyperspectral imaging uses narrower band sensing, more bands and typically, both**visible and non-visible wavelengths of light to observe what isn't visible to an RGB camera or the naked eye.**Stream Technologies has selected 10 bands and image post-processing algorithms that provide insight into**plant species, nutritional and disease stress, which are valuable indications for precision agriculture.**Unfortunately, their camera's mass and size of both the optics and electronics make it difficult to mount in most**UAVs. The narrow field of view requires higher altitudes for aerial photography than Transport Canada**normally grants for UAVs.**Our lab has 6+ years experience with building and operating UAVs and producing georectified images,**including building compact optical systems and airborne electronics for capturing and tagging images with the**appropriate metadata. In a previous Engage grant with Stream Technologies, we demonstrated a UAV-borne**multispectral camera and agricultural applications. We have already received Transport Canada approval for**field testing that will take place over agricultural lands.**In this project, the multispectral camera will be expanded to more bands and higher performance, including**higher frame rates and higher resolution than available systems. A new FPGA-based camera backend will be**explored to significantly reduce the mass and cost of the camera.