HIGH-RESOLUTION MAPPING OF SUBSURFACE TILE DRAINAGE IN AGRICULTURAL FIELDS USING AN UNMANNED AERIAL SYSTEM (UAS)

Publication Date

4-5-2019

Document Type

Poster

Degree Type

Graduate

Department

Geography, Geology and the Environment

Mentor

Wondwosen Seyoum

Mentor Department

Geography, Geology and the Environment

Abstract

Tile drainage is one of the most widely used conservation practice that helps to drain land flooded by water for agricultural purposes. As a result, tile drainage improves soil moisture conditions, induces aeration, reduces total surface runoff, and increases infiltration. On the other hand, tile drainage affects hydrology (e.g. water quality) by enhancing the delivery of fertilizer applied to streams and surface water bodies. This leads to the development of algal bloom and hypoxic zones in surface water bodies. To alleviate and better manage problems associated with tiles drainage (e.g., water quality) and improve the functioning of tile drainages for the farmers, proper cost-effective and efficient mapping technique is necessary. The objective of this research is to develop a procedure and test the efficiency of mapping tile drainage using thermal and multispectral sensor mounted on Unmanned Aerial System (UAS). Three types of sensors, thermal, infrared, and visible (RGB), mounted on an unmanned aerial system will be used to obtain thermal, near-infrared and visible imagery. Altum 3-in 1- mica sense multispectral camera that integrates a radiometric thermal camera would be used. Altum has five high-resolution narrow bands, producing advanced thermal, multispectral and high-resolution imagery in one flight. DJI M 200 drone will be used to fly the sensor, and Ground control points (GCPs) will be used to calibrate the acquired images. The rate infiltration is different for tiled and non-tiled areas, so do the reflectance (surface characteristics) of the soil before, during, and/or after a rainfall event. This information collected by the Drone will be used to develop a procedure to map tile drainage in agricultural fields. The drone-based map will be compared with field based tile drainage map to assess the effectiveness the method.

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