fUAS LiDAR Crop LAI Estimations from Canopy Density

Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), with the ability to fly close to the ground and under clouds, make it possible to collect data at unprecedented spatial and temporal resolutions. LiDAR systems are more commonly being used on UAS platforms as these sensors become smaller and more accessible. Within the field of precision farming, UAS LiDAR is often used for height calculations that takes advantage of its ability to penetrate through the canopy to the ground but the rate at which these signals pass through can provide important metrics on crop structure and (vegetation) density. These can be related to well known (or classically used) vegetation indices such as Leaf Area Index (LAI) which often plays a major contributor in monitoring plant health and predicting crop yield. This study exploits UAS LiDAR advantages and investigates its ability to estimate LAI for crops such as winter wheat. It was found that LiDAR LAI spatial patterns were consistent with other forms of data while providing estimates similar to ground measurements.