This project shows the demonstration of a low-cost small unmanned aircraft system (sUAS) to monitor water status of container-grown woody ornamentals.
This grant will provide seed money to test and validate our research methodology to develop a cost-effective aerial system for commercial nurseries to monitor water status of container-grown ornamentals and lay the foundation for future projects to monitor open-field nursery crops for other stress related issues (e.g. nutrients, plant pests).
This proposal sets forth a plan to demonstrate the feasibility of using a cost-effective small unmanned aircraft system (aircraft+sensor+software) to monitor water status of container-grown ornamentals. Also, it will serve as a foundation for future projects for low-cost monitoring of nursery crops for other crop production issues.