OIL PALM TREE GROWTH MONITORING FOR SMALLHOLDERS BY USING UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE

Abstract

The development of the latest technology in agriculture such as using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) platform, oil palm tree monitoring can be carried out efficiently by smallholders. Therefore, this study aims to determine the spectral response curve of oil palm tree growth for smallholders by using UAV Platform and payloaded with digital compact camera. The series of UAV images are then to be used to generate an orthophotos image whereby contains two types of spectrum bands which are single spectrum of near Infra-Red (NIR) and three spectrums of visible bands (RGB), respectively. Hence, a spectral response curve graph of oil palm tree condition is able to be produced based on the orthophoto as well as on-site ground validation using handheld spectroradiometer. The growth of the oil palm trees also able to be determined by analyzing the reflectance recorded from the images after generating the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Modified Soil-Adjusted Vegetation Index 2 (MSAVI₂), respectively. This study is successful determined that the low cost UAV platform and digital compact camera able to be used by smallholders in monitoring the oil palm tree growth condition by utilizing remote sensing techniques. As conclusion, this study has showed a good approach for smallholders in determining their oil palm crops condition whereby the results indicate all are identified healthy palm tree after spectral analysis from combination of NIR and RGB UAV images, respectively.