Intelligent Mapping of the Farm Using Low-Cost, GPS-Enabled Cameras During Existing Farm Activities

With the advent of precision agriculture, the way we farm is changing. Technologies exist to add precision to all aspects of the farm. Through "mapping the farm," precision management strategies can be implemented such as: targeted herbicide application, targeted soil management, improved yield predictions, improved management of water, and other farm resources. These practices all require information that is not readily available to the small farm. Current field mapping technology has a financial and time commitment that puts it out of reach of many small farms. The aim of the proposed research is to enable precision agriculture on the farm by augmenting existing farm activities where the farmer drives the whole field. These activities include but are not limited to: tilling the soil, seeding the crop, spraying for weeds or pests, and harvesting the crop.The rapid emergence of the action camera market has brought rugged wide-field-of-view GPS-enabled cameras into the reach of the common consumer and thus the small farm. Using these cameras as part of an automated imagery based mapping system will bring value to the small farmer. The mapping will be achieved through a combined effort of characterizing these cameras, developing machine vision routines for object identification, and careful radiometric inversions to produce accurate color images in real-world lighting conditions. Once these variables are defined, a software platform can be developed to deliver valuable information enabling precision agriculture on the small farm.