New sensor for DJI drones can identify flowers, water vegetation

AgEagle Aerial Systems has added a new product to the MicaSense series of drone sensors. The company’s latest offering, RedEdge-P dual, is a high-resolution multispectral and RGB composite sensor that allows DJI operators to use their drones for plant classification, weed identification, environmental research and conservation, and vegetation analysis of water bodies.

Essentially, the new RedEdge-P dual is a blend of AgEagle’s RedEdge-P and RedEdge-P blue cameras. Its coastal blue band – the first of its kind in the market – is specifically designed for vegetation analysis of water bodies. Meaning, you can use this sensor for applications such as environmental monitoring, water management, habitat protection, and identification of vegetation species and weeds, as well as for differentiating and counting plants, trees, and invasive species.

Broadly, RedEdge-P dual covers 10 multispectral bands at 1.6 MP each. A global shutter shrouding all 10 lenses ensures that image quality is not degraded because of any vibration. But what’s particularly interesting is that the sensor is purpose-built for mirroring Landsat 8 and Sentinel-2 satellite bands in just one drone flight, and that too at a higher resolution of 2cm/0.8 inch per pixel at 60 meters/200 feet.

The first advantage of such a system is that sharper imagery allows you to spot smaller problems sooner and make reliable decisions. Further, if you have already created vegetation indices using satellite imagery, you can now now directly compare drone and satellite imagery to model trends and better predict yields in the future.

Michael O’Sullivan, AgEagle’s chief commercial officer, adds, “Similar to our RedEdge-P and Altum-PT sensors, the RedEdge-P dual features double radiometric calibration, a panchromatic sensor for improved image resolution, a global shutter for distortion-free results, and open APIs for ease of integration.”

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