Title: Next Generation UAS Based Spectral Systems for Environmental Monitoring
Presenting Author: Dan Mandl
Organization: NASA GSFC
Co-Author(s): Petya Campbell

Abstract:
Most civil deployments of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) for environmental monitoring use low spectral resolution imaging (e.g., capable only of retrieving NDVI or detecting water stress), and not the types of high spectral resolution measurements that facilitate retrieval of ecosystem biochemical or physiological parameters. In addition, many existing uses do not generate calibrated measurements, i.e., measurements or images that are calibrated to reflectance and comparable across the seasons, sites, and times of day. Generally, existing uses only allow within-scene comparisons for a single acquisition site/time/day, e.g. for assessment of variability in NDVI as a surrogate for productivity within a single agricultural field. Our focus here is: 1) The deployment of instruments on drones to make high spectral resolution and calibratated measurements (i.e., hyperspectral) and generate spectral data of comparable quality to data from handheld, proximal, or air-/space-borne spectrometers; and 2) The retrieval of biochemical and physiological traits that have been demonstrated at both the leaf level and air/spacecraft level but have yet to be assessed at intermediate proximal levels (i.e., on drone platforms). These traits include those estimated from the photochemical reflectance index (PRI), chemistry such as nitrogen or lignin content, specific leaf area, and metabolic parameters such as carboxylation capacity or fluorescence We will present the planned technology for this research effort which includes the integration of a hexacopter built by Univ. of Wisconsin, Ocean Optics USB 2000+ and QE Pro spectrometers, along with an imaging spectrometer for part 2 of our effort and an Intelligent Payload Module (IPM) which will enable rapid onboard image processing and facilitate intelligent image aided navigation, thus allowing maximal useful data gathering given the limited battery life of a UAS.