Multispectral Sensors for Drones
Multispectral Sensors
Multispectral sensors are specialized cameras that capture reflected light in several spectral bands invisible to the human eye. In agriculture, they are used for detailed diagnostics of crop health, soil conditions, and water balance.
Key capabilities of multispectral sensors in agriculture:
Advantages of use:
Key capabilities of multispectral sensors in agriculture:
- Blue — analysis of leaf structure, detection of damage and chlorophyll deficiency.
- Green — assessment of overall plant health and vegetation density.
- Red — monitoring photosynthesis and crop maturity.
- Red Edge — early detection of plant stress and nutrient deficiency.
- Near-Infrared (NIR) — determination of moisture content and biomass.
Advantages of use:
- Early detection of diseases and plant stress before visual symptoms appear.
- Creation of NDVI, NDRE, GNDVI, and other vegetation indices for precise agricultural planning.
- Optimization of fertilization and irrigation through accurate field condition mapping.
- Reduced costs and increased yields by integrating data into precision agriculture systems.
MicaSense Series
MicaSense manufactures professional multispectral and thermal cameras designed for agricultural monitoring, compatible with most industrial drones (including DJI Matrice 300/350 RTK via adapters).
Main Models for High-Precision Tree and Leaf Scanning:
Applications:
Main Models for High-Precision Tree and Leaf Scanning:
- MicaSense RedEdge-MX — compact multispectral camera with five channels (Blue, Green, Red, Red Edge, NIR), optimized for NDVI, NDRE, GNDVI generation.
- MicaSense Altum-PT — combines multispectral, thermal, and high-resolution panchromatic channels, capturing detailed RGB imagery, thermal maps, and vegetation indices in one flight.
Applications:
- Vegetation index mapping
- Photosynthetic activity assessment
- Stress and disease detection
- Water regime monitoring and irrigation planning
- Growth monitoring and yield estimation
Specifications
Parrot Sequoia+
Compact professional multispectral camera designed for integration with Parrot, DJI, and third-party drones. Captures both visible and non-visible spectrum imagery for in-depth crop, tree, and foliage analysis.
Key Features:
Key Features:
- Main module: 4 multispectral sensors (Green, Red, Red Edge, NIR) + integrated RGB camera
- Sunlight sensor module for automatic radiometric calibration under varying light conditions
Specifications
Sentera
US manufacturer of multispectral, hyperspectral, and high-precision RGB cameras for agriculture. Compatible with DJI Matrice 200/210/300, Phantom 4 Pro, Mavic 3 Enterprise, and custom UAV platforms.
Main Models:
Main Models:
- Sentera 6X Multispectral — 6-channel (RGB + Red, Red Edge, NIR), high-accuracy vegetation index generation.
- Sentera 6X Thermal — integrates multispectral and thermal sensors for combined photosynthesis + thermal stress analysis.
- Sentera Double 4K — compact RGB (12 MP) + multispectral (Red, NIR) module for small drones.
Specifications
Slantrange
US producer specializing in calibrated multispectral and hyperspectral sensors for reliable plant condition analysis in all lighting conditions. Known for onboard processing capabilities.
Main Models:
Main Models:
- Slantrange 4P+ — 4-band multispectral with integrated sunlight sensor, real-time NDVI/NDRE/OSAVI calculation.
Specifications