Low-cost system for radiometric calibration of UAV-based multispectral imagery

ABSTRACT

This study evaluated the use of low-cost materials for radiometric calibration of multispectral images. Four materials were tested: plywood panels painted with matte paint (M1); plywood panels covered with synthetic nappa leather (M2); Ethylene Vinyl Acetate (EVA) panels (M3), and plywood panels covered with Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) canvas (M4). The useful life of all materials and the errors associated with the calibration was determined. The M1 and M2 panels presented the lowest errors (RMSE), whereas the M4 panels showed the highest errors. Finally, the M3 panels showed the lowest resistance to use, whereas the M1 panels showed the greatest durability.

KEYWORDS:

• Remote sensing
• empirical line method
• vegetation indices
• coffee crop

Acknowledgments

This study was partially financed by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES, Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel) – Finance Code 001, by the Fundação de Apoio à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG, Research Support Foundation of the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil) and by the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq, The Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.