IF800 Tomcat & Freefly Astro: NDAA-Compliant Platforms for Plant-Phenotyping & Plant Breeding Research
Tommy Gunn
Modern plant breeding and crop science hinge on plant phenotyping , the measuring of physical and biochemical traits of plants, to evaluate how different genetics and treatments affect growth and yield. Traditionally, phenotyping crops in the field has been a slow, labor-intensive process, often requiring destructive sampling of plants for measurements. Today, drone-based remote sensing is transforming this process. Small unmanned aerial vehicles (sUAVs or “drones”) equipped with advanced sensor