Drone-based Monitoring of Sunflower Crops

Remote monitoring and utilization of digital technologies is essential for the application of the precision farming approach, which contributes significantly to the improved quality of agricultural products. The paper compares the data for six vegetation indices when observing the sunflower vegetation in South Dobrudzha in 2021. Images with RGB and digital NIR camera were obtained via a remotely piloted quadcopter. The flight plan specifies speed 8 m/s, altitude 100 m and shooting overlapping images of 80%. Six vegetation indices: NDVI, EVI2, SAVI, CVI, MGVRI and MPRI were calculated from the images obtained during the flight. The calculation of the indices takes into account the intensity of solar radiation and the parameters of the meteorological situation at the time of shooting. The findings obtained reveal a stable trend of change of the vegetation indices, thus, establishing accurate and reliable results as for the monitoring of agricultural areas with unmanned aerial vehicles.