The Canadian Space Agency’s Class Grant & Contribution Program to support research, awareness and learning in space science and technology has awarded a contract to AUG Signals for the development of a novel technology to assess crop growth stages by enhancing and integrating RADARSAT-2 (RS2) and TerraSAR-X (TSX) fully polarimetric Synthetic Aperture Radar (PolSAR) data with RapidEye multispectral electro-optical data.
This technology will enable growers to proactively prevent disease, increase yields, and enhance long-term planning. Current agricultural practices rely heavily on time-consuming site visits, which can delay responses to potential threats and limit the extent of data that can be acquired for large tracts of land. There is high potential to maximize the use of satellite data to acquire comprehensive crop information quickly, automatically, and with high accuracy, to better manage large areas. Moreover, as many crops are susceptible to diseases and infestations during the narrow windows of specific growth stages, the estimation of crop growth stages, phenology and location is vital in order to identify which fields are at risk and when.
The goal of this project is to increase utilization of RS2 data by developing the capability to combine RADARSAT with multiple satellite data for crop growth stage estimation. This technology proof-of-concept will support the development of a commercial product that will enable end users in the agriculture industry to monitor crop stages more quickly and effectively than currently possible, reducing the need for site visits. This will help farmers to:
- Improve crop rotation planning by using multi-year EO data, resulting in better decomposition of past infected areas, healthier crops and more profitable yields
- Enhance product management and risk assessment for field surveys, agricultural industries operating in any environment, at any scale, and crop farming for export
AUG Signals specializes in signal, image and data processing, multi sensor data fusion/ integration, with extensive expertise in data processing for InfraRed, electro-optical and SAR. AUG Signals’ data processing, multi sensor data integration and remote sensing expertise includes work sponsored by government agencies and departments, in particular the Department of National Defence, Natural Resources Canada and the Canadian Space Agency. The company offers an extensive suite of image processing services and products for military and non-military customers across the globe.
For more information, please contact the Project Manager, Dr. Ting Liu