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Application of UAV in Estimation of Crop Coefficient (Kc) using Field and Remote Sensing Data
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  • Suyog Khose,
  • Sudarsan Biswal,
  • Damodhara Mailapalli,
  • Chandranath Chatterjee
Suyog Khose
Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur

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Sudarsan Biswal
Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur
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Damodhara Mailapalli
Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur
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Chandranath Chatterjee
Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur
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Abstract

Evaluation of spatially distributed crop coefficient (Kc) for estimating evapotranspiration (ETc) based on remotely sensed imagery has become an essential topic in managing the demand for agricultural water. Currently, satellite (MODIS, Landsat, etc.) imageries are not insufficient to detect variability within the small agricultural field due to its lack of desired spatial and temporal resolutions. Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) equipped with various sensors like Multispectral (MS), Thermal, and Hyperspectral cameras is becoming an emerging technology to overcome these limitations over small agricultural fields. A field experiment is carried out in the Agricultural and Food Engineering (AGFE) Department, IIT Kharagpur, to estimate Kc over the small Agri. Field using UAV-based MS cameras during Kharif (monsoon) 2019-2020 season. Lysimeters are used for estimating daily ETc for conventionally irrigated paddy crops. Reference evapotranspiration (ET0) is also calculated using the weather data of the study area. High-resolution multispectral imageries are acquired using a quad-copter UAV. The imageries are pre-processed using Pix4Dmapper software, and various vegetation indices (such as NDVI, TNDVI, NDRE, RVI, GNDVI, and LCI) are evaluated. The vegetation indices (VIs) are correlated with ground truth Kc values and spatially distributed Kc maps for the whole study area are generated based upon the excellent correlation between the VIs and ground Kc. The spatial Kc maps clearly show the variation in Kc within the plots and will be helpful for the calculation of Kc for any field without a lysimeter experiment. Generated Kc maps describe the crop water demand by visual color variations within the field. This approach may be helpful in understanding the variability in crop water requirements within the field Keywords: UAV, Crop Coefficient (Kc), Crop Evapotranspiration (ETc), Vegetation Indices, Remote Sensing.