Abstract:

In-season plant height is a good predictor of yield potential, which needs to be measured with techniques of high spatial resolution and accuracy. In this study, systematic performance evaluations were conducted on three types of commercial range sensors, an ultrasonic sensor, a laser range finder and a range camera on plant height measurement, under laboratory and field conditions. Results showed that the average errors between the measured heights and the ground truth heights were 16.2%, 12.4% and 18.9% for the ultrasonic sensor, the laser range finder and the range camera, respectively. Considering the measurement accuracy, robustness and cost, the ultrasonic sensor and the laser range finder have better perspective to be applied in in-field, real-time high-resolution plant height measurements.