Remote Measurement of Apple Orchard Canopy Information Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Photogrammetry

Information on fruit tree canopies is important for decision making in orchard management, including irrigation, fertilization, spraying, and pruning. An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) imaging system was used to establish an orchard three-dimensional (3D) point-cloud model. A row-column detection method was developed based on the probability density estimation and rapid segmentation of the point-cloud data for each apple tree, through which the tree canopy height, H, width, W, and volume, V, were determined for remote orchard canopy evaluation. When the ground sampling distance (GSD) was in the range of 2.13 to 6.69 cm/px, the orchard point-cloud model had a measurement accuracy of 100.00% for the rows and 90.86% to 98.20% for the columns. The coefficient of determination, R-2, was in the range of 0.8497 to 0.9376, 0.8103 to 0.9492, and 0.8032 to 0.9148, respectively, and the average relative error was in the range of 1.72% to 3.42%, 2.18% to 4.92%, and 7.90% to 13.69%, respectively, among the H, W, and V values measured manually and by UAV photogrammetry. The results showed that UAV visual imaging is suitable for 3D morphological remote canopy evaluations, facilitates orchard canopy informatization, and contributes substantially to efficient management and control of modern standard orchards.