Summer 2024: Work at ACRE with Purdue Civil Engineering and Agronomy Department


This past summer I had the privilege to work as a UAS pilot at Purdue University's ACRE (Agronomy Center for Research and Education) facility and the subsequent fields that surrounded the area. The fields varied in differing experiments being conducted and monitored on corn, soybean, and sorghum. My role was to continually fly and monitor different fields, collect data and upload data, and maintain a small fleet of various sensors and platforms needed for scientific collection.


ACRE fields

The flight area was a couple miles West of Purdue University, off of US-52 W. The flights were conducted over a series of both corn and soybean plots throughout the summer. Due to a plethora of conditions including weather and cloud coverage consistency, the flights were largely conducted on a day-to-day basis with the mindset of data collection quality over quantity.

Soybean field on 6/7/24

The first couple weeks of data collection was monitoring growth rates of freshly germinated plants. To demonstrate growth during the time spent I have included another photo of the same plot taken almost two months later.

Same field on 8/6/24

The data collected was a combination of passive LiDAR, RGB, hyperspectral, multispectral, and radar data. This was done to cast a wide net of information needed for phenotype analysis and consistent observation. The sensors and systems used were new to me and took some learning, but were effective and helpful in collection.

The operating system being used for most flights was the Freefly Alta X platform. The drone is American made and has a multitude of different uses, a relatively long battery life, and decent operating range.

Alta X with GRYFN Mojave sensor

Some of the most useful and abundant data collected was using a sensor that captured both RGB imagery and multispectral data using a Micasense RedEdge sensor. Using different shaded panels for calibration, the multispectral captured imagery used a limited selection of spectral bands to analyze crop health and overall cover over a given time.

Alta X and GCS overlooking soybean field

Due to images being still valid for future data collection within the school, collected images aren't viable for public posting. That being said, the data will be valuable for a plethora of reasons and the opportunity I was provided over the summer was a great learning experience full of growth and success in a new and exciting industry. Thanks all!

Location: 4750 US-52, West Lafayette, IN 47906, USA

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