• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.45-56
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• 2024

Faced with aging populations, declining resources, and limited agricultural productivity, rural areas in South Korea require innovative solutions. This study investigated the potential of drone-based vegetation indices (VIs) to analyze soybean growth patterns in open-field smart agriculture in Goesan-gun, Chungbuk Province, South Korea. We monitored multi-seasonal normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and the normalized difference red edge (NDRE) data for three soybean lots with different irrigation methods (subsurface drainage, conventional, subsurface drip irrigation) using drone remote sensing. Combining NDVI (photosynthetically active biomass, PAB) and NDRE (chlorophyll) offered a comprehensive analysis of soybean growth, capturing both overall health and stress responses. Our analysis revealed distinct growth patterns for each lot. LotA(subsurface drainage) displayed early vigor and efficient resource utilization (peaking at NDVI 0.971 and NDRE 0.686), likely due to the drainage system. Lot B (conventional cultivation) showed slower growth and potential limitations (peaking at NDVI 0.963 and NDRE 0.681), suggesting resource constraints or stress. Lot C (subsurface drip irrigation) exhibited rapid initial growth but faced later resource limitations(peaking at NDVI 0.970 and NDRE 0.695). By monitoring NDVI and NDRE variations, farmers can gain valuable insights to optimize resource allocation (reducing costs and environmental impact), improve crop yield and quality (maximizing yield potential), and address rural challenges in South Korea. This study demonstrates the promise of drone-based VIs for revitalizing open-field agriculture, boosting farm income, and attracting young talent, ultimately contributing to a more sustainable and prosperous future for rural communities. Further research integrating additional data and investigating physiological mechanisms can lead to even more effective management strategies and a deeper understanding of VI variations for optimized crop performance.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.37 no.5_1
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• pp.917-926
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• 2021

Lodging rice is one of critical agro-meteorological disasters. In this study, the UAV-based multispectral imageries before and after rice lodging in rice paddy field of Jeollanamdo agricultural research and extension servicesin 2020 was analyzed. The UAV imagery on 14th Aug. includesthe paddy rice without any damage. However, 4th and 19th Sep. showed the area of rice lodging. Multispectral camera of 10 bands from 444 nm to 842 nm was used. At the area of restoration work against lodging rice, the reflectance from 531 nm to 842 nm were decreased in comparison to un-lodging rice. At the area of lodging rice, the reflectance of around 668 nm had small increases. Further, the blue and NIR (Near-Infrared) wavelength had larger. However, according to the types of lodging, the change of reflectance was different. The NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) and NDRE (Normalized Difference Red Edge) shows dome sensitivities to lodging rice, but they were different to types of lodging. These results will be useful to make algorithm to detect the area of lodging rice using a UAV.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.33 no.5_1
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• pp.571-585
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• 2017

The number of spaceborne optical sensors including red-edge band has been increasing since red-edge band is known to be effective to enhance the information content on biophysical characteristics of vegetation. Considering that the Agriculture and Forestry Satellite is planning to carry an imaging sensor having red-edge band, we tried to analyze the current status and potential of red-edge band. As a case study, we analyzed the effect of using red-edge band and tried to find the optimum band width and wavelength region of the red-edge band to estimate leaf area index (LAI) of very dense tree canopy. Field spectral measurements were conducted from April to October over two tree species (white oak and pitch pine) having high LAI. Using the spectral measurement data, total 355 red-edge bands reflectance were simulated by varying five band width (10 nm, 20 nm, 30 nm, 40 nm, 50 nm) and 71 central wavelength. Two red-edge based spectral indices(NDRE, CIRE) were derived using the simulated red-edge band and compared with the LAI of two tree species. Both NDRE and CIRE showed higher correlation coefficients with the LAI than NDVI. This would be an alternative to overcome the limitation of the NDVI saturation problem that NDVI has not been effective to estimate LAI over very dense canopy situation. There was no significant difference among five band widths of red-edge band in relation to LAI. The highest correlation coefficients were obtained at the red-edge band of center wavelength near the 720 nm for the white oak and 710 nm for the pitch pine. To select the optimum band width and wavelength region of the red-edge band, further studies are necessary to examine the relationship with other biophysical variables, such as chlorophyll, nitrogen, water content, and biomass.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.10-20
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• 2019

Irregular rainfall caused by climate change, in combination with non-point pollution, can cause water systems worldwide to suffer from frequent eutrophication and algal blooms. This type of water pollution is more common in agricultural prone to water system inflow of non-point pollution. Therefore, in this study, the correlation between Unmanned Aerial Vehicle(UAV) multi-spectral images and total phosphorus, total nitrogen, and chlorophyll-a with indirect association of algal blooms, was analyzed to identify the usability of UAV image to identify water quality characteristics in agricultural streams. The analysis the vegetation index Normalized Differences Index (NDVI), the Normalized Differences Red Edge(NDRE), and the Chlorophyll Index Red Edge(CIRE) for the detection of multi-spectral images and algal blooms collected from the target regions Yang cheon and Hamyang Wicheon. The analysis of the correlation between image values and water quality analysis values for the water sampling points, total phosphorus at a significance level of 0.05 was correlated with the CIRE(0.66), and chlorophyll-a showed correlation with Blue(-0.67), Green(-0.66), NDVI(0.75), NDRE (0.67), CIRE(0.74). Total nitrogen was correlated with the Red(-0.64), Red edge (-0.64) and Near-Infrared Ray(NIR)(-0.72) wavelength at the significance level of 0.05. The results of this study confirmed a significant correlations between multi-spectral images collected through UAV and the factors responsible for water pollution, In the case of the vegetation index used for the detection of algal bloom, the possibility of identification of not only chlorophyll-a but also total phosphorus was confirmed. This data will be used as a meaningful data for counterplan such as selecting non-point pollution apprehensive area in agricultural area.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.158-174
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• 2018

The leaf area index (LAI) is a major factor explaining the photosynthesis of vegetation, evapotranspiration, and energy exchange between the earth surface and atmosphere, and there have been studies on accurate and applicable LAI estimation methods. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between the actual LAI data, UAV image-based vegetation index, canopy height and satellite image (Sentinel-2) LAI and to present an effective LAI estimation method using UAV. As a result, among the six vegetation indices in this study, NDRE ($R^2=0.496$) and CIRE ($R^2=0.443$), which contained red-edge band, showed a high correlation. The application of the canopy height model data to the vegetation index improved the explanatory power of the LAI. In addition, in the case of NDVI, the saturation problem caused by the linear relationship with LAI was addressed. In this study, it was possible to estimate high resolution LAI using UAV images. It is expected that the applicability of such data will be improved if calibration and correction steps are carried out for various vegetation and seasonal images.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Grassland and Forage Science
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.103-108
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• 2023

Due to the recent impact of global warming, heavy rainfall and droughts have been occurring regardless of the season, affecting the growth of Italian ryegrass (IRG), a winter forage crop. Particularly, delayed sowing due to frequent heavy rainfall or autumn droughts leads to poor growth and reduced winter survival rates. Therefore, techniques to improve yield through additional sowing in spring have been implemented. In this study, the growth of IRG sown in Spring and Autumn was compared and analyzed using vegetation indices during the months of April and May. Spectral data was collected using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) equipped with a hyperspectral sensor, and the following vegetation indices were utilized: Normalized Difference Vegetation Index; NDVI, Normalized Difference Red Edge Index; NDRE (I), Chlorophyll Index, Red Green Ratio Index; RGRI, Enhanced Vegetation Index; EVI and Carotenoid Reflectance Index 1; CRI1. Indices related to chlorophyll concentration exhibited similar trends. RGRI of IRG sown in autumn increased during the experimental period, while IRG sown in spring showed a decreasing trend. The results of RGRI in IRG indicated differences in optical characteristics by sowing seasons compared to the other vegetation indices. Our findings showed that the timing of sowing influences the optical growth characteristics of crops by the results of various vegetation indices presented in this study. Further research, including the development of optimal vegetation indices related to IRG growth, is necessary in the future.