• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.126-136
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• 2008

Tobacco plants grown in pots by sand culture for 70 days after transplanting were used to evaluate the sensing distance and measurement efficiency of ground-based remote sensors. The leaf distribution of tobacco plant and sensing distance from the sensors to the target leaves were controlled by two removal methods of leaves, top-down and bottom-up removal. In the case of top-down removal, the canopy reflectance was measured by the sensor located at a fixed position having an optimum distance from the detector to the uppermost leaf of tobacco every time that the higher leaves were one at a time. The measurement of bottom-up removal, a the other hand, was conducted in the same manner as that of the top-down removal except that the lower leaves were removed one by one. Canopy reflectance measurements were made with hand held spectral sensors including the active sensors such as $GreenSeeker^{TM}$ red and green, $Crop\;Circle\;ACS-210^{TM}$ red and amber, the passive sensors of $Crop\:Circle^{TM}$, and spectroradiometer $SD2000^{TM}$. The reflectance indices by all sensors were generally affected by the upper canopy condition rather than lower canopy condition of tobacco regardless of sensor type, passive or active. The reflectance measurement by $GreenSeeker^{TM}$ was affected sensitively at measurement distance longer than 120 cm, the upper limit of effective sensing distance, beyond which measurement errors are appreciable. In case of the passive sensors that has no upper limit of effective distance and $Crop\;Circle^{TM}(ACS210)$ that has the upper limit of effective sensing distance specified with 213 cm, longer than that of estimated distance, the measurement efficiency affected by the sensing distance showed no difference. This result suggests that it is necessary to use the sensor specified optimum distance. The result revealed that active sensors are more superior than their passive counterparts in establishing between the relative ratio of reflectance index and the dry weight of tobacco treated by top-down removal, and in the evaluation of biomass. $The\;Crop\;Circle\;ACS-210^{TM}$ red was proved to have the highest efficiency of measurement, followed by $Crop\;Circle^{TM}(ACS210)$ amber and $GreenSeeker^{TM}$ red, $Crop\;Circle^{TM}$ passive, $GreenSeeker^{TM}$ green, and spectroradiometer, in descending order.