NDVI/NDRE prediction from standard RGB aerial imagery using deep learning

The growth of precision agriculture has allowed farmers access to more data and greater efficiency for their farms. With consistently tight profit margins, farmers need ways to take advantage of the advancement of technology to lower their costs or increase their revenue. One area where these advancements can prove beneficial are in the measurement of vegetation indices such as the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Normalized Difference Red Edge Index (NDRE). Color maps representing these vegetation indices can be used to identify problem areas, plant health, or even places where spot applications are needed. These color maps help farmers to visualize these areas. Currently, a multi-thousand dollar multispectral camera, typically attached to an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) during flight, is required for measuring these indices. This makes obtaining NDVI and NDRE somewhat cost prohibitive for most farmers. This work demonstrates a solution to this cost issue. The solution involves the use of a conditional Generative Adversarial Network known as Pix2Pix. By using Pix2Pix along with training data from UAV flights of corn, soybeans, and cotton, this paper highlights the potential for predicting comparable NDVI and NDRE with a low-cost Red-Green-Blue (RGB) camera. This paper proposes and assesses a cost-efficient method that can comparably predict these vegetation indices, resulting in cost-savings in the range of $5000 per UAV system.