Development of multi-functional remote sensing system for greenhouse production

This study is aimed to develop a multi-functional remote sensing system based on spectral imaging and environmental sensing for seedling production in the greenhouses. The spectral images were grabbed with exposure time and signal gain controls through IEEE-1394 interface; and a color camera and a B/W camera with optical filter at 780 nm were used. A control program was developed to grab the good quality images using the automatic exposure algorithm with a developed software using Matlab and Lab VIEW. To obtain necessary spectral information regarding tray locations and seedling growth status on greenhouse benches, a serial image processing procedures, including spatial calibration, image stitching, gray-level calibration and image segmentation were developed. The data of tray positions and growth status were transferred to the look up table (LUT) and delivered to the water management module through the DataSocket server and wireless network. Besides, the environmental sensing sub-system, including temperature, relative humidity, and lighting measurements, was also developed with the PCI-6023 interface to analyze the spatial distribution of these parameters in the greenhouse. The information of environmental status will provide a better management for seedling growth in greenhouses.