Development of tropical grassland biomass prediction model based on UAV RGB images

B.L.P. Ramos¹*, A.A. Seixas¹, L.M.G. Nascimento¹, D.L.S. Dias⁴, J.M.S. Amorim¹, O.L. Lemos³ and M.S. Pedreira²

¹University State Southwestern Bahia, Postgraduate Program in Animal Science,
BR 415, Itapetinga – BA, Brazil
²University State Southwestern Bahia, Department of Plant Science and Animal Science, Road of Good Will, km 04, Vitória da Conquista – BA, Brazil
³University State Southwestern Bahia, Department of Agricultural and Soil Engineering, Road of Good Will, km 04, Vitória da Conquista – BA, Brazil
⁴University State of Feira de Santana, Department of Biological Sciences, Av. Transnordestina, Feira de Santana – BA, Brazil
*Correspondence: agro.barbara@outlook.com

Abstract:

The objective of this study is to assess the predictive potential of indices derived from RGB images captured by a camera mounted on a remotely piloted vehicle (RPV) to estimate the fresh and dry forage yield of grasses from the Urochloa genus. The experiment was conducted between December 2021 and January 2023, involving four cultivars of the Urochloa genus (U. brizantha cv. Braúna, U. brizantha cv. Paiaguás, U. hybrid cv. Camello, and U. decumbens cv. Basilisk), with flights conducted at two heights (20 and 100 metres). The values of the Green Leaf Index (GLI) and Digital Vegetation Model (DVM) extracted were correlated with the yields of fresh (FFY), dry forage yield (DFY), dry matter content (DM), and crude protein (CP). The results showed that DVM exhibited greater efficiency in estimating DM and CP at a flight altitude of 20 m. In contrast, GLI proved more efficient in estimating FFY and DFY at 100 m altitude, suggesting the potential for combining DVM and GLI to develop predictive models. The RGB images obtained via RPV have potential for estimating forage productivity and quality, expanding the possibilities of pasture management techniques.

Key words:

Wind Power in Heat Energy Systems

J. Lepa, V. Palge, K. Jürjenson, K. Toom, M. Pennar and A. Annuk

Department of Energy Application, Institute of Technology,
Estonian University of Life Sciences, 56 Kreutzwaldi Str., EE51014 Tartu, Estonia
e-mail: jaan.lepa@emu.ee

Abstract:

The article discusses opportunities for the use of wind power plants in order to supply heat to coastal settlements. The possibilities of meeting the needs of heat consumption in the city of Paldiski in Estonia using general data from wind power output serves as an example in the present paper. Monthly electricity and heat consumption graphs and schedules of the Republic of Estonia together with production charts of wind power plants were used as initial data for the research. The investigation of wind energy production charts shows that, due to stochastic peculiarities of the wind, it is especially complicated to match the latter and the electricity consumption charts. There have even been cases, where the dispatcher has been forced to limit wind energy production maxima so that it would not interfere with the work of generators at large power plants. However, satisfactory correlation was revealed between the monthly graphs of both electricity and heat energy overall annual consumption, and wind power production charts. Nevertheless, there are still high deviations, and therefore, in order to use wind energy for heating purposes, powerful storage devices or additional feeding units are necessary to level the fluctuations of electric power produced by wind plants.

The problems related to the production usage of wind power plants in heat and power engineering are to a certain extent less complicated due to the fact that heating systems can be supplemented with additional heat energy storages. Considering the above mentioned issues, the authors suggest a more extensive usage of wind power plants for heating towns and settlements, particularly in cases when production peaks interfere with the work of power systems.

Due to new capacity installations, the overall production of the wind power plants is constantly increasing. Thus, the authors recommend that the maximum power usage coefficient of an operating wind power plant, not their overall production data should be used for analyzing the efficiency of the present power plants and for designing new ones. This will be more correlated with power and heat consumer load curves.

Key words:

boiler, energy, heat energy system, production and consumption charts, wind power