Plant Canopy Analysis System

The Plant Canopy Analysis System extracts canopy gap ratios from multiple angles using various image processing techniques. Equipped with a fisheye lens, the camera captures canopy photographs from beneath the tree canopy. By utilizing gap ratio parameters, it infers various canopy parameters, providing reliable scientific basis for rational fertilization in farmland and efficient management in modern farms. It is widely applied in scientific research and production guidance across agriculture, forestry, and plant sciences.

The system operates on the principle that canopy porosity correlates with canopy structure. Based on Beer's law—which describes light attenuation through media—it employs semi-theoretical, semi-empirical formulas under defined assumptions about plant canopies. By measuring canopy porosity, it calculates structural parameters. This principle is universally adopted by canopy analyzers worldwide. Under this framework, the system employs image analysis of the hemispherical sky view beneath the canopy to measure canopy porosity. This method stands as the most precise, labor-saving, time-efficient, and convenient approach among all available techniques.

• The fisheye lens automatically maintains a horizontal orientation: A compact fisheye camera lens, specifically designed for measuring plant canopy structures, is mounted on a handheld gimbal stabilizer. This setup automatically keeps the lens level without requiring a tripod.

• The fisheye lens extends into the canopy: Mounted at the end of an arm, its compact size and integrated measuring rod allow easy horizontal forward or vertical upward extension to different canopy heights. This enables rapid layered measurements, generating vertical distribution maps of light transmittance and leaf area index within the stand.

• Image Analysis Software: The image analysis software allows arbitrary definition of analysis regions (10 zones for zenith angle and 10 zones for azimuth angle).

• Masking of Unreasonable Canopy Sections: When performing regional analysis of canopies in different directions, ground features and unreasonable canopy sections (such as missing plants or edge row issues) can be arbitrarily masked.

• Automated threshold adjustment minimizes errors caused by subjective threshold settings.

• Detection results can be directly transmitted to a dedicated cloud-based agricultural data center, with a dedicated account provided.

• Data browsing: Historical data can be reviewed.

• Built-in bilingual display (Chinese/English) with one-click switching.