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Agricultural Camera (AgCam)
05.15.09

Overview | Description | Applications | Operations | Results | Publications | Images

Experiment/Payload Overview

Brief Summary

The Agricultural Camera (AgCam) will take frequent images, in visible and infrared light, of vegetated areas on the Earth, principally of growing crops, rangeland, grasslands, forests, and wetlands in the northern Great Plains and Rocky Mountain regions of the United States. Images will be delivered within 2 days directly to requesting farmers, ranchers, foresters, natural resource managers and tribal officials to help improve their environmental stewardship of the land. Images will also be shared with educators for classroom use. AgCam was built and will be operated primarily by students and faculty at the University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND. George A. Seielstad, Ph.D., University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND

Principal Investigator

  • George A. Seielstad, Ph.D., University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND

    • Co-Investigator(s)/Collaborator(s)

  • Karen Katrinak, Ph.D., University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND
  • Doug Olsen, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND
  • Mario Runco, Jr., Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX

    • Payload Developer

    University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND

    Sponsoring Agency

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

    Expeditions Assigned

    |19|20|

    Previous ISS Missions

    Information Pending

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    Experiment/Payload Description

    Research Summary

    • The Agricultural Camera (AgCam) will take frequent images of vegetated areas on the Earth, specifically focusing on the northern Great Plains and Rocky Mountain regions of the United States..


    • Existing Earth remote sensing systems applicable to vegetative studies each have individual shortcomings that reduce their effectiveness for in-season agriculture applications research and operational decision support. AgCam will allow selection of specific geographical areas of interest and request collection of AgCam imagery in both red and near-infrared bandpasses, and at medium-high spatial resolution. Collected images will be downlinked, processed on the ground, and delivered to the requesting end users within 1-2 days of image collection.


    • Farmers using variable-rate application and other precision agriculture techniques will be able to dynamically delineate management zones as the crop vegetation canopy changes during the growing season; this can result in more effective use of fertilizer and other chemical inputs and reduce negative environmental effects.

    Description

    AgCam is a multi-spectral camera destined for use on the ISS as a payload of the Window Observational Research Facility (WORF). Primary AgCam system components include an Imaging System Assembly, a Base Mount Pointing Assembly, a Power/Data Controller, associated cabling and support items, and a NASA-supplied A31p Laptop and power supply.

    Current Earth remote sensor platforms typically collect data too infrequently for rapidly changing short-season northern crops that often are under cloud cover, or deliver data with too much latency for effective in-season decision support; those that can meet the preceding needs have spatial resolutions that are too coarse for evaluation of in-field variability. AgCam will allow selection of specific geographical areas of interest and request collection of AgCam imagery in both red and near-infrared bandpasses, and at medium-high spatial resolution. The AgCam sensor will be able to point up to 30 degrees off-nadir, enabling frequent (multi-week to multi-day) imaging of a requested area, dramatically improving chances of obtaining cloud-free images. Collected images will be downlinked, processed on the ground, and delivered to the requesting end users within 1-2 days of image collection.

    Farmers using variable-rate application and other precision agriculture techniques will be able to dynamically delineate management zones as the crop vegetation canopy changes during the growing season; this can result in more effective use of fertilizer and other chemical inputs and reduce negative environmental effects. Further, crop canopy reflectance in AgCam spectral bands is correlative to nitrogen concentrations in the plant biomass; knowledge of variability of plant nitrogen across fields can be used to improve in-season nitrogen application decisions. Ranchers will be better able to determine livestock carrying capacity of rangelands; this can help avoid ecosystem damage due to overgrazing and erosion. Rapid delivery of imagery for these and other applications will enable management decisions to be applied to the current season's operations.

    The Base Mount Pointing Assembly provides a solid mounting to the internal WORF payload support shelf, and incorporates a slide mechanism to facilitate crew setup and activation. An integral gearbox and controller points the lens assembly up to 30 degrees cross-track. Inside the Power/Data Controller, frame grabber cards within a PC expander bus collect imagery from the cameras and forward it to AgCam software running in a standard ISS A31p Laptop connected via a PCMCIA cable. A built-in power converter individually powers on the controller and cameras.

    Within the Imaging System Assembly, an Isolation System Mount uses a tuned passive visco-elastic system to provide the vibration isolation and absorption needed to prevent excessive jitter in the AgCam images. A single 300 mm lens and optical beam splitter supply light to two digital line-scan cameras, each with its own filter, red (630-690 nm) and near infrared (780-890 nm). Healthy vegetation is highly absorptive in this red band (R) and highly reflective in the near-infrared band (NIR); combining them via ground data processing into a Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, where NDVI = (NIR-R) / (NIR+R), yields an indicator that is highly responsive to reductions in plant health, whether from reduced chlorophyll production (increases R reflectance) or from heat/drought stress-induced stomata closure (decreases NIR reflectance) .

    Nominally all payload operations are commanded via ground uplink. Commands are stored in an on-board command queue and executed based on system time supplied by the ISS. Imagery collected is downlinked via the low-rate payload LAN. Alternative operations allow for crew-initiated imagery to be collected using crew interface software running in the WORF laptop.

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    Applications

    Space Applications

    AgCam is a space-related research project that will result in the delivery of direct benefits from space to the general public. Increasing the relevance of any space-related research activities with respect to the daily lives of the general public will benefit all ISS applications, whether for space or earth applications. By using AgCam data in support of precision agriculture activities, the public will receive benefits synergistically from three different space systems: (1) Earth-observing from the ISS; (2) in-field navigation from the Global Positioning System; and (3) data delivery via satellite communications. With respect to the educational aspect of the AgCam project, using students to develop and operate AgCam helps train the next generation of scientists and engineers that will work on future space-based applications.

    Earth Applications

    Several AgCam data and information products that are anticipated from development of AgCam imagery include nitrogen application maps to improve fertilizer use, agriculture management zone decision support systems to improve nutrient and invasive species management, and rangeland management tools to improve livestock allocation and evaluation. The rapid responsiveness of AgCam imagery may also aid in disaster management application such as flood monitoring and wildland fire mapping.

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    Operations

    Operational Requirements

    To be able to image the Earth, AgCam requires the ISS to be in Local-Vertical-Local-Horizontal (LVLH) orientation, and requires the US Laboratory Window external shutter to be open. Typically, imaging operations will occur only when the ISS is over the northern central region of the United States, though imagery can be collected throughout all ISS orbits whenever the Earth surface below is in daylight. Frequency and location of imaging will be highly dynamic, driven by needs of a wide variety of end user research partners, but will be much more extensive during the growing season of the northern plains (April - October). At peak times, 2-4 images per orbit for 4 consecutive orbits are anticipated; several hours of powered operations immediately following collection will be required to complete image downlink.

    Operational Protocols

    Crew members install AgCam components, including an A31p Laptop and other GFE equipment, into the internal volume of the WORF. Once setup and activation of AgCam is complete, no more crew support is needed for nominal operations, other than manual opening and closing of the Lab Window external shutter per standard flight rules. From within the AgCam Science Operations Center at the University of North Dakota, operators will receive AgCam imagery requests from an extensive network of end-user research participants, and will convert these requests into specific sets of commands for uplink to AgCam. Through coordination with NASA for WORF rack operations, image acquisition and other AgCam operational commands will be uplinked to the AgCam payload software, which will take images over specific areas of the Earth. Resultant imagery data will be downlinked and transferred to the University of North Dakota for processing and quick delivery to image requestors. As an alternative procedure, AgCam crew interface software will be installed on the WORF Rack laptop, allowing crew members to initiate AgCam image collection based on their own or NASA's needs, and do so without opening the WORF internal volume hatch cover. If need be the EarthKAM payload can be operated from within the WORF volume simultaneously with AgCam.

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    Results/More Information

    Information Pending

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    Related Web Sites
  • Upper Midwest Aerospace Consortium

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    Publications

    Results Publications

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      Related Publications

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        Images

        imageAgCam Components installed in the WORF Ground Test Rack. Shown with simultaneous installation of EarthKAM. Cortesy of NASA.
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        imageAgCam hardware integrated on the window in the Destiny Lab mock up at Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, TX. Image courtesy of NASA, Johnson Space Center.
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        imageEarthKAM hardware integrated on the window in the Destiny Lab mock up at Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, TX. Image courtesy of NASA, Johnson Space Center.
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        imageNASA Image: ISS019E007157 Astronaut Michael Barratt,Expedition 19/20 flight engineer,working at the Destiny laboratory module window during the Agricultural Camera (AgCam) Setup and Activation. AgCam will take frequent images,in visible and infrared light,of vegetated areas on the Earth.
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        imageNASA Image: ISS019E007177 View of Destiny laboratory module window prior to the Agricultural Camera (AgCam) Setup and Activation. Photo was taken by the Expedition 19 crew.
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        Information Provided and Updated by the ISS Program Scientist's Office
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