Description of Innovation: Most drone image processing pipelines require high-grade GPS, internet access, high-performance computing, extensive programming expertise, and various software such as Pix4D, Agisoft, or QGIS to extract plot-level metrics of plant growth and health from raw drone imagery. They also do not provide real-time turnaround (24 hours at best) which misses opportunities for real-time decision-making and quality control before leaving a field site. Researchers at Purdue University have developed a new pipeline that eliminates the need for high-grade GPS, internet, high-performance computing, programming expertise, or multiple software while providing real-time turnaround (images stitched in under 10 minutes and metrics generated in under 30). They have made this pipeline available to everyone in the form of a simple app that anyone can use with 10 minutes of training. This enables agronomists at small to mid-sized research groups who lack the resources to develop their own image processing pipelines to use the inexpensive off-the-shelf drones and laptops many of them already own to start collecting key metrics of plant growth & health (e.g. stand counts) 10 times faster and more accurately than ever before.

Why it matters to the seed industry: This technology was developed by plant breeders and is ideally suited to field trials so it should greatly accelerate the digitization, efficiency, & accuracy of crop improvement efforts in general while dramatically reducing their cost. It also de-centralizes the technology & empowers agronomists at small to mid-sized research groups who have been under-served and usually unable to get significant value or time-savings out of their inexpensive, off-the-shelf drones.