Hyperspectral Imagery

• Ultraviolet and infrared radiations
• Hundreds of spectral bands
• High resolution
• Can detect phenological differences
• Costly needing lots of storage and powerful computers.

Source: Altigator (2018)

Literature Cited:

• Rick L. Lawrence, Shana D. Wood, Roger L. Sheley (2005). Mapping invasive plants using hyperspectral imagery and Breiman Cutler classifications (RandomForest). Remote Sensing of Environment 100 (2006) 356 – 362.

• Alyssia Law, Bryana Ginther, Joyce Chan, Agatha Czekajlo (2017). Investigating Methods In Remote Sensing For Invasive Plant Species Identification. FRST 443.

 Drone (UAV's)

• Cost effective
• Collects data 'on demand'
• Can be used to detect and/or monitor invasive plants at various stages
• Need a licensed pilot to fly a UAV
• Weather can affect flying
• Limited range depending on quality of UAV and payload
• Good on sensitive or challenging terrain.

TerraLuma UAV w/ Hyperspectral system

Literature Cited:

• Helge Aasen, Eija Honkavaara, Arko Lucieer and Pablo J. Zarco-Tejada (2018). Quantitative Remote Sensing at Ultra-High Resolution with UAV Spectroscopy: A Review of Sensor Technology, Measurement Procedures, and Data correctionWorkflows. Remote Sens. 2018, 10, 1091; doi:10.3390/rs10071091

• Using Drones to Detect Invasive Species

• The impact of an invasive plant changes over time

 Mobile Data Collection

• Reduced cost
• Increase speed
• Data quality
• Improved control and flexibility of fieldwork
• Safer storage and backup
• User friendly method
• Quick access to data

 Mobile Data Collection Workflow

source: geogears

 Advanced Data Science

(AI/Machine Learning)

• Fairly new for invasive species research
• Relies heavily on imagery and remote sensing
• Algorithm needs to be trained.
• Can be used to:

1. Predict spread of species
2. Mitigate spread of species
3. Contain spread of species

• Needs powerful computer and lots of data storage

source: fast.ai

 Nano Satellites

• Still very new
• Relatively inexpensive compared to regular satellite launch
• Hyper Spectral (over 200 bands) with good spatial resolution
• Can collect data for any area on the Earth's surface. (eg. provincial park)
• Can help with early detection of invasive species.

ESTCube-1 1U CubeSat

Source: Wikipedia

Facts as of October 28, 2018

• Nanosats launched: 966
• CubeSats launched: 878
• Interplanetary CubeSats: 2
• Nanosats destroyed on launch: 86
• Most nanosats on a rocket: 103
• Countries with nanosats: 58
• Companies in database: 323
• Forecast: over 3000 nanosats to launch in 6 years

source: https://www.nanosats.eu/