Using the GoPro InfraBlue 22 Lens for NDVI Field Measurements?

What is NDVI?  It is defined as Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, and is a numerical indicator which uses the visible and near-infrared bands of the electromagnetic spectrum to assess plant vigor.  And, the NDVI index has been integrated into remote sensing environments using various camera systems mounted on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to assess the health and stress of crop plants.  When using this technology, growers would be able to visualize the areas of the field which are stressed and, perhaps, rapidly mitigate a potential problem.  The GoPro camera has gained general acceptance in UAV platforms due to its relatively low cost, light weight and ability to shoot incredibly high-quality footage/stills reliably.  While any consumer camera can collect blue, green, and red bands, capturing the NIR band for calculating a standardized NDVI index requires wavelength separation and subsequent spectral analysis of individual bands, not a simple lens replacement.  The GoPro InfraBlue22 (IR Pro) lens system captures NIR, Green and Blue spectra and when used in conjunction with UAV platforms, it is interpreted as ‘pseudo-NDVI’ by many agronomists. Our effort explored the use of a GoPro InfraBlue 22 lens system to assess field level, pseudo-NDVI measurements.  Our work suggests that UAVs with GoPro InfraBlue can be viewed as an accompanying tool in precision agriculture which creates actionable data by the user.  Using a consumer UAV and flying a NDVI converted camera offers producers an inexpensive ‘first look’ with a short return on investment.  The system, in some cases, generates actionable data and can identify vegetation and crop stress, which can be correlated to ground data.  Inexperience workers can be trained relatively easily to take the first steps into using aerial imagery through the use of UAVs.