smartAKIS Dataset

Lampinen, B.D.; Udompetaikul, V.; Browne, G.T.; Metcalf, S.G.; Stewart, W.L.; Contador, L.; Negrón, C.; Upadhyaya, S.K.

A mobile platform was developed for measuring midday canopy photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) interception in orchards. The results presented are for almond (Prunus dulcis) and walnut (Juglans regia), but the mobile platform can be used in other orchard crops as well. The mobile platform is adjustable to accommodate orchard row spacing from 4.8 to 7.8 m and is equipped with a global positioning satellite (GPS) receiver and radar for positional assessment as well as three IR thermometers for measuring soil surface temperature. Data from the mobile platform are logged at 10 Hz and stored on a data logger. Custom software has been developed to process the data. The mobile platform was used extensively for mapping midday canopy PAR interception in almond and walnut orchards in 2009 and 2010. The mobile platform produced comparable results to those collected with a handheld light bar with the advantage of being able to cover much larger areas and compare these data to mechanically harvested yield data over the same area.