Aerial Scouting

Aerial scouting is the process of collecting data, usually imagery, from above a field for use in agronomic decisions.

Agisoft 

Software used to create 3D spatial data from photogrammetric processing of data.

AgiSoft Metshape

Agisoft Metashape (formerly PhotoScan) is a stand-alone software product that performs photogrammetric processing of digital images and generates 3D spatial data to be used in GIS applications, cultural heritage documentation, and visual effects production, as well as for indirect measurements of objects of various scales.

AGL 

above ground level

APAS

advanced pilot assistance systems

API

Application Program Interface. A set of functions and procedures allowing the creation of applications that access the features or data of an operating system, application, or other service.

ARF 

almost ready to fly

Automated Flight

Flight software, such as FieldAgent and Fly PHX, allows a drone to perform an aerial scout of a field without any human intervention from takeoff to landing. To accomplish this, a flight plan is created using a mobile device. Typically, the flight path follows a lawn mower pattern (back and forth) to cover a specified area. The onboard camera triggers at specified intervals to ensure all desired imagery is captured.

Autonomous flight 

A drone’s ability to fly by itself without direct pilot control.

Autopano Giga 

Image-stitching software.

Bayer-filtered

A color filter array for arranging RGB color filters on a square grid of photosensors. The particular arrangement of color filters is used to create a color image.

BLE

Bluetooth low energy

BVLOS 

beyond visual line of sight

CIG

Chlorophyll Index - Green

CIRE

Chlorophyll Index - Red Edge

CMOS

Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor. A type of MOSFET (metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor) fabrication process that uses complementary and symmetrical pairs of positive and negative MOSFETs for logic functions.

COG

COG (Cloud Optimized GeoTIFF) is a GeoTIFF file with an internal organization that enables more efficient workflows in the cloud environment. It does this by leveraging the ability of clients issuing HTTP GET range requests to ask for just the parts of a file they need.

Co-registered

Taking the six images captured by 6X and aligning them with each other.

DGR

Direct Geo Referencing system is a drone payload that allows precise location accuracy in-flight.

DHCP

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, used to automatically configure IP addresses for network connected devices.

DJI

A manufacturer of commercial unmanned aerial vehicles (commonly known as drones) for aerial photography and videography. It also designs and manufactures sensor gimbals, action sensors, sensor stabilizers, flight platforms and propulsion systems, and flight control systems.

DJI Gimbal Mount

An adapter for third party sensors, other sensors, and payloads (for example, air-to-ground communication tools) to be mounted and integrated directly into the DJI Matrice series drones.

DJI Inspire 1/2

A series of drones, Inspire 1 and Inspire 2, created by DJI.

DJI M100/200/300

A series of drones, Matrice 100 (M100), Matrice 200 (M200), and Matrice 300 (M300), created by DJI.

DN

Digital Number. A variable assigned to a pixel, usually in the form of a binary integer in the range of 0–255, for example, a byte.

Double 4K Sensor 

Sentera’s rugged dual sensor that captures two sets of imagery simultaneously, and comes in four different variations.

DSM 

digital surface model

ESC

Electronic Speed Controller

Ethernet

A system for connecting a number of computer systems to form a local area network, with protocols to control the passing of information and to avoid simultaneous transmission by two or more systems.

EXIF

Exchangeable Image File Format. A standard that specifies the formats for images, sound, and ancillary tags used by digital sensors.

FAA 

Federal Aviation Administration

Feature Connector

A point-to-point channel used to transfer video signals between two video controllers, typically between the graphics card and a video capture.

FieldAgent

Platform applications that include synchronized mobile, web, and desktop applications and API integration with many leading digital agriculture platforms. These integrations enable easy sharing and workflow integration of images, analytics, and insights. Imagery, index products, such as NDVI and NDRE, and advanced tools, such as stand and population count, weed detection, and tassel mapping.

FieldAgent Desktop 

Sentera’s precision ag desktop platform that assigns imagery to the correct field, by time + type of image (RGB, NIR, NDVI, or NDRE) moments after your drone lands. Create QuickTile™ crop health maps in seconds, or order fully stitched orthomosaics directly through FieldAgent desktop. Integrate FieldAgent with your existing tools and push shapefiles directly to your equipment.

FieldAgent Mobile 

Sentera’s mobile platform that tracks crop growth stages, weeds, compaction, storm damage and more. Snap a photo with your mobile device and it automatically syncs with your desktop, catalogued by location, time, and type. It also allows you to autonomously fly any DJI Mavic, Phantom 4, Phantom 3, or Inspire UAV using your iOS mobile device.

FieldAgent Web 

Sentera’s online data management platform that handles all of your aerial RGB, NIR, NDVI or NDRE data for easy access through any connected, browser-equipped device.

FieldAgent™ 

Sentera’s precision ag data management platform for desktop, web and mobile devices.

Firmware

A permanent software programmed into a read-only memory.

Fly-Away Protection System 

A system that will keep your drone within set boundaries and return it safely to the ground.

FOV

Field of View. This zoom setting controls the size of the still image to save. It is the angle of the captured area in a photo from the location of the lens.

FPS

Frames Per Second. Used to measure frame rate or the number of consecutive full-screen images that are displayed each second.

FPV 

first-person view

Frontal overlap

Frontal overlap is the percentage of a photo that was also captured in the previous photo. As the drone flies in a straight line, the sensor will account for altitude, the location of the last trigger, and current GPS location to determine when to trigger again based on a set overlap.

FrSky

A telemetry that allows you to display information such as flight modes, battery level, and error messages, as well as information from additional sensors.

GB

Gigabyte or Gigs. Equal to 1,000 megabytes and precedes the terabyte unit of measurement.

GCS 

ground control station

GDD

Growing Degree-Day: A measure of heat accumulation used by farmers to predict when a crop will reach maturity.

Genotype

genetic makeup of a  plant

GeoJSON

GeoJSON is an open standard format designed for representing simple geographical features, along with their non-spatial attributes. It is based on the JSON format. The features include points (such as addresses and locations), line strings (such as streets, highways and boundaries), polygons (countries, provinces, tracts of land), and multi-part collections of these types.

GeoTIFF

GeoTIFFs files are raster image file types that are commonly used to store satellite and aerial imagery data, along with geographic metadata that describes the location in space of the image.

Gimbal 

A device used to hold and stabilize a camera to a drone. Gimbals enable crisp imagery. A pivoted support that allows the rotation of an object about a single axis.

GIS

Geographic Information System. A system designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, manage, and present spatial or geographic data.

GLI

Green Leaf Index

Global shutter

Sensors that scan the entire area of the image simultaneously.

GND

Ground.

GNSS

Global Navigation Satellite System. A constellation of satellites providing signals from space that transmit positioning and timing data to GNSS receivers. The receivers then use this data to determine location.

GPS

Global Positioning System. A space-based satellite navigation system that provides location and time information in all weather conditions, anywhere on or near the Earth, where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites.

Graphic Processing Unit (GPU) 

A graphic processing unit renders visual information such as video, images, and animations for your monitor.

Ground Effect 

Increasing air pressure on the lower wing surface as an aircraft approaches the ground.

Ground Sampling Distance (GSD) 

The distance between pixel centers measured on the ground. The lower the GSD, the higher the image’s spatial resolution. The result is more visible detail in images.

Gyroscope (gyro) 

The gyroscope helps keep the drone balanced (with respect to yaw, pitch and roll) by measuring the rate of rotation.

Hexicopter 

A vertical takeoff and landing drone with six rotors (propellers).

HFOV 

horizontal field of view

High-Precision Single Sensor 

Sentera’s precise scouting sensor is available in two variants depending on which type of crop health data to collect NDVI or NDRE.

Hobby Grade 

Mid-sized drones, typically equipped with a camera. Hobby-grade drones are perfect for moderate use.

Hyperspectral Imagery (HSI) 

HSI collects and processes information from across the electromagnetic spectrum and subdivides spectrums into extremely narrow bandwidths.

Hz

Hertz. The derived unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI) and is defined as cycles per one second.

I2C

Inter-Integrated Circuit. A synchronous, multi-master, multi-slave, packet switched, single-ended, serial computer bus used for attaching lower-speed peripheral ICs to processors and microcontrollers in short-distance, intra-board communication.

IC

Integrated Circuit. A small chip that can function as an amplifier, oscillator, timer, microprocessor, or even computer memory.

ICD

Intelligent (Electronic Device) Capability Description. An encrypted file format used by SafeDisc that contains information that prevents the copying and reproduction of discs.

ILS

Incident Light Sensor. Captures multi-spectral imagery under the same viewing conditions on different viewing occasions, correcting the color.

Inertial Measurement Unit

The is bolted on the same plane as the 6X camera. The IMU takes measurements for pitch, roll, acceleration, and more.

Indago

The Lockheed Martin Indago is an industrial-grade quadcopter. It is compatible with the Sentera High-Precision Single NDVI or NDRE sensor, the Sentera Double 4K sensors, and the Sentera Q sensor.

INS

Inertial Navigation System. A navigation device that uses a computer, motion sensors (accelerometers) and rotation sensors (gyroscopes) to continuously calculate by dead reckoning the position, the orientation, and the velocity (direction and speed of movement) of a moving object without the need for external references.

Inspire 1 

The DJI Inspire 1 is a pro-sumer grade quadcopter that allows for unobstructed 360° view. It is compatible with the Sentera High-Precision Single NDVI or NDRE sensor, the Sentera Double 4K sensors, as well as the DJI Z3, X5 or Thermal XT sensors.

Irradiance

The flux of radiant energy per unit area (normal to the direction of flow of radiant energy through a medium).

JPEG 

A common image file format, able to be compressed at user discretion.

JSON

JSON stands for JavaScript Object Notation. JSON is a lightweight format for storing and transporting data.

Lateral axis, transverse axis, or pitch axis 

An axis prallel to the wings of a winged aircraft.

LED

Light-emitting diode. A semiconductor diode which glows when a voltage is applied.

LiDAR 

Stands for light detection and ranging. LiDAR is a method of using a pulsed laser to measure distances.

Light sensor

A light sensor measures the intensity of light in specific wavelengths of light. A light sensor is usually designed to match the wavelengths of light captured by an accompanying camera. By recording the intensity of light for a specific flight or photo, imagery can be adjusted/calibrated to allow for comparison with images captured on different days in different lighting conditions.

Longitudinal axis, or roll axis 

An axis drawn through the body of the aircraft from tail to nose in the normal direction of flight, or the direction the pilot faces.

m/s

Meters Per Second.

mA

Milliampere.

Mapping flight

A mapping flight results in what appears to be a single image of the area covered (also known as stitched image or mosaic).

Mavic 

The DJI Mavic is a consumer-grade compact quadcopter that can fold up to fit in the palm of your hand. It is compatible with Sentera’s High-Precision Single NDVI or NDRE sensor.

MAVLink

Micro Air Vehicle Link. An open source protocol for sending data and commands between small, unmanned vehicles or drones and ground stations.

Metadata

A set of data that describes and gives information about other data.

Micro SD Card

A removable flash memory secure digital card used for storing information.

MP

Megapixel. A unit of graphic resolution equivalent to one million or 1,048,576 (2²⁰) pixels.

MPH

Miles Per Hour.

Multicopter 

The generic name for a drone with multiple rotors (propellers), usually facing upwards.

Multispectral Imagery (MSI) 

Captures image data within specific wavelength ranges across the electromagnetic spectrum.

NAIP

National Agriculture Imagery Program

Narrowband

Filters that only allow a very narrow band width of light and color (RGB) through, allowing enhancement of certain details of the surface.

NDRE

Normalized Difference Red Edge. A metric that can be used to analyze whether images obtained from multi-spectral image sensors contain healthy vegetation or not.

NDVI

Normalized Difference Vegetation Index. A graphical indicator that can be used to analyze remote sensing measurements, typically, but not necessarily, from a space platform, and assess whether the target being observed contains live green vegetation or not.

NDWI

Normalized Difference Water Index. Used to monitor changes in water content of leaves, using near-infrared and short-wave infrared wavelengths.

Near-Infrared (NIR) 

Light reflected in this band correlates to the bands of light needed to view biological processes in plant material.

NFZ 

no-fly zone

NIR

Near-infrared is the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum directly adjacent to the visible range; therefore, it cannot be perceived with the human eye.

Nm

Nanometer. One billionth of a meter.

Normal axis, or yaw axis 

An axis drawn from top to bottom, and perpendicular to the other two axes (lateral axis and longitudinal axis).

Normalized Difference Red Edge (NDRE) 

A measurement very similar to NDVI, but that is more useful for mature plants. NDRE can be useful for assessing plant vigor, plant stress, presence of chlorophyll in plant leaves, nitrogen uptake, and fertilizer needs.

Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) 

In simple terms, NDVI is a measurement of plant health based on how a plant reflects light at specific frequencies. Healthy plants reflect a large amount of near-infrared (NIR) light, while unhealthy plants absorb more NIR light. NDVI data is helpful for analyzing plant vigor and yield potential.

Octocopter 

A drone with eight rotors (propellers).

OEM 

original equipment manufacturer

Omni 

The Sentera Omni is an industrial quadcopter that comes equipped with a gimballed Sentera Double 4K sensor. With the ability to capture imagery from virtually any angle, it enables you to collect inspection and/or scouting data not previously possible. It is compatible with the Sentera High-Precision Single NDVI or NDRE sensor, DJI Z3, and DJI Thermal XT sensor.

Orthomosaic 

These maps are created using many overlapping images taken from your UAV, to create a true-to-scale high-resolution map. The data from this type of map allows you to produce volumetrics, NDVI, 3D tours, and more.

OSAVI

Optimized Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index. A soil-adjusted vegetation index optimized for agricultural monitoring.

OSD 

on-screen display

Overlap

Where all of the elements in a photograph overlap each other to help create the illusion of the third dimension.

Part 107 

United States government regulations for commercial operation of remote-operated aircraft under 55 pounds.

Passband

A range of frequencies or wavelengths that can pass through a filter.

Payload 

Non-aircraft sensors or equipment.

Payload Capacity 

How much weight a drone is able to carry (sensors, cameras, gimbal, batteries, etc.).

Payload mounting hardware

Mounting hardware is the interface designed to connect a payload to an aircraft: fixed and removable.

PCIe NVMe

Peripheral Component Interconnect Express bus Non-Volatile Memory Express. NVMe is a host controller interface and storage protocol created to accelerate the transfer of data between enterprise and client systems and solid-state drives over a computer's high-speed PCIe bus.

PDF

Portable Document Format. A file format that provides an electronic image of text or text and graphics that looks similar to a printed document and can be viewed, printed, and electronically transmitted.

Phantom 4 Pro 

DJI’s robust and affordable consumer-grade quadcopter, compatible with Sentera’s High-Precision Single NDVI or NDRE sensor and Double 4K Ag or Multispectral sensor.

Phenomics

Acquisition of high-dimensional phenotypic data on an organism-wide scale

Phenotyping

The science of the characterization of the crops to determine the best genotype of the plan

Permanent crop

Crops that, after each harvest, do not have to be planted for several years.

PHX 

Maximize your acres per hour with the professional-grade Sentera PHX fixed-wing drone. Available in in three different variants -- the Pro, LE, and MS, there is a PHX perfect for any industry. Equipped with the Sentera Double 4K sensor, it is also compatible with Sentera’s entire line of precision sensors.

Pitch 

The movement of the nose of an aircraft up or down. A positive pitching motion raises the nose of the aircraft and lowers the tail.

Pitot tube

An open-ended tube that measures the total combined pressures that are present when an aircraft moves through the air.

Pix4D 

Software that allows you to create 2D maps and 3D models from flight imagery.

Pix4Dfields

Agriculture mapping software for aerial crop analysis and digital farming created by Pix4D.

Pix4Dmapper

Photogrammetry software for professional drone mapping created by Pix4D.

Pixel

Picture Element. The basic unit of programmable color (small dots) on a computer display or in a computer image.

Pixhawk

An open-hardware project that aims to provide the standard for readily available, high-quality, and low-cost autopilot hardware designs for small remotely piloted aircraft.

Preset

Presets are standardized flight settings for a desired outcome. Overlap is the most important of the flight settings.

Precision Agriculture

Everything that makes the practice of farming more accurate and controlled when it comes to the growing of crops and raising livestock.

Professional Grade 

High-end drones, typically equipped with high-definition cameras and better features such as longer flight times.

PWM

Pulse Width Modulation. A technique for getting analog results with digital means. Digital control is used to create a square wave, a signal switched between on and off.

PWR

Power.

PX4

An open-source autopilot code oriented toward small remotely piloted aircraft.

QGIS

Quantum Geographic Information System. A free and open-source cross-platform desktop geographic information system application that supports viewing, editing, and analysis of geospatial data.

Quad Multispectral 

The Sentera Quad is a multispectral sensor with four customizable imagers.

Quadcopter (Quad, Quadricopter, Quadrocopter) 

A drone with four rotors (propellers).

QuickTile™ 

Functional stitched field map created by rapidly stitching together images from a drone flight at the field’s edge, no internet required.

Radio Controller 

A device used to control a drone.

Radiometric

Measures the temperature of a surface by interpreting the intensity of an infrared signal reaching the sensor.

Raw Imagery 

An image file with no compression and no processing. This is the highest quality and most easily edited format of imagery that can be collected, but also results in the largest files.

RC 

radio controlled

RGB 

RGB stands for Red, Green, Blue. These colors, when mixed together, create color in digital imagery. This is the standard format for digital color images.

Roll 

Rotation of an aircraft about an axis running from nose to tail.

Rolling Shutter 

Captures light using a method similar to pulling up blinds on a window.

RPAS 

remotely piloted aircraft system

RPV 

remote person view

RTF 

ready to fly

RTH

Return to home or RTH Battery Threshold

RTK

Real-Time Kinematic capture. RTK is a GPS correction technology that corrects any error in the drone's location as images are being captured. Images taken with RTK technology are accurate down to a 3-centimeter relative accuracy from the known location of the base station.

RTL

Return to Land

RXD

Receive data.

SCL

Serial Clock Line. Used to synchronize all data transfers over the I2C bus.

Scout

Scouting is used to get an overview of how a field is performing.

SDA

Serial Data line. Used for the master and slave to send and receive data.

SDK

Software Development Kit.

Shapefile (.SHP) 

Method of storing geometric locations and their respective attributes. This information can be sent to your existing devices to be used in the field.

SI

International System of Units. A system of physical units (SI units) based on the meter, kilogram, second, ampere, kelvin, candela, and mole, together with a set of prefixes to indicate multiplication or division by a power of ten.

Sidelap 

The lateral overlapping photos taken adjacent to each other (left and right).  Sidelap impacts how close together the rows, or passes, are planned in an autonomous flight.

Singulation

The measurement of how well the seeder plants one seed in its assigned spot in a row. Skips and doubles reduce singulation and are undesirable.

sUAS 

small unmanned aircraft systems

Tag

A geographical indication sign used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin. In order to function as a GI, a sign must identify a product as originating in a given place.

TCARI

Transformed Chlorophyll Absorption Reflectance Index. This index is one of several absorption indices that indicates the relative abundance of chlorophyll. It is affected by the underlying soil reflectance, particularly in vegetation with a low leaf area index.

TIFF 

TIFF stands for “tagged image file format” and is a larger image file format with no compression.

Toy Grade 

Smaller drones, often quadcopters, that are inexpensive and great for beginners.

TRIG pin

Trigger pin. Used to trigger precise control of a frame of output in snapshot mode, and to indicate the end of exposure.

Trigger

Shutter release.

TX 

transmitter

TXD

Transmit Data.

UART

Universal Asynchronous Receiver-Transmitter. A computer hardware device for asynchronous serial communication in which the data format and transmission speeds are configurable.

UAS 

unmanned aerial system

UAV 

unmanned aerial vehicle

UTC

Coordinated Universal Time. The primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time.

VARI

A measure of how green an image is. RGB images with the VARI algorithm applied make it possible to detect areas of crop stress in a field.

VCC

Voltage Common Connector. Voltage from a power supply connected to the collector terminal of a bipolar transistor.

V

Vegetative stage: V (n)

V1

Vegetative stage: V1 (first leaf)

V2

Vegetative stage: V2 (second leaf)

VE

Vegetative stage: VE (emergence)

Vegetative Stages

VE (emergence), V1 (First leaf), V2 (Second leaf), V(n), VT (Tassel)

VT

Vegetative stage: VT (tassel)

VLOS 

visual line of sight

VNDVI

Visible Normalized Difference Vegetation Index. A type of derivative parameters of NDVI, was set up by improving the computational formulas and importing the spectral information of visible bands after analyzing the construction idea of NDVI and the derivative parameters.

VTOL 

vertical takeoff and landing

Waypoints 

Coordinates used to map autonomous flight missions.

XML

Extensible Markup Language is a markup language that defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable and which allows users to define their own customized markup languages, especially in order to display documents on the internet.

XMP

Extensible Metadata Platform. A universal metadata format that provides a standard format for sharing metadata between multiple applications.

Yaw 

The clockwise or counterclockwise movement of the drone from a top-down view. Characterized by left or right movement of the nose of an aircraft.