{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,15]],"date-time":"2026-07-15T16:00:52Z","timestamp":1784131252384,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":42,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"11","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2011,11,22]],"date-time":"2011-11-22T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1321920000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/3.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Remote Sensing"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Using unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) as remote sensing platforms offers the unique ability for repeated deployment for acquisition of high temporal resolution data at very high spatial resolution. Multispectral remote sensing applications from UAS are reported in the literature less commonly than applications using visible bands, although light-weight multispectral sensors for UAS are being used increasingly. . In this paper, we describe challenges and solutions associated with efficient processing of multispectral imagery to obtain orthorectified, radiometrically calibrated image mosaics for the purpose of rangeland vegetation classification. We developed automated batch processing methods for file conversion, band-to-band registration, radiometric correction, and orthorectification. An object-based image analysis approach was used to derive a species-level vegetation classification for the image mosaic with an overall accuracy of 87%. We obtained good correlations between: (1) ground and airborne spectral reflectance (R2 = 0.92); and (2) spectral reflectance derived from airborne and WorldView-2 satellite data for selected vegetation and soil targets. UAS-acquired multispectral imagery provides quality high resolution information for rangeland applications with the potential for upscaling the data to larger areas using high resolution satellite imagery.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/rs3112529","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2011,11,21]],"date-time":"2011-11-21T11:07:05Z","timestamp":1321873625000},"page":"2529-2551","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":268,"title":["Multispectral Remote Sensing from Unmanned Aircraft: Image Processing Workflows and Applications for Rangeland Environments"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"3","author":[{"given":"Andrea S.","family":"Laliberte","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Jornada Experimental Range, New Mexico State University, 2995 Knox St., Las Cruces, NM 88003, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mark A.","family":"Goforth","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Goforth Scientific Inc., P.O. Box 1579, Leesburg, VA 20177, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Caitriana M.","family":"Steele","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Jornada Experimental Range, New Mexico State University, 2995 Knox St., Las Cruces, NM 88003, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Albert","family":"Rango","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"USDA-Agricultural Research Service, Jornada Experimental Range, 2995 Knox St., Las Cruces, NM 88003, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2011,11,22]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"69","DOI":"10.1080\/10106049.2011.553507","article-title":"Unmanned airborne systems (UAS) for remote sensing applications: Editorial","volume":"26","author":"Ambrosia","year":"2011","journal-title":"Geocarto Int."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.2747\/1548-1603.48.1.1","article-title":"Small-scale unmanned aerial vehicles in environmental remote sensing: Challenges and opportunities: Editorial","volume":"48","author":"Hardin","year":"2011","journal-title":"GISci. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"85","DOI":"10.1080\/10106049.2010.539302","article-title":"The Ikhana unmanned airborne system (UAS) western states fire imaging missions: From concept to reality (2006\u20132010)","volume":"26","author":"Ambrosia","year":"2011","journal-title":"Geocarto Int."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"103","DOI":"10.1080\/10106049.2011.555823","article-title":"USDA Forest Service-NASA: Unmanned aerial systems demonstrations\u2014pushing the leading edge in fire mapping","volume":"26","author":"Hinkley","year":"2011","journal-title":"Geocarto Int."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"157","DOI":"10.1080\/10106049.2010.537375","article-title":"The NASA SIERRA science demonstration programme and the role of small-medium unmanned aircraft for earth science investigations","volume":"26","author":"Fladeland","year":"2011","journal-title":"Geocarto Int."},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1548","DOI":"10.2747\/1548-1603.44.3.203","article-title":"Detecting squarrose knapweed (Centaurea virgata Lam. Ssp. squarrosa Gugl.) using a remotely piloted vehicle: A Utah case study","volume":"44","author":"Hardin","year":"2007","journal-title":"GISci. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"74","DOI":"10.2747\/1548-1603.48.1.74","article-title":"Evaluation of bare ground on rangelands using unmanned aerial vehicles","volume":"48","author":"Breckenridge","year":"2011","journal-title":"GISci. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"141","DOI":"10.1080\/10106049.2010.534557","article-title":"UAS remote sensing missions for rangeland applications","volume":"26","author":"Laliberte","year":"2011","journal-title":"Geocarto Int."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4","DOI":"10.2747\/1548-1603.48.1.4","article-title":"Image processing and classification procedures for analysis of sub-decimeter imagery acquired with an unmanned aircraft over arid rangelands","volume":"48","author":"Laliberte","year":"2011","journal-title":"GISci. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1705","DOI":"10.1002\/esp.1595","article-title":"Very high spatial resolution imagery for channel bathymetry and topography from an unmanned mapping controlled platform","volume":"32","author":"Lejot","year":"2007","journal-title":"Earth Surf. Proc. Land."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4915","DOI":"10.1080\/01431160903023025","article-title":"Potential and constraints of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle technology for the characterization of Mediterranean riparian forest","volume":"30","author":"Dunford","year":"2009","journal-title":"Int. J. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"50","DOI":"10.2747\/1548-1603.48.1.50","article-title":"Analysis of post-flood recruitment patterns in braided channel rivers at multiple scales based on an image series collected by unmanned aerial vehicles, Ultralight aerial vehicles, and satellites","volume":"48","author":"Hervouet","year":"2011","journal-title":"GISci. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"359","DOI":"10.1007\/s11119-005-2324-5","article-title":"Evaluation of digital photography from model aircraft for remote sensing of crop biomass and nitrogen status","volume":"6","author":"Hunt","year":"2005","journal-title":"Precis. Agric."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"290","DOI":"10.3390\/rs2010290","article-title":"Acquisition of NIR-Green-Blue digital photographs from unmanned aircraft for crop monitoring","volume":"2","author":"Hunt","year":"2010","journal-title":"Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1262","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2009.02.016","article-title":"Imaging chlorophyll fluorescence with an airborne narrow-band multispectral camera for vegetation stress detection","volume":"113","author":"Berni","year":"2009","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"722","DOI":"10.1109\/TGRS.2008.2010457","article-title":"Thermal and narrowband multispectral remote sensing for vegetation monitoring from an unmanned aerial vehicle","volume":"47","author":"Berni","year":"2009","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_17","first-page":"033542:1","article-title":"Unmanned aerial vehicle-based remote sensing for rangeland assessment, monitoring, and management","volume":"3","author":"Rango","year":"2009","journal-title":"J. Appl. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"661","DOI":"10.14358\/PERS.76.6.661","article-title":"Acquisition, orthorectification, and object-based classification of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) imagery for rangeland monitoring","volume":"76","author":"Laliberte","year":"2010","journal-title":"Photogramm. Eng. Remote Sensing"},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"467","DOI":"10.1007\/s10846-009-9371-5","article-title":"A rotary-wing unmanned air vehicle for aquatic weed surveillance and management","volume":"57","author":"Goktogan","year":"2010","journal-title":"J. Intell. Robot Syst."},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"308","DOI":"10.1016\/j.catena.2008.07.009","article-title":"Remote sensing of soil characteristics from a multiscale classification approach","volume":"75","author":"Corbane","year":"2008","journal-title":"Catena"},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"761","DOI":"10.1109\/TGRS.2008.2009355","article-title":"Texture and scale in object-based analysis of sub-decimeter resolution unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) imagery","volume":"47","author":"Laliberte","year":"2009","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3557","DOI":"10.3390\/s8053557","article-title":"Assessment of unmanned aerial vehicles imagery for quantitative monitoring of wheat crop in small plots","volume":"8","author":"Lelong","year":"2008","journal-title":"Sensors"},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"86","DOI":"10.2747\/1548-1603.48.1.86","article-title":"NIR-Green-Blue high-resolution digital images for assessment of winter crop cover biomass","volume":"48","author":"Hunt","year":"2011","journal-title":"GISci. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_24","first-page":"50","article-title":"Multispectral imaging systems for airborne remote sensing to support agricultural production management","volume":"3","author":"Huang","year":"2010","journal-title":"Int. J. Agric. Biol. Eng."},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"21","DOI":"10.13031\/2013.29493","article-title":"Adoption of an unmanned helicopter for low-altitude remote sensing to estimate yield and total biomass of a rice crop","volume":"53","author":"Swain","year":"2010","journal-title":"Trans. ASABE"},{"key":"ref_26","unstructured":"Turner, D., and Lucieer, A. (2011, January 10\u201315). Development of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) for Hyper Resolution Vineyard Mapping Based on Visible, Multispectral, and Thermal Imagery. Proceedings of 34th International Symposium on Remote Sensing of Environment, Sydney, Australia."},{"key":"ref_27","first-page":"043539:1","article-title":"Impact of flight regulations on effective use of unmanned aircraft systems for natural resources applications","volume":"4","author":"Rango","year":"2009","journal-title":"J. Appl. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"169","DOI":"10.14358\/PERS.74.2.169","article-title":"Automatic registration and mosaicking for airborne multispectral image sequences","volume":"74","author":"Du","year":"2008","journal-title":"Photogramm. Eng. Remote Sensing"},{"key":"ref_29","unstructured":"Laliberte, A.S., Winters, C., and Rango, A. (May, January 28). A Procedure for Orthorectification of Sub-Decimeter Resolution Imagery Obtained with an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). Proceedings of ASPRS Annual Conference, Portland, OR, USA."},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1415","DOI":"10.14358\/PERS.75.12.1415","article-title":"A new approach for pass-point generation from aerial video imagery","volume":"75","author":"Wilkinson","year":"2009","journal-title":"Photogramm. Eng. Remote Sensing"},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"104","DOI":"10.1016\/j.biosystemseng.2010.11.003","article-title":"Method for automatic georeferencing aerial remote sensing (RS) images from an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) platform","volume":"108","author":"Xiang","year":"2010","journal-title":"Biosyst. Eng."},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2664","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2011.05.022","article-title":"Empirical correction of multiple flightline hyperspectral aerial image mosaics","volume":"115","author":"Asmat","year":"2011","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_33","first-page":"1193","article-title":"A Light-Weight Multispectral Sensor for Micro UAV\u2014Opportunities for Very High Resolution Airborne Remote Sensing","volume":"Volume 37","author":"Nebiker","year":"2008","journal-title":"Proceedings of XXI ISPRS Congress"},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"286","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2009.09.006","article-title":"Detecting water stress effects on fruit quality in orchards with time-series PRI airborne imagery","volume":"114","author":"Berni","year":"2010","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"63020S","DOI":"10.1117\/12.693030","article-title":"Sub-pixel registration assessment of multispectral imagery","volume":"6302","author":"Goforth","year":"2006","journal-title":"Proc. SPIE"},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2653","DOI":"10.1080\/014311699211994","article-title":"The use of the empirical line method to calibrate remotely sensed data to reflectance","volume":"20","author":"Smith","year":"1999","journal-title":"Int. J. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_37","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2","DOI":"10.1016\/j.isprsjprs.2009.06.004","article-title":"Object based image analysis for remote sensing","volume":"65","author":"Blaschke","year":"2010","journal-title":"ISPRS J. Photogramm."},{"key":"ref_38","unstructured":"Steinberg, D., and Colla, P. (1997). CART: Classification and Regression Trees, Salford Systems."},{"key":"ref_39","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Congalton, R.G., and Green, K. (2009). Assessing the Accuracy of Remotely Sensed Data: Principles and Practices, Taylor and Francis.","DOI":"10.1201\/9781420055139"},{"key":"ref_40","unstructured":"Updike, T., and Comp, C. (2010). Radiometric Use of WorldView-2 Imagery, DigitalGlobe."},{"key":"ref_41","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"819","DOI":"10.3390\/rs2030819","article-title":"Acquisition of bidirectional reflectance factor dataset using a micro unmanned aerial vehicle and a consumer camera","volume":"2","author":"Hakala","year":"2010","journal-title":"Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_42","first-page":"277","article-title":"Comparing metropolitan areas\u2014Transferable object-based image analysis approach","volume":"10","year":"2006","journal-title":"Photogramm. Fernerkun."}],"container-title":["Remote Sensing"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2072-4292\/3\/11\/2529\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T21:58:05Z","timestamp":1760219885000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2072-4292\/3\/11\/2529"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2011,11,22]]},"references-count":42,"journal-issue":{"issue":"11","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2011,11]]}},"alternative-id":["rs3112529"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/rs3112529","relation":{},"ISSN":["2072-4292"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2072-4292","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2011,11,22]]}}}