Dynamic area thresholding for automatic crop health change detection and alerting system

A method for crop health change monitoring, the method comprising:

• acquiring a companion image of a crop growing within a field at a first point in time;
• acquiring a master image of the crop growing within the field at a second point in time, the first point in time prior to the second point in time;
• computing, using a processor, vegetation indices using the master image and the companion image;
• applying, using the processor, a minimum field area threshold for the field and if the minimum field area threshold is met, computing a modulation coefficient;
• determining, using the processor, regions of change within the master image using the vegetation indices and if the minimum field area threshold is met, using the modulation coefficient;
• if change within one or more of the regions of change is sufficient to meet defined criteria, then generating an alert indicative of a change in crop condition of the crop growing within the field between the first point in time and the second point in time;
• communicating the alert indicative of the change in crop condition over a network to a computing device configured to receive the alert.

A system for crop health change monitoring of a crop growing within an agricultural field, the system comprising:

• a memory storing programming instructions thereon;
• at least one processor operably coupled to the memory so as to execute the programming instructions whereby said at least one processor is configured to:
• acquire a companion image of the crop at a first point in time;
• acquire a master image of the crop at a second point in time, the first point in time prior to the second point in time;
• compute vegetation indices using the master image and the companion image;
• determine regions of change within the master image using the vegetation indices;
• determine an alert condition if change within one or more of the regions of change is sufficient to meet defined criteria;
• apply a minimum field area threshold for the field, and if the minimum field area threshold is met apply a modulation coefficient to the defined criteria used in determining the alert condition;
• and
• if the alert condition is determined, (i) generate an alert indicative of a change in crop condition of the crop growing within the field between the first point in time and the second point in time and (ii) communicate the alert indicative of the change in crop condition over a network to a computing device configured to receive the alert.