Remote Sensing for Precision Soil and Crop Management

Keywords: Remote sensing, XSTAR project, satellite imaging, chlorophyll, nitrogen mapping.

XSTAR is a commercial remote sensing space system which has been proposed by Matra Marconi Space. Its main application is in Precision Agriculture, for which it has been fully optimised. It uses a specific sensor in the visible and near infra-red spectral domain, with high radiometric performances, the overall space system providing a global coverage every 4 days. A major effort was made to demonstrate added-value products from the sensor data. These products, which will be routinely delivered to growers and crop advisors, are coupled with an innovative service concept, based on a yearly subscription and a pay-per-acre principle. A number of dedicated flights with an airborne sensor have been made to test XSTAR product algorithms on real data, and validate the overall concept. Specific application product, such as nitrogen recommendation, has been prototyped and will be experimented in the next year campaign.

Hervé Poilvé and Philippe Saint Aubert, Matra Marconi Space, Toulouse, France

20 pages, 7 figures, 1 table.