The Use of Low-cost Webcams for Field Monitoring in Agricultural Farm

Abstract

The demand of captured images at agricultural farm is getting more important for recognizing field condition from remote site. However, as high durability is required for field observation instruments, they usually would be costly. In this study, the potential of low-cost USB webcams for field monitoring was investigated. USB webcam was controlled by a tiny Linux box in which moving components were removed to improve endurance under high temperature and humidity condition. The developed system was put in the chassis to prevent the occurrence of dew condensation and the invasion of insects and dust. The quality of the images captured by the system was high enough to evaluate the field condition. It was also supposed to be applied to diagnose the crop growth by non-contact image analysis.