EagleNXT (MicaSense) RedEdge-P

The MicaSense RedEdge-P, a brand of the US company EagleNXT (formerly AgEagle), is a multispectral camera for mid-sized multicopters. It records five narrow spectral bands and a panchromatic channel and provides the basis for sharpened crop and vegetation maps.

The five bands sit at 475, 560, 668, 717 and 842 nm, from blue to near infrared, and measure 1.6 megapixels each. The panchromatic channel captures all visible light at once and resolves clearly higher, at 5.1 megapixels; the 5.1 MP figure belongs to it. The combination yields maps that join the spectral information with the finer geometry of the panchromatic channel. The camera connects through a RedEdge-P SkyPort on the DJI Matrice 300 RTK; an open programming interface (API) serves custom systems.

The camera counts towards the take-off mass of the aircraft, whose class limits are 250 g (C0), 900 g (C1), 4 kg (C2) and 25 kg (C3 and C4). Flights over fields touch data-protection law as soon as people or property become recognisable.

Anyone comparing indices from several flights needs calibration with a reflectance reference and a measurement of the incoming light; passing clouds between exposures falsify the values. All lenses must be equally clean, because a smudge in one band shifts the index. Image offset between the bands is corrected in processing, and firmware and calibration data are kept together.