Systems and methods for agricultural monitoring

1. A method for agricultural monitoring, the method comprising: flying an airborne imaging sensor along a flight path over an agricultural area in which crops grow; acquiring by the airborne imaging sensor image data of parts of the agricultural area, wherein the acquiring of the image data is executed at a set of imaging locations along the flight path which enable acquisition of the image data at submillimetric image resolution,

wherein the acquiring comprises acquiring image data at the set of imaging locations while flying the airborne imaging sensor along the imaging locations at velocities that are nonzero along the flight path, the acquiring further comprising mechanically rotating at least one optical component of the airborne imaging sensor to rotate a light collection optical axis with respect to a carrying airborne platform, for compensating for a motion of the airborne imaging sensor with respect to the crops during the acquiring by directing light arriving from an imaged location of the agricultural area onto a light recording part of the sensor, wherein compensating comprises reducing a relative speed between an imaged location and a light recording part of the imaging sensor;

concurrently to the rotation of the at least one optical component, for each frame out of a plurality of frames of the image data: initiating a focusing process of the imaging sensor by focusing light arriving from part of the agricultural area onto a light sensitive surface of the imaging sensor, and acquiring the image data using vertical imaging;

applying computerized processing algorithms to the image data content, for detecting leaves diseases or indication of parasites effect on the leaves, in one or more plants in the agricultural area, or applying computerized processing algorithms to the image data for identifying selected agronomic significant data, and generated agronomic significant data, or applying computerized processing algorithms to the selected agronomic significant data for selecting, out of a plurality of possibly recipients, a recipient for the agronomic image data, based on agronomic expertise of the possible recipients; and

transmitting to an external system image data content which is based on the image data acquired by the airborne imaging sensor.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the flight path is a terrain following flight path.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the acquiring comprises mechanically moving at least one component of the airborne imaging sensor with respect to a carrying airborne platform, for compensating for the motion of the airborne imaging sensor with respect to the crops during the acquiring.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the acquiring comprises illuminating the crops during the acquiring, for compensating for the motion of the airborne imaging sensor with respect to the crops during the acquiring.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein flying comprises flying the airborne imaging sensor along a flight path which extends over at least a first agricultural property of a first owner and a second agricultural property of a second owner other than the first owner, wherein the method comprises acquiring first image data of parts of first agricultural property and acquiring second image data of parts of the second agricultural property; generating first image data content based on the first image data and generating second image data content based on the second image data; for providing the first image data content to a first entity in a first message, and for providing the second data content to a second entity in a second message.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the acquiring comprises acquiring image data of parts of the agricultural area which are inaccessible to land vehicles.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein flying comprises flying the imaging sensor by an agricultural aircraft which is configured for aerial application of crop protection products.

8. The method according to claim 7 , further comprising selecting aerial application parameters for aerial application of crop protection products by the agricultural aircraft based on processing of the image data.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the set of imaging locations along the flight path are located less than 20 meters above the top of the crops growing in the agricultural area.

10. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the transmitting is followed by subsequent instance of the flying, the acquiring and the transmitting, wherein the method further comprises planning a path for the subsequent instance of flying, based on the image data acquired in a previous instance of acquiring.

11. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the flying, the acquiring and the transmitting are reiterated over multiple weeks, wherein the method further comprises processing image data acquired at different times over the multiple weeks, for determining growth parameters for the plants in the agricultural area.

12. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the flying is preceded by defining a surveillance flight plan for an airborne surveillance system, the surveillance flight plan comprising acquisition locations plan indicative of a plurality of imaging locations, wherein the flying of the airborne sensor is part of flying the airborne surveillance system along a flight path over an agricultural area, based on the surveillance flight plan.

13. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the flight path is a terrain following flight path; wherein flying comprises flying the imaging sensor by an agricultural aircraft which is configured for aerial application of crop protection products; wherein the set of imaging locations along the flight path are located less than 20 meters above the top of the crops growing in the agricultural area;

wherein the acquiring comprises:

(a) acquiring image data at the set of imaging locations while flying the airborne imaging sensor along the imaging locations at velocities which do not fall below 50% of the average speed of the airborne platform along the flight path; and

(b) compensating for the motion of the airborne imaging sensor with respect to the crops during the acquiring, by illuminating the crops during the acquiring and by mechanically moving at least one component of the airborne imaging sensor with respect to a carrying airborne platform;

wherein the transmitting comprises transmitting the image data content to the external system for displaying to an agronomist at a remote location agronomic image data which is based on the image data content, thereby enabling the agronomist to remotely analyze the agricultural area;

wherein the method further comprises: prior to the flying, defining a surveillance flight plan for an airborne surveillance system, the surveillance flight plan comprising acquisition locations plan indicative of a plurality of imaging locations, wherein the flying of the airborne sensor is part of flying the airborne surveillance system along a flight path over an agricultural area, based on the surveillance flight plan.

14. A computer-program product including a non-transitory computer-readable medium containing program instructions for causing a computer to perform agricultural monitoring, the instructions comprising:

flying an airborne imaging sensor along a flight path over an agricultural area in which crops grow;

acquiring by the airborne imaging sensor image data of parts of the agricultural area, wherein the acquiring of the image data is executed at a set of imaging locations along the flight path which enable acquisition of the image data at submillimetric image resolution,

wherein the acquiring comprises acquiring image data at the set of imaging locations while flying the airborne imaging sensor along the imaging locations at velocities that are nonzero along the flight path, the acquiring further comprising mechanically rotating at least one optical component of the airborne imaging sensor to rotate a light collection optical axis with respect to a carrying airborne platform, for compensating for a motion of the airborne imaging sensor with respect to the crops during the acquiring by directing light arriving from an imaged location of the agricultural area onto a light recording part of the sensor, wherein compensating comprises reducing a relative speed between an imaged location and a light recording part of the imaging sensor;

concurrently to the rotation of the at least one optical component, for each frame out of a plurality of frames of the image data: initiating a focusing process of the imaging sensor by focusing light arriving from part of the agricultural area onto a light sensitive surface of the imaging sensor, and acquiring the image data using vertical imaging;

applying computerized processing algorithms to the image data content, for detecting leaves diseases or indication of parasites effect on the leaves, in one or more plants in the agricultural area, or applying computerized processing algorithms to the image data for identifying selected agronomic significant data, and generated agronomic significant data, or applying computerized processing algorithms to the selected agronomic significant data for selecting, out of a plurality of possibly recipients, a recipient for the agronomic image data, based on agronomic expertise of the possible recipients; and

transmitting to an external system image data content which is based on the image data acquired by the airborne imaging sensor.

15. The computer-program product of claim 14 , wherein the flight path is a terrain following flight path.

16. The computer-program product of claim 14 , wherein the acquiring comprises mechanically moving at least one component of the airborne imaging sensor with respect to a carrying airborne platform, for compensating for the motion of the airborne imaging sensor with respect to the crops during the acquiring.

17. The computer-program product of claim 14 , wherein the acquiring comprises illuminating the crops during the acquiring, for compensating for the motion of the airborne imaging sensor with respect to the crops during the acquiring.

18. The computer-program product of claim 14 , wherein flying comprises flying the airborne imaging sensor along a flight path which extends over at least a first agricultural property of a first owner and a second agricultural property of a second owner other than the first owner, wherein the method comprises acquiring first image data of parts of first agricultural property and acquiring second image data of parts of the second agricultural property; generating first image data content based on the first image data and generating second image data content based on the second image data; for providing the first image data content to a first entity in a first message, and for providing the second data content to a second entity in a second message.

19. The computer-program product of claim 14 , wherein the acquiring comprises acquiring image data of parts of the agricultural area which are inaccessible to land vehicles.

20. The computer-program product of claim 14 , wherein flying comprises flying the imaging sensor by an agricultural aircraft which is configured for aerial application of crop protection products.