SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DETERMINING AN ATTRIBUTE OF A PLANT

1 . A method of determining an attribute of a plant, the method comprising:

directing at least one of a camera and a range finder at a reflection surface and directing the reflection surface at a region;

obtaining, by the camera, an image of the region;

producing, by the rangefinder, a measurement of a distance from a rangefinder to a plant in the region; and

determining the height of the plant by correlating data in the image with the measurement, the measurement comprising:

a first distance measurement from the rangefinder to the plant designating the top of the plant and a second distance measurement from the rangefinder to the plant designating the bed of the plant, and

setting a distance threshold to filter out invalid distance measurements of distance from the rangefinder to the plant;

wherein the camera and rangefinder are mobile and are translated over the region.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein ground surface in the region is identified based on the image.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein ground surface in the region is identified based on a reflection of an electromagnetic wave.

4 . The method of claim 1 , comprising, creating a three dimensional (3D) image of the region based on:

a set of images obtained by the camera with submillimetric resolution; and

a respective set of measurements.

5 . (canceled)

6 . The method of claim 1 , comprising, producing, by the rangefinder, a sequence of measurements and selecting from the set a measurement that corresponds to the time of obtaining the image.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the camera is adapted to obtain the image at a submillimetric high resolution.

8 . The method of claim 1 , comprising applying forward motion compensation to enable capturing images at sub-millimetric resolution.

9 . A method of determining a height of a plant, the method comprising:

directing at least one of a camera and a range finder at a reflection surface and directing the reflection surface at a region;

obtaining a set of images of the region;

producing, by a rangefinder, a set of distance measurements from the rangefinder to the plant;

selecting, based on correlating data in the images with the distance measurements from the rangefinder to the plant, a first distance measurement from the rangefinder to the plant related to a plant in the region and a second distance measurement from the rangefinder to the plant related to a ground surface in the region, and setting a distance threshold to filter out invalid distance measurements of distance from the rangefinder to the plant; and

using the first and second distance measurements to calculate a height of the plant.

10 . A system comprising:

a camera;

a rangefinder;

a memory; and

a controller adapted to:

direct at least one of a camera and a range finder at a reflection surface and directing the reflection surface at a region;

obtain, from the camera, an image of the region;

obtain, from the rangefinder, a measurement of a distance to a plant in the region; and

determine the height of the plant by correlating data in the image with the measurement of distance to the plant, the measurement comprising:

a first distance measurement of distance to the plant designating the top of the plant and a second distance measurement of distance to the plant designating the bed of the plant, and

setting a distance threshold to filter out invalid distance measurements of distance to the plant;

wherein the camera and rangefinder are mobile and are translated over the region.

11 . The system of claim 10 , wherein ground surface in the region is identified based on the image.

12 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the controller is further adapted to create a three dimensional (3D) image of the region based on:

a set of images obtained by the camera with submillimetric resolution; and

a respective set of measurements.

13 . (canceled)

14 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the controller is further adapted to receive, from the rangefinder, a sequence of distance measurements and select from the set a measurement that corresponds to the time of obtaining the image.

15 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the controller is further adapted to automatically select, based on the image, a frequency used by the rangefinder.

16 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the camera is adapted to obtain the image at a submillimetric high resolution.

17 . The system of claim 13 , wherein the reflection surface is adapted to apply forward motion compensation to enable capturing images at submillimetric resolution.

18 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the camera and the rangefinder are airborne and wherein the controller is further adapted to continuously synchronize an orientation of the camera with an orientation of the rangefinder.

19 . The system of claim 10 , wherein controller is further adapted to determine the substance of an object in the region based on input from the rangefinder.

20 . The system of claim 10 , wherein controller is further adapted to determine at least one of:

a condition of the plant and a type of the plant.