Automatic and Non-Invasive Monitoring of Water Stress in Vineyards

In this study, a non-invasive system is proposed for monitoring the health of vine plants by measuring their water stress, with the goal of mitigating frequent extreme meteorological events such as droughts. The envisioned system measures the spatial distribution of the Crop Water Stress Index (CWSI) on the crop field and provides the farmers with precise control over their vine’s health and, therefore, on the final quality of their product. To ensure the accurate acquisition of the parameters needed to compute the CWSI, data are collected by field sensors on the ground and by exploiting satellite data. Data fusion then allows us to obtain an associated georeferenced heatmap of the vineyard. The solution has been tested via a prototype, which allowed the collection of information in a vineyard.