Frequently Asked Questions

Find answers to commonly-asked questions here.

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Who uses Plot Phenix?

Most UAV technology related to agriculture is aimed at crop production. Phenix is different - we’re focused exclusively on agronomists conducting outdoor small plot research trials, as we believe this is an underserved and important part of the industry. Professionals within this sector include: 1 | Plant breeding: field, row, vegetable crops 2 | Inputs: fertilizers, crop protection products, microbials 3 | Contract research organizations (CROs) 4 | Scientific research
What are the hardware requirements?

You will need a PC with these minimum specifications: Windows 10 OS 16 GB RAM For enhanced performance we recommend: A Solid State Drive (SSD) At least 4-6 Processing Cores To check your computer's specs: From the taskbar, search System Configuration Select the top result, System Configuration desktop app
What crops can be analyzed?

Phenix can extract data from images of: Corn Soybean Wheat Rice Canola Small grains Onion Tomato Trees (nursery and fruit/nut) And more! If your crop is not listed here, contact us!
Which drones work with Phenix?

We've successfully analyzed images captured with many UAV/UAS, including: DJI Phantom DJI Mavic Pro (up to Mavic 2 Pro) Autel Evo II Sony Smart Agriculture Do you have a drone sitting on the shelf and wondering if it will work with Phenix? Contact us!
Do I need a multispectral camera?

Despite the promises of calibrated outputs and ability to see beyond visible light wavelengths, multispectral cameras are much higher cost, lower resolution, and more difficult to work with compared to standard RGB (color) imaging systems. And for those wishing to make drone-based stand counts, only RGB offers sufficient image resolution. We recommend starting out with RGB and considering multispectral only when your research objective -- or your client -- demands it. Either way, Phenix offers a complete pipeline for stitching, gridding, and data extraction from both types of imagery -- RGB & Multispectral!
What are the recommended flight parameters & camera settings?

Flight Parameters: Mode: Autopilot Pattern: Simple grid Ground Sampling Distance (GSD): 0.5 cm/pixel for plant/stand counting 1.0 cm/pixel for canopy-level data Altitude: 65 ft/ 20 m (depends on desired GSD) Image Overlap: 70% frontal & side We recommended using a flight planning application. Ask us for a recommendation! Camera Settings: Picture Mode: Shutter Priority Shutter Speed: 1/1000 sec Metering Mode: Average White Balance: Daylight ISO Speed: 100 (keep this to a minimum, the higher the ISO, the more noisy your images) Image Quality: Maximum available for JPEG format Image Size/Aspect Ratio: Whatever option produces the largest output image in pixels Camera Angle: 90 degrees (pointing directly downward, or 'nadir')