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Publications

Publications by Joaquim João Sousa

2022

Synergistic Use of Sentinel-2 and UAV Multispectral Data to Improve and Optimize Viticulture Management

Authors
Stolarski, O; Fraga, H; Sousa, JJ; Padua, L;

Publication
DRONES

Abstract
The increasing use of geospatial information from satellites and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has been contributing to significant growth in the availability of instruments and methodologies for data acquisition and analysis. For better management of vineyards (and most crops), it is crucial to access the spatial-temporal variability. This knowledge throughout the vegetative cycle of any crop is crucial for more efficient management, but in the specific case of viticulture, this knowledge is even more relevant. Some research studies have been carried out in recent years, exploiting the advantage of satellite and UAV data, used individually or in combination, for crop management purposes. However, only a few studies explore the multi-temporal use of these two types of data, isolated or synergistically. This research aims to clearly identify the most suitable data and strategies to be adopted in specific stages of the vineyard phenological cycle. Sentinel-2 data from two vineyard plots, located in the Douro Demarcated Region (Portugal), are compared with UAV multispectral data under three distinct conditions: considering the whole vineyard plot; considering only the grapevine canopy; and considering inter-row areas (excluding all grapevine vegetation). The results show that data from both platforms are able to describe the vineyards' variability throughout the vegetative growth but at different levels of detail. Sentinel-2 data can be used to map vineyard soil variability, whilst the higher spatial resolution of UAV-based data allows diverse types of applications. In conclusion, it should be noted that, depending on the intended use, each type of data, individually, is capable of providing important information for vineyard management.

2022

Mapping the Leaf Area Index of Castanea sativa Miller Using UAV-Based Multispectral and Geometrical Data

Authors
Padua, L; Chiroque-Solano, PM; Marques, P; Sousa, JJ; Peres, E;

Publication
DRONES

Abstract
Remote-sensing processes based on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) have opened up new possibilities to both map and extract individual plant parameters. This is mainly due to the high spatial data resolution and acquisition flexibility of UAVs. Among the possible plant-related metrics is the leaf area index (LAI), which has already been successfully estimated in agronomy and forestry studies using the traditional normalized difference vegetation index from multispectral data or using hyperspectral data. However, the LAI has not been estimated in chestnut trees, and few studies have explored the use of multiple vegetation indices to improve LAI estimation from aerial imagery acquired by UAVs. This study uses multispectral UAV-based data from a chestnut grove to estimate the LAI for each tree by combining vegetation indices computed from different segments of the electromagnetic spectrum with geometrical parameters. Machine-learning techniques were evaluated to predict LAI with robust algorithms that consider dimensionality reduction, avoiding over-fitting, and reduce bias and excess variability. The best achieved coefficient of determination (R-2) value of 85%, which shows that the biophysical and geometrical parameters can explain the LAI variability. This result proves that LAI estimation is improved when using multiple variables instead of a single vegetation index. Furthermore, another significant contribution is a simple, reliable, and precise model that relies on only two variables to estimate the LAI in individual chestnut trees.

2022

Monitoring instabilities by MT-InSAR in a mesa placed town (Arjona, Guadalquivir valley, South Spain)

Authors
Ruiz-Armenteros, AM; Sánchez-Gómez, M; Delgado-Blasco, JM; Bakon, M; Ruiz-Constán, A; Galindo-Zaldívar, J; Lazecky, M; Marchamalo-Sacristán, M; Sousa, JJ;

Publication
Proceedings of the 5th Joint International Symposium on Deformation Monitoring - JISDM 2022

Abstract
Cities in Spain use to be overgrown around old towns (preroman, roman and medieval) constructed on topographic defensive heights of singular geological features. In the upper Guadalquivir valley, a tabular body of Miocene sediments has been eroded forming mesas where most of its population has been living since middle age. As the towns grew, new neighborhoods settled towards the edges and cliffs of these mesas, in areas with high probabilities of instability. The town of Arjona is a good example of this geological-urbanistic setup, located on the tabular hill formed by clay marls topped by bioclastic limestones that protect it from erosion. Modern buildings from few sectors of the town show important cracks, even the 16th century bell-tower has a 4º inclination indicating problems in the foundations. Multi-temporal SAR interferometry (MT-InSAR) is a powerful technique to derive displacement time series over coherent targets on the Earth associated with geophysical or structural instabilities phenomena. In this work we use MT-InSAR with Sentinel-1 data to reveal that, at present day, the periphery of Arjona is active, being recognized a large landslide in the south side of this mesa town which affects buildings and civil infrastructures. In addition, field work is being carried out to investigate the sources of these instabilities.

2022

Semantic segmentation of 3D car parts using UAV-based images

Authors
Jurado Rodriguez, D; Jurado, JM; Pauda, L; Neto, A; Munoz Salinas, R; Sousa, JJ;

Publication
COMPUTERS & GRAPHICS-UK

Abstract
Environment understanding in real-world scenarios has gained an increased interest in research and industry. The advances in data capture and processing allow a high-detailed reconstruction from a set of multi-view images by generating meshes and point clouds. Likewise, deep learning architectures along with the broad availability of image datasets bring new opportunities for the segmentation of 3D models into several classes. Among the areas that can benefit from 3D semantic segmentation is the automotive industry. However, there is a lack of labeled 3D models that can be useful for training and use as ground truth in deep learning-based methods. In this work, we propose an automatic procedure for the generation and semantic segmentation of 3D cars that were obtained from the photogrammetric processing of UAV-based imagery. Therefore, sixteen car parts are identified in the point cloud. To this end, a convolutional neural network based on the U-Net architecture combined with an Inception V3 encoder was trained in a publicly available dataset of car parts. Then, the trained model is applied to the UAV-based images and these are mapped on the photogrammetric point clouds. According to the preliminary image-based segmentation, an optimization method is developed to get a full labeled point cloud, taking advantage of the geometric and spatial features of the 3D model. The results demonstrate the method's capabilities for the semantic segmentation of car models. Moreover, the proposed methodology has the potential to be extended or adapted to other applications that benefit from 3D segmented models.

2022

Spatio-Temporal Water Hyacinth Monitoring in the Lower Mondego (Portugal) Using Remote Sensing Data

Authors
Padua, L; Duarte, L; Antao Geraldes, AM; Sousa, JJ; Castro, JP;

Publication
PLANTS-BASEL

Abstract
Monitoring invasive plant species is a crucial task to assess their presence in affected ecosystems. However, it is a laborious and complex task as it requires vast surface areas, with difficult access, to be surveyed. Remotely sensed data can be a great contribution to such operations, especially for clearly visible and predominant species. In the scope of this study, water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) was monitored in the Lower Mondego region (Portugal). For this purpose, Sentinel-2 satellite data were explored enabling us to follow spatial patterns in three water channels from 2018 to 2021. By applying a straightforward and effective methodology, it was possible to estimate areas that could contain water hyacinth and to obtain the total surface area occupied by this invasive species. The normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) was used for this purpose. It was verified that the occupation of this invasive species over the study area exponentially increases from May to October. However, this increase was not verified in 2021, which could be a consequence of the adopted mitigation measures. To provide the results of this study, the methodology was applied through a semi-automatic geographic information system (GIS) application. This tool enables researchers and ecologists to apply the same approach in monitoring water hyacinth or any other invasive plant species in similar or different contexts. This methodology proved to be more effective than machine learning approaches when applied to multispectral data acquired with an unmanned aerial vehicle. In fact, a global accuracy greater than 97% was achieved using the NDVI-based approach, versus 93% when using the machine learning approach (above 93%).

2022

A deep learning approach for automatic counting of bedbugs and grape moth

Authors
Teixeira, AC; Morais, R; Sousa, JJ; Peres, E; Cunha, A;

Publication
CENTERIS 2022 - International Conference on ENTERprise Information Systems / ProjMAN - International Conference on Project MANagement / HCist - International Conference on Health and Social Care Information Systems and Technologies 2022, Hybrid Event / Lisbon, Portugal, November 9-11, 2022.

Abstract

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