Specim IQ: Evaluation of a new, miniaturized handheld hyperspectral camera and its application for plant phenotyping and disease detection
Autor/in:Behmann, J., K. Acebron, D. Emin, S. Bennertz, S. Matsubara, S. Thomas, D. Bohnenkamp, M.T. Kuska, J. Jussila, H. Salo, A.-K. Mahlein, U. Rascher
Hyperspectral imaging sensors are promising tools for monitoring crop plants or vegetation
in different environments. Information on physiology, architecture or biochemistry of plants can be
assessed non-invasively and on different scales. For instance, hyperspectral sensors are implemented
for stress detection in plant phenotyping processes or in precision agriculture. Up to date, a variety
of non-imaging and imaging hyperspectral sensors is available. The measuring process and the
handling of most of these sensors is rather complex. Thus, during the last years the demand for
sensors with easy user operability arose. The present study introduces the novel hyperspectral
camera Specim IQ from Specim (Oulu, Finland). The Specim IQ is a handheld push broom system
with integrated operating system and controls. Basic data handling and data analysis processes, such
as pre-processing and classification routines are implemented within the camera software. This study
provides an introduction into the measurement pipeline of the Specim IQ as well as a radiometric
performance comparison with a well-established hyperspectral imager. Case studies for the detection
of powdery mildew on barley at the canopy scale and the spectral characterization of Arabidopsis
thaliana mutants grown under stressed and non-stressed conditions are presented.