MIT to use drones for tracking sorghum growth in hopes of boost bioenergy capacity

In Massachusetts, researchers at MIT will next month undertake a season-long experiment by using three drones—one from the air and two by land—to monitor sorghum production every two weeks in an attempt to pinpoint the exact moment of the plant’s peak as a biofuel feedstock. The hope is that using drones and their on-board sensors ranging from visible imaging and thermal infrared to hyperspectral cameras will be able to process more data faster than a human could in order to find the best bioenergy sorghum possible.