Lab and Facilities

About the Plant Sensor Lab


LeafSpec is an accurate, affordable and portable hyperspectral crop leaf imager innovated in the ABE Plant Sensor Lab at the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering of Purdue University. It is the first of its kind in the world which can be easily deployed at any location and generates hyperspectral leaf images with 0.5mm resolution. 

 

Equipment at Plant Sensor Lab


The lab is equipped with benchtops, electrical and mechanical tools for sensor development research. The lab is also equipped with a desktop hyperspectral imaging station, 3D printer, various lighting sources, spectrometer, and other types of optical equipment.

 

Facilities


Dr. Jin also has long term access to three greenhouse plant phenotyping facilities and one field plant phenotyping system at Purdue, including (1) a self-designed fully automated phenotyping greenhouse with all the plants carried and moved by a conveyer system to eliminate microclimates impacts. The hyperspectral imager in the greenhouse scans each plant for over 10 times per day; (2) another self-designed phenotyping greenhouse with a gantry system carrying cameras as a “mock drone” to simulate field remote sensing inside the greenhouse. The sensors include VNIR and SWIR hyperspectral cameras, a LiDAR, and a thermal camera. It takes only 10 minutes to scan the whole area of the greenhouse for each round; (3) A self-designed field imaging gantry system in Purdue ACRE field carrying a VNIR hyperspectral camera, which covers a 150 feet by 12 feet area of field. The system will take shadow-free images of the whole field within 15 minutes for each round. This system is under construction and to be deployed in summer 2019; (4) Purdue’s new Controlled Environment Phenotyping Facility (CEPF).

 ABE Phenotyping Greenhouse #1 

  • Fully automated
  • Removes micro-climate issues
  • Each plant imaged up to 20 times/day

 

 ABE Phenotyping Greenhouse #2 

  • Simulating UAV Remote Sensing in a Greenhouse
  • VNIR and SWIR Hyperspectral (400-2500nm), Thermal and 3D Imaging
  • Plants imaged every 10 minutes

 

 ABE Field Imaging Gantry 

  • Simulating UAV Remote Sensing in the field
  • No Shadow
  • Plants imaged every 6 min

 

 Ag Alumni Phenotyping Facility (AAPF) 

  • Largest growth chamber in North America; 256 plant capacity
  • HSI, RGB, X-ray CT root scanner