ECE Faculty Member Part of Team Receiving Funding for UAV-based Weed Detection in Corn Fields
May 8, 2023
The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Assistant Professor Dr. Ali C. Gurbuz is part of a team recently awarded over $50,000 from the Mississippi Corn Promotion Board.
Dr. Ali C. Gurbuz
Gurbuz and Dr. Volkan Y. Senyurek of the Geosystems Research Institute are working on a project using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) unsupervised weed detection for corn fields.
The work, titled UAV-based Autonomous Unsupervised Weed Detection for Corn Fields, will automatically map and qualify weed infestation in a corn field during the early growing season of crops using drone images autonomically through a novel machine learning approach.
“This project will allow detection of weeds easily using an inexpensive drone-based imaging solution remotely and reduce herbicide usage, which negatively impacts human health, the environment, and profit,” Gurbuz said.
Gurbuz added that this funding will have a great impact on how technology can influence agriculture.
“It will help to develop more effective, smart site-specific weed management (SSWM) systems for corn growers in the state of Mississippi,” he said. “Unmanned aerial vehicle based remote sensing systems combined with smart signal processing and machine learning generates the next-level of precision agriculture technology.”
To learn more about Dr. Gurbuz’s areas of interest, visit his ECE faculty page.
The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Mississippi State University consists of 27 faculty members (including seven endowed professors), seven professional staff, and over 700 undergraduate and graduate students, with approximately 100 being at the Ph.D. level. With a research expenditure of over $14.24 million, the department houses the largest High Voltage Laboratory among North American universities.