Case Study: IRD detects heat-tolerant sweet potato varieties with Pix4Dmapper

Detect the heat tolerance of sweet potatoes in Peru

IRD (Institut de recherche pour le développement) in Peru wanted to determine whether high-resolution, UAV-acquired thermal infrared imagery could detect heat-tolerant sweet potato varieties and relate canopy temperature to yield at harvest. Working with Pix4D and Pix4Dmapper, the team monitored 2,100 plots in a hot, arid field site in Northern Peru.

Pix4D supported the project with drone-based RGB and thermal mapping, using a custom hexacopter and Pix4Dmapper to generate high-resolution orthomosaics for canopy extraction and thermal analysis. The workflow produced repeatable results quickly, with visual and infrared mosaics created within days instead of more than a month of ground-based data collection, saving significant time and manpower while enabling detailed plot-level research.

IRD