A Single-Operator Push-Cart Multi-Beam LiDAR Platform for Multi-Trait Field Phenotyping

Abstract

Here, we present a single-operator push-cart platform equipped with a 16-beam LiDAR. A push-button interface controls data acquisition, and the data processing pipeline removes ground points, filters noise, performs 5-cm voxelization, and produces plot-level canopy metrics. We validated biomass estimation in hairy vetch (Vicia villosa) and corn (Zea mays) leaf- and whole-plant thinning experiments. In vetch, voxelized estimation of plant volume correlated strongly with destructively measured biomass (r2 = 0.88), showing that the multi-beam LiDAR can produce biomass estimates comparable to previously reported methods. In corn, comparisons of perpendicular (0°) and multi-angle LiDAR beams showed significantly greater voxel counts in the upper canopy when angled beams were used (beam angle × height interaction, p < 0.001), demonstrating that multi-beam scanning provides greater penetration into the upper canopy than a single perpendicular scan plane. We also extended the suite of LiDAR-derived traits to include apparent leaf area index (LAI), mean tilt angle (MTA), persistent homology-based stand density, and plot-bounded foliage area density (FAD). The persistent homology algorithm distinguished between leaf-removal and plant-removal treatments (removal type × removal amount, p = 0.0039). LiDAR-derived LAI has been used to estimate canopy leaf area, but gap-fraction approaches do not fully exploit the ability of LiDAR to resolve distance. Plot-bounded FAD used ray length and interception distance within defined plot volumes and was more sensitive to plot-level treatments than apparent LAI or MTA, detecting differences associated with both the removal amount and removal type. These results show that a robust, portable, multi-beam LiDAR cart can reproduce plot-level canopy measurements and improve trait especially in research-sized plots.

Plant phenotyping relevance

携帯型マルチビームLiDARプラットフォームと処理パイプラインを開発・検証し、バイオマス、LAI、葉面積密度などの作物形質を推定しているため、フェノタイピング手法が研究の中心である。

Code and data availability

The supplied article blocks describe a LiDAR push-cart phenotyping platform and custom Python processing pipeline, but contain no data availability statement, no public repository deposit, no author code URL, and no supplement (pmc-prop-has-supplement no). No paper-specific public asset is available.

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