Empirical curvelet transform based deep DenseNet model to predict NDVI using RGB drone imagery data

Predicting accurately the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) trends from RGB images are essential to monitor crops and identify issues related to plant diseases, and water shortages. The current NDVI prediction models are primarily based on traditional machine learning models which lack reliability due to the problem related to atmospheric conditions. To predict NDVI in Prince Edward Island using RGB drone imagery data, this paper proposed a novel framework integrating empirical curvelet transform and DenseNet models. Each channel of RGB drone imagery data was passed through empirical curvelet transform method where the curvelet coefficients were analysed which result in creating a new formula to design NDVI. The output of the new formula was sent to the deep DenseNet to predict the final NDVI. The proposed model was evaluated using quantitative metrics including, Q-Q plot, regression, correlation coefficients, structural similarity (SSIM), peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR) and mean square error (MSE) as well as accuracy (ACC), sensitivity (SEN), f1-score, specificity. The obtained results showed that the proposed model outperformed the previous models by scoring the highest values of SSIM = 0.98, and lowest MSE = 120. It is believed that the proposed model is helpful to support farmers in monitoring the growth and plant health as well as to identify crops problems.