Advances in hyperspectral sensing in agriculture: a review

In view of the exponential growth in the volume of data that is considered in intelligent decision-making, hyperspectral remote sensing (HRS) has, without doubt, brought greater dominance over agricultural crops as it goes beyond the paradigm of little information being available about the targets. In this review of the state of the art of HRS, complementary views on the use of sensors and analytical techniques in agriculture over the last decade are grouped together. State-of-the-art technologies, and research trends associated with each level of data collection are cited. There is still a long way to go in the agricultural sciences; however, specialists in precision agriculture are devotees of the valuable insights offered with the increased availability of hyperspectral data. In this respect, this review is organised as follows: Section 1 helps the reader to contextualise and conceptualise the basics of remote sensing; the second section discusses the types of sensors and their resolutions; section 3 presents four subsections that show recent applications of these technologies according to their level of acquisition; finally, the fourth section offers the reader a discussion on the positive trends achieved in managing vegetation, soils and waterbodies over the last ten years, as well as the needs and challenges of the next decade.