{"id":5463,"date":"2026-03-09T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/agrotecnio.org\/en\/?p=5463"},"modified":"2026-03-09T08:19:24","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T07:19:24","slug":"agrotecnio-and-ctfc-committed-to-state-of-the-art-lidar-and-hyperspectral-technology-to-boost-research-in-precision-agriculture-and-monitoring-of-forest-systems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/agrotecnio.org\/en\/agrotecnio-and-ctfc-committed-to-state-of-the-art-lidar-and-hyperspectral-technology-to-boost-research-in-precision-agriculture-and-monitoring-of-forest-systems\/","title":{"rendered":"Agrotecnio and CTFC committed to state-of-the-art LiDAR and hyperspectral technology to boost research in precision agriculture and monitoring of forest systems"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">LiDAR technology is a remote sensing technique that uses lasers to measure distances with great precision and generates highly detailed 3D models.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The equipment has been&nbsp;acquired&nbsp;with the support of the CERCAGINYS III&nbsp;programme&nbsp;promoted by CERCA and the&nbsp;Generalitat&nbsp;de Catalunya.&nbsp;<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The CERCA&nbsp;Agrotecnio&nbsp;research&nbsp;centre&nbsp;and the Forest Science and Technology Centre of Catalonia (CTFC)&nbsp;has incorporated a drone with&nbsp;state-of-the-art&nbsp;technology with the aim of strengthening research in sustainable agriculture, genetic&nbsp;improvement&nbsp;and forest monitoring.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The&nbsp;equipment&nbsp;integrates&nbsp;the&nbsp;LiDAR&nbsp;(Light&nbsp;Detection&nbsp;and&nbsp;Ranging)&nbsp;system,&nbsp;hyperspectral&nbsp;cameras&nbsp;and&nbsp;a&nbsp;high-resolution&nbsp;RGB&nbsp;camera,&nbsp;which&nbsp;allow&nbsp;very&nbsp;precise&nbsp;data to be&nbsp;captured&nbsp;on&nbsp;the&nbsp;state&nbsp;of&nbsp;crops,&nbsp;vegetation&nbsp;and&nbsp;soils.&nbsp;LiDAR&nbsp;technology&nbsp;is a&nbsp;remote&nbsp;sensing&nbsp;technique&nbsp;that&nbsp;uses&nbsp;lasers&nbsp;to&nbsp;measure&nbsp;distances&nbsp;with&nbsp;high&nbsp;accuracy&nbsp;and&nbsp;generates&nbsp;highly&nbsp;detailed&nbsp;3D models.&nbsp;Hyperspectral&nbsp;cameras&nbsp;provide&nbsp;information&nbsp;on&nbsp;the&nbsp;reflectance&nbsp;of&nbsp;the&nbsp;vegetation&nbsp;cover&nbsp;at&nbsp;a&nbsp;multitude&nbsp;of&nbsp;wavelengths&nbsp;in&nbsp;the&nbsp;visible&nbsp;and&nbsp;infrared&nbsp;spectrum.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The&nbsp;new&nbsp;device&nbsp;has&nbsp;been&nbsp;acquired&nbsp;with&nbsp;the&nbsp;support&nbsp;of&nbsp;the&nbsp;CERCAGINYS III&nbsp;programme,&nbsp;promoted&nbsp;by&nbsp;CERCA and&nbsp;the&nbsp;Generalitat de Catalunya&nbsp;to&nbsp;improve&nbsp;the&nbsp;scientific&nbsp;infrastructures&nbsp;of&nbsp;Catalan&nbsp;research&nbsp;centres.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1124\" height=\"843\" src=\"https:\/\/agrotecnio.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/20250612-141206-1124x843.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5464\" srcset=\"https:\/\/agrotecnio.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/20250612-141206-1124x843.jpg 1124w, https:\/\/agrotecnio.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/20250612-141206-600x450.jpg 600w, https:\/\/agrotecnio.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/20250612-141206-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/agrotecnio.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/20250612-141206.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1124px) 100vw, 1124px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>A disruptive technology that&nbsp;opens up&nbsp;new possibilities<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The drone allows spectral,&nbsp;geometric&nbsp;and structural&nbsp;characterisation&nbsp;of vegetation and soils with unprecedented&nbsp;precision, and&nbsp;opens up&nbsp;new possibilities in the diagnosis of water stress, the detection of&nbsp;pests&nbsp;and the assessment of crop quality. The equipment will also be key to the structural analysis of forest stands and&nbsp;the monitoring of&nbsp;their evolution in the face of climate change.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The use of this technology applied to the forestry, environmental and agricultural fields will have a disruptive effect, since it will make it possible to collect and process an enormous amount of information from large areas with complex structures and multiple variables and ecosystem services to&nbsp;monitor, as is the case of forests.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According\u00a0to\u00a0Dr. Jordi Voltas,\u00a0scientific\u00a0leader\u00a0of\u00a0the\u00a0project, and Professor at the University of Lleida &#8220;This\u00a0system\u00a0puts\u00a0us\u00a0at\u00a0the\u00a0level\u00a0of\u00a0the\u00a0best\u00a0European\u00a0partners\u00a0in\u00a0terms\u00a0of\u00a0research\u00a0in\u00a0agriculture\u00a0and\u00a0forest\u00a0management.\u00a0It\u00a0is\u00a0a\u00a0unique\u00a0strategic\u00a0tool\u00a0to\u00a0better\u00a0understand\u00a0how\u00a0plant\u00a0systems\u00a0respond\u00a0to\u00a0climate\u00a0stress and\u00a0to\u00a0drive\u00a0innovation\u00a0in\u00a0the\u00a0agri-food\u00a0and\u00a0forestry\u00a0sector.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This technology will be shared between&nbsp;Agrotecnio&nbsp;and the Centre of Forest Science and Technology of Catalonia (CTFC), in the framework of its Joint Research Unit JRU-CTFC-Agrotecnio-CERCA and&nbsp;will&nbsp;facilitate&nbsp;access to this technology for both internal and external researchers.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Voltas, &#8220;The acquisition of this equipment will not only improve the scientific impact of&nbsp;Agrotecnio&nbsp;and CTFC&nbsp;projects, but&nbsp;will also contribute to the transfer of technology to the productive sector and to better decision-making by the public administration. Applications range from crop phenotyping and genetic improvement to the monitoring of forests vulnerable to fire,&nbsp;pests&nbsp;and drought.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LiDAR technology is a remote sensing technique that uses lasers to measure distances with great precision and generates highly detailed 3D models. The equipment has been&nbsp;acquired&nbsp;with the support of the CERCAGINYS III&nbsp;programme&nbsp;promoted by CERCA and the&nbsp;Generalitat&nbsp;de Catalunya.&nbsp; The CERCA&nbsp;Agrotecnio&nbsp;research&nbsp;centre&nbsp;and the Forest Science and Technology Centre of Catalonia (CTFC)&nbsp;has incorporated a drone with&nbsp;state-of-the-art&nbsp;technology with the aim [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":5465,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-noticies"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/agrotecnio.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/agrotecnio.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/agrotecnio.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agrotecnio.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agrotecnio.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5463"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/agrotecnio.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5463\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5468,"href":"https:\/\/agrotecnio.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5463\/revisions\/5468"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agrotecnio.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/agrotecnio.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agrotecnio.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agrotecnio.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}