Low cost image acquisition system for field monitoring

Image capturing on-site is supply many useful information for understanding and analyzing agricultural or environmental issues. In this study, a low cost image acquisition system was developed for real-time field monitoring. USB Webcams and Digital Compact Cameras were used as capturing device and they were controlled by Linux boxes. The system with a USB Webcam operated stably during six months field experiment including summer. It also succeeded to acquire high quality images with resolution of more than several million pixels. In addition, total cost of the system was as inexpensive as less than 3 or 4 hundred US dollars. These results indicated the applicability of this system in field image monitoring.