Sensing plants in natural outdoor growing environments has for long been identified as a difficult task. This presentation reports the development of a high-throughput ground vehicle system that innovatively utilizes high-speed laser scanning technology to acquired maize plant population and interplant spacing information in real-time. Through a decade-long research and development, this Plant Stand Analyzer (PSA) technology has evolved into a commercial tool that has been extensively tested and is now being adopted by a leading seed company. PSA is capable of producing on average a stand counting accuracy of 97% and counting over 4-rows simultaneously in real-time at speeds up to 14 mph. PSA generates highly detailed and georeferenced multidimensional maize stand establishment results including population, interplant spacing, gaps, doubles, tillers, stalk size, and stalk inclination angle. In comparison to drone-based stand counting systems, PSA technology has demonstrated superiorities in the accuracy of stand detection, the richness of data analytics, and the rapidness in data processing. In addition, PSA technology has potential to be extended and integrated into other farming practices such as tree nursery management, and plant-by-plant nitrogen side-dressing.
