NDVI and Beyond: Vegetation Indices as Features for Crop Recognition and Segmentation in Hyperspectral Data
Vegetation indices have long been central to vegetation monitoring through remote sensing. The most popular one is the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), yet many vegetation indices (VIs) exist. In this paper, we investigate their distinctiveness and discriminative power in the context o...
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MDPI AG
2025-06-01
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| author | Andreea Nițu Corneliu Florea Mihai Ivanovici Andrei Racoviteanu |
| author_facet | Andreea Nițu Corneliu Florea Mihai Ivanovici Andrei Racoviteanu |
| author_sort | Andreea Nițu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Vegetation indices have long been central to vegetation monitoring through remote sensing. The most popular one is the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), yet many vegetation indices (VIs) exist. In this paper, we investigate their distinctiveness and discriminative power in the context of applications for agriculture based on hyperspectral data. More precisely, this paper merges two complementary perspectives: an unsupervised analysis with PRISMA satellite imagery to explore whether these indices are truly distinct in practice and a supervised classification over UAV hyperspectral data. We assess their discriminative power, statistical correlations, and perceptual similarities. Our findings suggest that while many VIs have a certain correlation with the NDVI, meaningful differences emerge depending on landscape and application context, thus supporting their effectiveness as discriminative features usable in remote crop segmentation and recognition applications. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-bc7e4dbafdd64b2b954b802c5a355370 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1424-8220 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Sensors |
| spelling | doaj-art-bc7e4dbafdd64b2b954b802c5a3553702025-08-20T03:26:51ZengMDPI AGSensors1424-82202025-06-012512381710.3390/s25123817NDVI and Beyond: Vegetation Indices as Features for Crop Recognition and Segmentation in Hyperspectral DataAndreea Nițu0Corneliu Florea1Mihai Ivanovici2Andrei Racoviteanu3AI4AGRI, Romanian Excellence Center on AI for Agriculture, Transilvania University of Brasov, 500024 Brasov, RomaniaAI4AGRI, Romanian Excellence Center on AI for Agriculture, Transilvania University of Brasov, 500024 Brasov, RomaniaAI4AGRI, Romanian Excellence Center on AI for Agriculture, Transilvania University of Brasov, 500024 Brasov, RomaniaAI4AGRI, Romanian Excellence Center on AI for Agriculture, Transilvania University of Brasov, 500024 Brasov, RomaniaVegetation indices have long been central to vegetation monitoring through remote sensing. The most popular one is the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), yet many vegetation indices (VIs) exist. In this paper, we investigate their distinctiveness and discriminative power in the context of applications for agriculture based on hyperspectral data. More precisely, this paper merges two complementary perspectives: an unsupervised analysis with PRISMA satellite imagery to explore whether these indices are truly distinct in practice and a supervised classification over UAV hyperspectral data. We assess their discriminative power, statistical correlations, and perceptual similarities. Our findings suggest that while many VIs have a certain correlation with the NDVI, meaningful differences emerge depending on landscape and application context, thus supporting their effectiveness as discriminative features usable in remote crop segmentation and recognition applications.https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/25/12/3817vegetation indicesNDVIremote sensinghyperspectral imagingclassificationsimilarity metrics |
| spellingShingle | Andreea Nițu Corneliu Florea Mihai Ivanovici Andrei Racoviteanu NDVI and Beyond: Vegetation Indices as Features for Crop Recognition and Segmentation in Hyperspectral Data Sensors vegetation indices NDVI remote sensing hyperspectral imaging classification similarity metrics |
| title | NDVI and Beyond: Vegetation Indices as Features for Crop Recognition and Segmentation in Hyperspectral Data |
| title_full | NDVI and Beyond: Vegetation Indices as Features for Crop Recognition and Segmentation in Hyperspectral Data |
| title_fullStr | NDVI and Beyond: Vegetation Indices as Features for Crop Recognition and Segmentation in Hyperspectral Data |
| title_full_unstemmed | NDVI and Beyond: Vegetation Indices as Features for Crop Recognition and Segmentation in Hyperspectral Data |
| title_short | NDVI and Beyond: Vegetation Indices as Features for Crop Recognition and Segmentation in Hyperspectral Data |
| title_sort | ndvi and beyond vegetation indices as features for crop recognition and segmentation in hyperspectral data |
| topic | vegetation indices NDVI remote sensing hyperspectral imaging classification similarity metrics |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/25/12/3817 |
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