Research Statement

My research focuses on developing corn grain and silage yield prediction models at field scale from color and multispectral images acquired using unmanned aerial systems and satellites. For my research, I extensively use open source platforms, such as R, QGIS, and Python, for analysis and visualization. The developed models and algorithms are packaged into a unified tool so that the users/farmers can make use of it directly.

Education

• 2015-2019 Ph.D. – Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND, USA. – Thesis title: Agricultural field applications of digital image processing using an open source ImageJ platform.
• 2012-2014 M.Tech. – Agricultural Processing and Food Engineering, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India.
• 2008-2012 B.Tech. – Food Process Engineering, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India.

Publications

Peer Reviewed Publications

Submitted/In preparation

• Sunoj, S., McRoberts, K.C., Benson, M., and Ketterings, Q.M. 2020. Digital image analysis estimates of biomass, carbon, and nitrogen uptake of winter cereal cover crops. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture. (Submitted – under review).
• Cho, J., Guinness, J., Kharel, T.P., Sunoj, S., Kharel, D., Oware, E., Aardt, J.V., and Ketterings, Q.M. 2020. Spatial estimation methods for mapping corn yield monitor data. Precision Agriculture. (Submitted – under review).
• Sunoj, S., Igathinathane, C., Saliendra, N., Hendrickson, J., Archer, D., and Liebig, M. 2020. PhenoCam guidelines for phenology measurement and analysis in agricultural cropping environment: A case study of soybean. Agricultural and Forest Meterology. (Submitted – under review).
• Sunoj, S., Cho, J., Guinness, J., Aardt, J., Oware, E., Czymmek, K., and Ketterings, Q.M. Corn grain yield prediction and mapping from unmanned aerial system imagery. (In preparation)

Published

• Sunoj, S., Kharel, D., Kharel, T.P.., Cho, J., Czymmek, K., and Ketterings, Q.M. 2020. Impact of headland area on whole field and farm corn silage and grain yield. Agronomy Journal. (In press)
• Ajayi-Banji, A.A.,Sunoj, S., Igathinathane, C., and Rahman, S. 2020. Kinetic studies of alkaline-pretreated corn stover co-digested with upset dairy manure under solid-state. Renewable Energy. (Accepted)
• Ajayi-Banji, A.A., Rahman, S., Sunoj, S., and Igathinathane, C. 2020. Impact of corn stover particle size and C/N ratio on reactor performance in solid-state anaerobic co-digestion with dairy manure. Journal of the Air and Waste Management Association, 70(4): 436–454.
• Pandiselvam, R., Manikantan, S., Sunoj, S., Sreejith, S., and Beegum, S., 2019. Modeling of coconut milk residue incorporated rice-corn extrudates properties using multiple linear regression and artificial neural network. Journal of Food Process Engineering, 42(2): e12981.
• Sunoj, S., Igathinathane, C., N. Saliendra, J. Hendrickson, and Archer, D. 2018. Color calibration of digital images for agricultural and other applications. ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, 146: 221–234.
• Sunoj, S., Subhashree S N., Dharani, S., Igathinathane, C., Franco, J., Mallinger, R.E. Prasifka, J.R., and Archer, D. 2018. Sunflower floral dimension measurements using digital image processing. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 151: 403–415.
• Sunoj, S., Igathinathane, C., and Jenicka, S. 2018. Cashews whole and splits classification using a novel machine vision approach. Postharvest Biology and Technology, 138: 19–30.

Congress and Meetings:

• Sunoj, S., Cho, J., Guinness, J., Aardt, J.V., Oware, E., Czymmek, K., Ketterings, Q.M. 2020. Corn grain yield mapping from high resolution UAS imagery. Abstract No. 126350, 2020 ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Annual Meeting (Virtual), Nov. 9–13, 2020 (Oral presentation).
• Sunoj, S., Kharel, D., Kharel, T.P., Cho, J., Czymmek, K., Ketterings, Q.M. 2020. Impact of headland area on whole field and farm corn silage and grain yield. Abstract No. 126163, 2020 ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Annual Meeting (Virtual), Nov. 9–13, 2020 (Oral presentation).
• Sunoj, S., McRoberts, K.C., Benson, M., Ketterings, Q.M. 2020. Digital image analysis estimates of biomass and nitrogen uptake of winter cereal cover crops in the northeast US. Abstract No. 126373, 2020 ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Annual Meeting (Virtual), Nov. 9–13, 2020 (Oral presentation).
• Cho, J., Maresma, A., Kharel, T.P., Godwin, G., Sunoj, S., Kharel, D., Oware, E., Aardt, J.V., Guinness, J., Ketterings, Q.M. 2020. Spatial estimation methods for mapping corn yield monitor data. Abstract No. 126151, 2020 ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Annual Meeting (Virtual), Nov. 9–13, 2020 (Oral presentation).
• Berlingeri, J.M., Lawrence, J., Sunoj, S., Czymmek, K., Ketterings, Q.M. 2020. Influence of hybrid selection, field, and within-field yield variability on cropland nitrogen balances in NewYork corn silage cropping systems. Abstract No. 126351, 2020 ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Annual Meeting (Virtual), Nov. 9–13, 2020 (Poster presentation).
• Sunoj, S., Igathinathane, C., Flores, J.P., Schatz, B., Archer, D., Hendrickson, J., Halvorson, J., Toledo, D. 2020. Plant stand spatial distribution analysis for whole field using unmanned aerial system (UAS) imagery. ASABE Paper No. 2000222, ASABE Annual International Meeting (Virtual), July 13–15, 2020 (Oral presentation).
• Sunoj, S., Igathinathane, C. 2020. Simplified no-code approach for phenological analysis from PhenoCam images using kymograph. ASABE Paper No. 2000574, ASABE Annual International Meeting (Virtual), July 13–15, 2020 (Oral presentation).