Objective  To integrate unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) low altitude remote sensing system and unmanned aerial vehicle-wireless sensor network (UAV-WSN), realize double monitoring of low altitude remote sensing monitoring and ground long term monitoring through one system, and provide monitoring data for space and time changes of farmland quality.

Method  The study explored the problem that current UAV-WSN system cann’t collect long-term monitoring data from sensor nodes on the ground and low altitude remote sensing data from UAV’s sensor at the same time. A low altitude remote sensing and ground sensing double collection method and system for farmland quality monitoring was designed, and the key steps and algorithm for integrating these two monitoring systems were studied. Adjusting UAV flying altitude and ground node density in simulation analysis experiments to compare total flying time differences of double collection system and UAV-WSN system.

Result  Double collection system could collect two kinds of data in one flight, UAV don’t need to fly over every ground sensor node again after collecting low altitude remote sensing data. When the ground image resolution was changed, the total flying time of double collection system was 165 s faster than UAV-WSN system. Double collection system could adjust based on UAV flight path and ground sensor node location. When the number of sensor nodes was changed, the total flying time was not changed and 129−194 s faster than UAV-WSN system.

Conclusion  Double collection system can reduce total operating time and complexity of sampling, and increase the efficiency of farmland quality monitoring.