Application of crop protection materials is one of the crucial operations in agriculture sector to meet ever demanding food production. So, farmers have to adapt the latest technologies for better farm output. Farmers in developed country have started using agricultural drones equipped with cameras to spray pesticides and chemicals on crops including rice fields and orchard crops as well as other arable crops.
This UAV is a herbicide or pesticide spray drone. Before using the crop-spraying drone, we have to map some patches of weed within the area earlier, and the drone is capable of going out and just spraying those patches of weed, so we can use a fraction of the chemical that we did previously.
This drone technology greatly helpful for small farming community in reducing the amount of pesticide and environmental pollution. And it took a couple of years to get that spraying drones going and during that time commercial products became available. They are DJI product (DJI Agras MG-1S) and AG15 hybrid electric UAV from Walkera, they come out of China and basically ready to fly spray drone.
See Also: Agricultural Spraying Drones
Spec and Features of Agras MG-1S and Walkera AG15
The drone mounted sprayer of DJI Agras MG-1 mainly consists of brushless motors, LiPo (Lithium polymer) batteries, peticide tank, pump, and supporting frame. Brushless motors were mounted to octocopter frame to lift of 10 kg payload capacity. 6000mAh, 2S LiPo batteries were used to supply the necessary current required for the propulsion system. A 10 liter capacity conical-square shaped fluid tank was used to hold the pesticide solution. A motor coupled with pump was used to pressurize spray liquid and then to atomize in to fine spray droplets by means of 4 nozzles. Droplet size may vary according to operation environment and spraying speed. The entire drone mounted sprayer operation controlling with the help of transmitter at ground level, HD FPV camera also provide at front down side of drone sprayer unit to monitoring the live spraying operation.
The Walkera AG15 uses advanced gasoline engine and generator integrated power supply technology, combining the advantages of oil-electric hybrid system plant protection drone, the maximum flight time of full oil is 50 minutes, and it is 2 times of the pure electric multi-rotor drone. The Walkera AG15 agricultural drone is equipped with a high precision navigation and positioning system. With a new generation of base stations, the positioning precision can reach a centimeter level. The dual antenna technology has powerful anti magnetic interference ability and can fly steadily in the harsh field environment. It has the ability of industrial water proof, dustproof and corrosion prevention. It can effectively block the permeation of drug fog caused by spraying, adapting to the complex environment, having high strength, low maintenance cost and long life. To know more information about Walkera AG15 spec, please click here.
How to Use a Drone for Pesticide Spraying
Architecture based on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) which can be employed to implement a control loop for agricultural applications where UAVs are responsible for spraying chemicals on crops. The process of applying the chemicals is controlled by wireless sensor network (WSN) deployed on the crop field.
Over the last few months some manufactures have been working with this agricultural spraying drone, just to make it a little better suited to the environment. So what farmers are going to do now is put some water into the machine and run it through the sprayers. The drone platform is fitted with four spray nozzles, pairs of these nozzles can be turned off independently. You can change the spray nozzles in this machine to optimise the droplet size for the spray activity. The nozzle is a very, very important part of it - and without the right nozzle you can be putting out spray either too much, too little - without real affect.
We have been able to put its flight path over the top of the area that we know the crop is in and so the spraying drone will actually move up and down the rows spraying as it goes to take out the crop. With a full tank of pesticide, which is 10 liters, it can fly for approximately 50 minutes. So that means that you pre-map the area, you know where the weeds are, you set up a polygon for the spraying drone to fly -so that's an area for it to target with its spray, the drone will take off and then go directly to those patches and spray them very quickly and of course return.
One of the advantages of drones is that you can get onto the the particular crop block at any time of the year, whether it's wet or dry. And of course, it can actually force down the droplets down through the crop, to be able to get onto the target weed.
Because it's putting out a registered chemical, this agricultural spraying drone requires very specific accreditation and licensing. This is not a drone for everyone to be able to fly. Users have to have that correct licensing. We would picture in the future that farmer groups may own a machine will have the correct licensing and then come out and be able to do the spray activity using drone platforms.
This UAV is a herbicide or pesticide spray drone. Before using the crop-spraying drone, we have to map some patches of weed within the area earlier, and the drone is capable of going out and just spraying those patches of weed, so we can use a fraction of the chemical that we did previously.
See Also: Agricultural Spraying Drones
Spec and Features of Agras MG-1S and Walkera AG15
- DJI Agras MG-1S
The drone mounted sprayer of DJI Agras MG-1 mainly consists of brushless motors, LiPo (Lithium polymer) batteries, peticide tank, pump, and supporting frame. Brushless motors were mounted to octocopter frame to lift of 10 kg payload capacity. 6000mAh, 2S LiPo batteries were used to supply the necessary current required for the propulsion system. A 10 liter capacity conical-square shaped fluid tank was used to hold the pesticide solution. A motor coupled with pump was used to pressurize spray liquid and then to atomize in to fine spray droplets by means of 4 nozzles. Droplet size may vary according to operation environment and spraying speed. The entire drone mounted sprayer operation controlling with the help of transmitter at ground level, HD FPV camera also provide at front down side of drone sprayer unit to monitoring the live spraying operation.
- Walkera Agricultural Drone AG 15
The Walkera AG15 uses advanced gasoline engine and generator integrated power supply technology, combining the advantages of oil-electric hybrid system plant protection drone, the maximum flight time of full oil is 50 minutes, and it is 2 times of the pure electric multi-rotor drone. The Walkera AG15 agricultural drone is equipped with a high precision navigation and positioning system. With a new generation of base stations, the positioning precision can reach a centimeter level. The dual antenna technology has powerful anti magnetic interference ability and can fly steadily in the harsh field environment. It has the ability of industrial water proof, dustproof and corrosion prevention. It can effectively block the permeation of drug fog caused by spraying, adapting to the complex environment, having high strength, low maintenance cost and long life. To know more information about Walkera AG15 spec, please click here.
How to Use a Drone for Pesticide Spraying
Architecture based on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) which can be employed to implement a control loop for agricultural applications where UAVs are responsible for spraying chemicals on crops. The process of applying the chemicals is controlled by wireless sensor network (WSN) deployed on the crop field.
Over the last few months some manufactures have been working with this agricultural spraying drone, just to make it a little better suited to the environment. So what farmers are going to do now is put some water into the machine and run it through the sprayers. The drone platform is fitted with four spray nozzles, pairs of these nozzles can be turned off independently. You can change the spray nozzles in this machine to optimise the droplet size for the spray activity. The nozzle is a very, very important part of it - and without the right nozzle you can be putting out spray either too much, too little - without real affect.
One of the advantages of drones is that you can get onto the the particular crop block at any time of the year, whether it's wet or dry. And of course, it can actually force down the droplets down through the crop, to be able to get onto the target weed.