Multispectral-farm

Agriculture Drones

Drones can be used to optimize a farm based on a large range of image data about the condition of crops, fields and livestock as well as applying pesticides

The acceptance of drones being used as a key piece of farm equipment is driven by:

  • The average farm size for 2017 is 444 acres which frankly just takes time to monitor and check on – Source
  • High precision images of the crops that can help determine stress and growth levels driven by the emergence of cheap multi-spectral imaging cameras that can capture visible light (VIS) and near-infrared (NIR) light reflected by crops.
  • Farmers can use this data to integrate into smart irrigation systems as well as pesticide management

11/07/2019

Overview

Plant Counting
https://www.precisionmapper.com/algorithms/automated-plant-counting
Crop Counting
Yield Potential
http://www.slantrange.com/#
Yield Potential
Leak Detection
http://www.slantrange.com/#
Leak Detection
Pest Detection
http://www.slantrange.com/#
Pest Detection

Benefits

Drones are an affordable investment when compared to most farm equipment. They can pay for themselves and start saving money within a single growing season. By generating accurate field data you can:

  • Get much higher resolution data (up to 16x than traditional satellite methods) of your crop conditions
  • Get a head's up on stressed areas, pest infestation, or if you have an irrigation leak anywhere.
  • Get a true count of plant growth so you can purchase insurance, plan labor schedules and predict yields

Key Components

Rotor UAV
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/601935/six-ways-drones-are-revolutionizing-agriculture/
Fixed UAV
https://www.ageagle.com/fullscreen-page/comp-jmj86ab8/b4f4fbfc-c195-11e8-a9ff-063f49e9a7e4/0/%3Fi%3D0%26p%3Dpxuao%26s%3Dstyle-jmj86abk

Drone Type: Multi-Rotor vs Fixed Wing

Rotor based drones are by far the most popular type of agricultural UAVs for their ease of use, cost and flexibility. That being said fixed-wing drones excel in many areas. A good guide to help you make a decision on this can be found here.

The drones can be flown manually but these days almost everyone will use software to have the drone automatically fly and land and follow a particular route over your crop.

Agriculture Drone Sensors

Sensors:

  • Still image cameras
  • Video
  • Multispectral
    - Identify nutrient deficiencies, pest damage, fertilizer needs and water quality.
  • Hyperspectral
    - Used to analyze plant nutrients, plant diseases, water quality, and mineral and surface chemical composition.
  • Lidar
    - Using lasers this  sensor produces elevation data that can create 3D models of your farm
  • Thermal
    - Track the surface temperature of land and plants

In combination these sensors can give a 3D GPS accurate model of your field and data that the human eye can not pickup on much less track easily over time.

Some terms you might hear are: Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Normalized Difference Red Edge (NDRE). NDVI is basically a measure of plant health based on how a plant reflects light at specific frequencies. Healthy plants reflect large amounts of near-infrared light (NIR) where unhealthy plants absorb more.

Ag Drone Software

Software:

Drone software will first off let you map your field and create flight paths. Once you have flown your route you then need the software to help determine what is actually going on in your field over time, what actions to take and send that data along to your team and equipment on the ground.

Flight Types & Costs

Do you want to own your drone and fly it yourself, or would you rather pay by the acre and have someone else take care of the drone regulations, ownership, and uploading the data, etc?

Drone Costs: These range from $1,500 to over $20,000 for a commercial grade spraying drone.

Regulations: The FAA views agricultural drone activity as a commercial drone operation so you have to have a Remote Pilot Certificate to fly. More details on that process can be found here.

Next Generation 

  • Autonomously docks with a charging station between flights
  • Integrate drones with pesticide applications

Operated by farmer

If you are looking to acquire a drone for your operation these companies will give you a complete solution with drone, software and sensor options.

Operated by farmer: Presticide spraying speciality

Additional

Farming Drone Models

Below are some of he most popular ready-to-fly agriculture drone/UAV/UAS systems available to purchase today.

Ready-to-fly and  equipped with all the software, sensors and hardware you’ll need to track livestock, survey farmland and more.

Parrot Ag

Parrot Disco-Pro Ag

Price: $4800
Type
: Fixed Wing
Purpose: Aerial Imagery

Highlights

  • Covers up to 80ha / 200ac at 120m / 400ft flight altitude in a single flight.
  • Multi-spectral and sunshine sensors on-board
  • Live video streaming on your smartphone from their app
Flyby thermal

FlyByCopters Thermal

Price: $10750
Type
: X6 hexacopter
Purpose: Aerial Imagery

Highlights

  • Flir Vue Pro 640 R Thermal Camera With Raidometrics
  • Flight time is about 25 minutes with the included setup (can be upgraded with longer lasting battery)
  • Fully autonomous including mission planning with waypoints and follow me mode
mg-1

DJI Agras MG-1P

Price: $12000
Type
: Octocopter
Purpose: Crop Spraying

Highlights

  • 40-60 times faster than manual spraying (7-10 Acres per Hour)
  • Spray nozzles can be chosen according to the properties of each liquid.
  • A liquid tank volume of 10L
TTA Sprayer

TTA-AMERICA M4E

Price: $3700
Type
: Quadcopter
Purpose: Crop spraying

Highlights

  • 5 liter capacity
  • Full drone spray pump automation and flow-rate sensor. Autonmous capabilities and will return to the exact spot if it runs out of material.
  • 55 pound weight

Drone Software & Technology Providers

If you operate your own drone but would like to get some additional analysis of the field data here are some solution providers for you to look at for their software and analysis tools.

Operated as a Service

Not interested in getting your license and operating your own drone but would like to access the resulting imagery and data? You are in luck as there are many providers now who will use their own equipment and charge you by the acre to access the information.

Guide

Trevor Harwood


Trevor has been following the IoT and its implications since 2009. He is most interested in how we can utilize technology and connectivity to reduce resource usage.


Contact

Standing Cover Agriculture

Trend Report

View the new use cases, technologies and products shaping the smart agriculture market and your business trajectory.

SMART PRODUCT & SYSTEM TRENDS

Join 20,000+ readers for our free bi-monthly newsletter to stay a step ahead of the curve.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.