Since 2015, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has permitted drone use in agriculture. Eight years later, the drone farming industry has grown immensely, with the market harvesting $1.2 billion in 2020 and analysts predicting it will reach $6 billion by 2025.
By integrating technology of this kind into farming activities, the key elements of precision agriculture fall into place, such as crop stress detection/management, soil health assessment, seed planting, fertilizer spraying, irrigation scheduling, crop yield amplification, and weather analysis.
The growth of the agriculture drone market coincides with the evolution of technology, which enables farmers to closely monitor crop and livestock conditions from a bird’s eye view. Thanks to modern technological advancements, farmers can estimate crop height with 3D imaging, optimize field management, and eliminate risk.
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Understanding Drones and Their Widespread Uses
TechTarget defines drones as “unmanned aircraft”. Drones can be controlled or flown independently with special software, such as sensors and GPS. Since drones can be remote-controlled and flown at varying heights and distances, they are highly sought-after for deployment in some of the world’s harshest industries.
Drones were initially designed and manufactured for use in the aerospace and military industries – including intelligence gathering, anti-aircraft target practice, surveillance, precision strikes, and search and rescue missions. However, the use of these airborne devices has gradually filtered into numerous mainstream markets, including:
- Emergency services
- Farming and agriculture
- Firefighting
- Law enforcement surveillance
- Photography
- Traffic monitoring
- Weather Monitoring
- Videography
- Delivery services
Safe and efficient, these robotic unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) function with varying levels of autonomy and do not require a pilot board. The autonomy level of a drone may vary, depending on the brand and model. While a human remotely pilots some drones, others feature sensitive sensors that carefully analyze and calculate each movement.
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How do Drones Work, and What Features Do They Have?
These unmanned aircraft are designed to navigate specific areas of the sky through software-controlled flight plans. Drones are crafted with intricately embedded systems that cooperate with a global positioning system (GPS) and onboard sensors to get the job done.
Most drones have two basic functions: navigation and flight mode. The device relies on batteries or fuel and is equipped with several essential components, including:
- A lightweight yet sturdy frame
- Antenna
- Accelerometer
- Altimeter
- Battery
- Cameras
- Controllers (for speed and direction)
- Flight controller
- GPS module
- Receiver
- Rotors
- Propellers
- Sensors
Weighing an average weight of six pounds, drones are lightweight and highly maneuverable. Drone launch, landing, and navigation are operated using a controller that communicates with the device using radio waves, with the most common option being Wi-Fi.
The Advantages of Implementing Drone Technology into Agriculture
From the preparation stage before sowing the seeds to the preventive maintenance and various stages of upkeep that goes into an agricultural project, drone technology offers an unparalleled way to accomplish multiple tasks at once with minimal effort on the farmer’s part.
Aside from saving money on crop surveys, the features of drones can be implemented as a way of saving money on insurance, maximizing crop yields, amplifying farming efficiency, boosting overall yields, and reducing CO2 emissions.
Let’s look at some of the main perks of adopting drones into agriculture:
- Detecting Pests and Diseases – Plant health threats come in many forms, with pests and diseases being the most common. Fortunately, such threats can be detected early with drone technology. High-resonance drone imaging pinpoints a problem before the drone is instructed (using a remote control) to apply targeted treatment.
- Crop Spraying – Drones with variable-rate technology (VRT) are favored among farmers who want to spray pesticides, fertilizers, and crop protection solutions quickly and affordably. Since drones can cover multiple acres of land within minutes, farmers can provide crops with valuable nutrients and safeguard them from disease.
- Plant Population Count – Drones use precision analytics to perform plant counting with 90-99% accuracy in small plots, outdoor farms, and plant breeding field trails.
- Seed Firing – According to reports seed-firing drones are capable of planting 40,000 trees every single day, making them a valuable tool for agricultural workers trying to combat deforestation. Drones are 25 times faster and 80% cheaper than traditional tree-planting techniques. The farming potential is unlimited by introducing a whole fleet of seed pod-installed drones.
- Generating Detailed Land Imaging and 3D Mapping – AI-integrated drone technology can glean elevation, soil composition, and topography data. Surveyors can capture multiple topographic data points with multispectral drone imagery, translating to more accurate volume measurements. This technology benefits farmers working on complex terrains, such as heavily forested plots of land or multiple-gradient water bodies that are tricky to access by car or on foot.
- Assess Plant Water Stress and Freshwater Sources – In 2021, a group of researchers from Binghamton University in New York carried out a study using drones to locate freshwater resources at Easter Island. Their successful results indicate the potential of agriculture drones. This technology can be relied on to target required irrigation resources through microwave sensing. Soil health and moisture can be detected with the utmost accuracy, thus allowing farmers to conserve resources and prevent waste.
- Encourage Faster Plant Screening – The high-precision cameras fitted onto drones can aid in monitoring crop health. Screening works by gathering images of diseased plants using cameras and sensors before implementing edge detection technologies to extract specific features.
- Livestock Movement and Counting – Agriculture drone 3D mapping is ideal for monitoring stray livestock herds. Farmers can track predators using intelligent drone software with thermal imaging and zoom capabilities. Additionally, drones that render 3D imaging can be relied on to map grazing land and perform livestock counts for selling purposes.
- Soil/Water Sampling and Monitoring – Farmers often need to monitor water quality on a large scale. With drones, high-resolution data can be generated for flood risk models and water resource management. It begins with fixing a special radionuclides-measuring sensor before the software translates the data into soil parameters.
Conclusion
As drone technology becomes more sophisticated, we will likely see additional uses for these devices in agriculture. With elevated mapping accuracy, farmers can avoid costly mistakes, such as underinvesting in pest management, misjudging soil fertility, and underwatering/overwatering crops.
Before investing in drones for agricultural purposes, there are three primary things to consider: budget, experience, and objective. If you’re inexperienced, learn how to fly a drone safely beforehand. Rules, permissions, and permits for designated farming zones should be determined before flying a UAV, and a risk assessment/pre-flight checklist should be completed.