Lynn Says

Drones for agricultural use

 

December 13, 2017

Most of the questions I am asked about drones are from farmers who either want to count cattle or observe bad stuff in their wheat fields. In general, they are thinking of the DJI type drones that sell for around $1,000.

These will only be marginally useful for those applications because of limited battery life. You'd better be heading home after 15 minutes of flight time. Also, the FAA rules require you maintain the drone in view 100 percent of the time.

DJI has announced two agricultural drones at far higher prices than $1,000 for the hobbyist drone. One is called the Smarter Farming Kit for $8,300. DJI joined with a firm called PrecisionHawk. The drone kit is designed to give farmers and agronomists alike all the tools necessary to begin monitoring their crops from the air. The combined bundle consists of an assembled M100, two X3 cameras including one multispectral, and a one-year subscription of PrecisionHawk's DataMapper software for agriculture analytics.

PrecisionHawk DataMapper is a cloud-based (meaning the data is stored elsewhere) analytics solution for agriculture. Designed with ease of use in mind, farmers are able to fly their fields automatically by using the InFlight autopilot App. The M100 will then carry out its mission and land at a predesignated location.

Image data captured is then uploaded to DataMapper for processing. All industry standard vegetative indices are included within the subscription, such as NDVI, ENDVI, VARI, SAVI, as well as orthomosaics. Typical processing times are approximately two hours once the upload is complete. All data is exportable as GeoTiffs, KMZ, and shape files for integration into a wider farm management workflow.

In short, the DJI Smarter Farming Kit features (1) estimates crop yields, (2) optimize inputs, (3) save time crop scouting and (4) improve variable rate prescriptions.

Another drone announced by DJI is its $15,000 agricultural drone designed to spray crops.

The Chinese company's latest model, the eight-rotor Agras MG-1, is designed for agricultural use. The primary use of the Agras is spraying crops, with the ability to cover between seven and ten acres an hour and a tank that holds 10 liters (about 2.6 gallons) of liquid.

DJI says the Agras is over 40 times more efficient than manual spraying. Using a microwave radar, the drone can scan the ground below and maintain the right distance from crops to spray the correct amount of liquid. It flies up to eight meters per second, modulating its spraying for even coverage. It can be used in automatic, semi-automatic, or manual operation, and is designed for durability with dustproofing, water resistance, and an anti-corrosive build. The Agras also folds down into a compact package after use.

 

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