Application of UAV in Agriculture: agricultural UAV spraying and fertilization disaster investigation

Nowadays, drones are more and more widely used, and they are also used in agriculture. Let's take a look.

Unmanned aerial vehicle is expected to be the new right-hand man for the future development of agriculture. Not only the Civil Aviation Administration has made great efforts to formulate laws and regulations, and in the future, people from all walks of life have to register under their real names for more than 250 grams, but people from all walks of life are also actively involved in the development of drones for agricultural and other applications. The Agricultural Experimental Institute of the Agricultural Commission of the Executive Yuan has set up a drone team, which is currently establishing experimental data, and is expected to establish a set of operation manuals for farmers' reference in the future.

Using drones to reduce the dispersion of pesticides, climate and operating parameters are the key points.

The Agricultural Experimental Institute of the Council of Agriculture of the Executive Yuan today held a "Seminar on realizing Intelligent Agricultural Technology with UAV," which attracted more than 100 practitioners and experts from all walks of life to discuss the current situation and future of the use of drones in Taiwan.

Kuo Hung-Yu, head of the chemical team at the Agricultural Experimental Institute, points out that the specifications of drones' spraying nozzles must change with different crops and environments. "sometimes the spray droplets are too small, although they are very fine, but because the sun is very strong, pesticide droplets may evaporate before they fall on the leaves, which may not be applicable. "

Huang Wenda, an associate professor in the department of agronomy at National Taiwan University, says that the use of drone spraying is strongly restricted by environmental factors, so it is necessary to pay attention to the fact that the wind speed is below 3m/sec at 1.5m on the land surface. In addition, in the spraying process, do not lift the fuselage at will, so as not to cause the pesticide to spread.

Guo Hongyu explained that in addition to the specifications of the sprinklers, the flying altitude at the time of application will also affect the effect. "before spraying celery and cauliflower, the wind speed of the drone was very strong. Originally, I wanted to spray medicine a little lower, but the wind broke the plants instead. Guo Hongyu said that the UAV team of the Agricultural Test Institute is currently building experimental data, and it is expected to establish a set of operation manuals for farmers' reference in the future.

The Agricultural Laboratory held a "Seminar on realizing Intelligent Agricultural Technology with UAV" today, inviting many industry, government and academic experts to share their experiences, as well as allowing domestic manufacturers to demonstrate on-the-spot operations to promote professional exchanges.

Aerial photography of UAV assists disaster survey, which is of great benefit to decision-making.

Just ask the agriculture department of Chiayi county government to know how good the drone is. Lin Liangmao, director of agriculture of Chiayi County Government, pointed out that in recent years, Chiayi County has actively used drones to assist agricultural administrative operations in its jurisdiction, greatly improving the efficiency and accuracy of decision-making.

"We fly once before the disaster and once after the disaster, and then we compare it with stacked maps, which is very accurate. Lin Liangmao says that things such as rice lodging and facility damage can be investigated with an aerial camera, which can be quickly determined. Using UAV aerial photography to assist agricultural natural disaster exploration, in addition to reducing time and manpower consumption, image interpretation technology can also quickly and objectively understand the degree of disaster, but also shorten the time for farmers to resume farming. In addition, Chiayi County also uses aerial beats of drones for agricultural statistics to help grasp the situation of agricultural production, and even oyster farming in shallow waters can be investigated clearly.

"the biggest problem in our country lies in legal sources and administrative barriers," says Lin Liangmao. In fact, the hardware technology of drones is no longer a problem, and the international development is also quite mature. Taiwan has very good software. plus multiplication can make drones an easy-to-use innovation tool. Lin Liangmao stressed that for new tools to be able to be used, what is most needed is the basis of legal sources, and official regulations and administrative barriers must be kept up with quickly so that the application of drones can be promoted, create an industrial environment, and produce real benefits.

In recent years, the Chiayi County government has actively used unmanned aerial cameras for agricultural statistics and cooperated with professional laboratories to determine images, which is very helpful to determine agricultural conditions. The picture shows the image analysis of rice lodging in Xikou, Chiayi. (photo courtesy of Chiayi County Government Agriculture Department)

Drones combined with artificial intelligence learning, really "accurate" drug application

Feng Haidong, director of prevention and inspection, said that although the trend of private use of drones is booming, the prevention and inspection bureau most hopes that domestic manufacturers can quickly standardize various models and improve the current situation of all models and specifications. "if you use a specially suitable unit for any purpose, it will be cost-effective to work. Feng Haidong pointed out that Japan already has a very professional classification in the standardization of drones, and it is hoped that China can also learn from Japan.

The research and development of precision spraying of artificial intelligence for drones will be put into operation this year. "We hope that it can automatically detect diseased plants during flight, and then apply drugs to diseased plants, not all of them. Fan Yuhan believes that drones can carry artificial intelligence for learning, and should not only be used to target arable land and develop intelligent identification, so that science and technology can play a greater role.