Drones in agriculture:

applications and outlook

EXPO 2015 Salar Bybordi PhD, DEIB - Politecnico di Milano,

salar.bybordi@polimi.it
Luca Reggiani PhD, Researcher, DEIB - Politecnico di Milano
luca.reggiani@polimi.it
Outline

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Applications

UAVs for agriculture

Limitations
Future development
Conclusions

EXPO 2015 Drones in agriculture

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), commonly known as drones,

can be unpiloted aerial vehicles or remotely piloted aircrafts.

Rotary wing Fixed wing

[*] [o]

More efficient aerodynamics

Easier to pilot, agile maneuvering
longer flights, higher speed
Vertical take-off and landing
Large space for take-off and landing

[*] "Parrot AR.Drone 2.0", N. Halftermeyer – Wikimedia Commons

[o] "InView Unmanned Aircraft" by Fasicle, http://www.barnardmicrosystems.com/ - Wikimedia Commons

EXPO 2015 Drones in agriculture

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

UAVs are knowing a huge, increasing interest.

The worldwide market of drones for civilian use:

$609 million in 2014 …

… forecast to reach $4.8 billion in 2021

Civilian sector is about 5% of the global market but the growth

rate is higher.

Compound annual growth rate: CAGR = 19%

The defense sector has a growth rate = 5%

EXPO 2015 Drones in agriculture

Applications

Civilian applications:
filmmaking,
search operations,
inspecting and surveying,
delivering supplies,
monitoring and data acquisition

In the following fields:

Emergency services
Security
Environmental protection
Agriculture
Engineering and architecture
Media
Business

EXPO 2015 Drones in agriculture

UAVs for agriculture

Precision agriculture

Data acquisition
Remote sensing
Integration with sensor networks

Monitoring (fires, fields, animals …)

Chemical and biological treatments

EXPO 2015 Drones in agriculture

UAVs for agriculture

Precision agriculture: advantages

Optimization of the treatments

only where and when necessary … fertilizers cut down till to 20 – 40 %

Reduction and prevention of waste

water consumption … in some cases till to almost 90 %

Reduction of labor and material costs

Reduction of pollution
Small UAVs are electrical machines.

Reduction of the risks

Automatic and continuous analysis of the processes and field status.
Prevention.

EXPO 2015 Drones in agriculture

UAVs for agriculture

Remote sensing

Remote sensing regards the acquisition of information about an object

or surface area by means of propagated signals (e.g. electro magnetic
waves as optical or microwave signals), typically emitted and/or received
by aerial vehicles (e.g. satellites, aircrafts, UAVs).

Main limitations of satellites and aircrafts:

expensive
need expertise
weather dependent
resolution
availability of multi-temporal data

EXPO 2015 Drones in agriculture

UAVs for agriculture

UAV low altitude remote sensing: main technologies

Visible-band, near-infrared, multi-spectral, hyperspectral cameras

Plant and soil analysis

Height, growth, health, vegetation indexes.

Irrigation, property, moisture, erosion

Specific chemical components

Thermal imaging
Plant and soil analysis
Irrigation, maturity, temperature

Laser scanners
Plant and soil analysis
Height, growth, topographical maps

EXPO 2015 Drones in agriculture

UAVs for agriculture

UAV low altitude remote sensing: main technologies

Data can be acquired in 2D / 3D and as a function of time …

Multi-temporal analysis:

a drone can repeat the survey periodically (even every

few hours) in order to appreciate the variations of the
field status.

Opportunity of a very advanced management and

organization of work, irrigation, fertilization and
necessary treatments.

EXPO 2015 Drones in agriculture

UAVs for agriculture

UAV low altitude remote sensing: main outputs

Vegetation indices
plants Plant growth, counting, diseases identification
Impact of chemical or biological treatments

Temperature and moisture

soil Water issues and irrigation systems
Ground erosion and modifications, topography

Acquisition of data for insurance claims (e.g. after

storms)

Of course drones usage changes with the seasons …

EXPO 2015 Drones in agriculture

UAVs for agriculture

Remote sensing: examples

Plant height and growth can be derived by

Laser Scanning
3D image analysis
Microwave radars.
The estimated height is
affected by errors
around few cm.

These systems are

applied to corn, wheat,
rice fields.

["Plodozmian" by Lesław Zimny - Wikimedia Commons]

EXPO 2015 Drones in agriculture

UAVs for agriculture

Remote sensing: examples

Moisture estimation
Thermal cameras
Visible and near-infrared
reflectance
Microwave sensors
Multi-spectral images

["Irrigation1" by Paulkondratuk3194 - Wikimedia Commons]

EXPO 2015 Drones in agriculture

UAVs for agriculture

Remote sensing: examples

NDVI (normalized difference

vegetation index) estimation:

Spectral reflectance
measurements acquired
in the visible (red) and
near-infrared regions

Other properties can be derived from

NDVI: biomass, chlorophyll concentration
of leaves, plant productivity, …

["SUAS_StardustII_Ndvi_sml" by Idetec uav - Wikimedia Commons]

EXPO 2015 Drones in agriculture

UAVs for agriculture

Integration with sensor networks

UAVs operations can be controlled by means of feedbacks (wireless
signals) from a sensors network deployed on the ground.

For example:
the areas covered by treatments or irrigation can be
controlled by ground sensors in presence of wind or in
absence of precise flight plans.

EXPO 2015 Drones in agriculture

Limitations

Drone usage is weather dependant (in particular wind, rain)

National regulations

Italy – possible till to 25 kg

France – possible till 150 kg
US – new rules in 2015

ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) is

preparing rules for 2018.

According to EASA, (European Aviation Safety

Agency), «open» use could be for flights within
500 meters and maximum altitude = 150 m.

EXPO 2015 Drones in agriculture

Future development

Technological steps …

Increase of UAVs autonomy: automatic piloting and

operations

Automatic analysis for real-time decisions

Increase of precision in remote sensing

Advanced integration with sensor networks and robots on

the ground

EXPO 2015 Drones in agriculture

Conclusions

Today UAVs are a reality in many fields of agriculture.

However precision agriculture is about to know a further

progress and UAVs will play a crucial role.

Important savings (20% - 90%) in terms of water, chemical

treatments and labor are expected.

Flight regulations are an issue but UAVs, for most

agriculture applications, have low weight and fly at low
altitudes over uninhabited and private areas …

EXPO 2015 Drones in agriculture

Bibliography

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EXPO 2015 Drones in agriculture