What do you need to start? – the two key pieces of equipment, drones and sensors, and mapping applications used in agriculture are expensive. Here is a quick help section in how to determine what you may need.
Objectives
The first thing you need to consider is your project’s goal and objectives. Here, we focus on aerial drones since they are commonly available and refer to them as “drones.” Flying a drone is fun and can be practical to your vineyard or farm operations, but you may be disappointed if your expectations do not match what your equipment is capable of.
Typical uses of drones in agriculture are visual field surveys, plant counting and yield estimation, nutrient and water stress monitoring, plant disease or insect damage scouting, and pesticide application. Some use their drones for bird management, too. Depending on your objectives, you may need to select a specialized sensor to capture nonvisible wavelength or a drone that can carry the weight of the equipment. The choice of drones and flight schedule also depends on the size and topography of your farm and other factors, such as distance from neighbors and airports.
Several applications are available to plan flights and inform conditions (weather and no-fly zone) at the time of flight. Depending on the sensor, you may need to pick a particular time of the day. You may need other items (e.g., a flightlog book, landing platform, tablet, phone, computer, etc) for the flight.
Once you have taken field images, you must process them to visualize the field’s status and make decisions. There are several software applications available, and each has strengths and weaknesses. Many desktop applications need to stitch and analyze the data manually; however, depending on the objective, time, and resources available, you can use services that save you time. You may find a survey company that handles everything a better option, especially for surveys that do not require frequent flights within a season (e.g., soil survey or simple field mapping).
Drones
There are three types to choose from multi-rotor, fixed-wing, or vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) hybrid.
- Multi-rotor drones have two or more motors. It can be launched and landed remotely, has excellent flexibility for changing direction or altitude quickly, and has excellent stability in its flight pattern.
- Fixed-wing drones have one inflexible wing across the top of the drone body. This type of drone must have room to take off and land like a traditional airplane, but once it is in the air, it can fly faster and higher than a multi-rotor, allowing it to cover more area during a single flight. Typically, these drones can carry more weight to handle heavier, more advanced sprayers or cameras.
- VTOL hybrid drones have the best features of the other two types of drones. It can take off and land remotely in a small area like the multi-rotor drone but conducts most of the flying session as a fixed-wing.
Several types of sensors and cameras can be attached to a drone: Red, Green, Blue (RGB), Multispectral, Hyperspectral, and Thermal. Each type captures images that reflect information recorded from different parts of the light spectrum.
- Red, Green, and Blue (RGB) sensors produce images with visible parts of the light wavelength (I.e., similar to your eyes.) It helps assess crop size and count, crop canopy size, density of leaf coverage, etc. You can calculate some vegetation indices with the RGB camera, too.
- Multispectral sensors capture both visible and nonvisible parts of the light spectrum, including RGB, near-infrared (NIR), mid-infrared (MIR), far infrared (FIR), and thermal infrared. It helps determine disease or plant stress earlier than symptom development.
- Hyperspectral sensors are similar to a multispectral sensor. It is different in how it collects the data from the section of the light waves it is recording.
- Thermal Cameras detect infrared radiation (IR) heat signatures from plants, which is not visible to us. It measures heat radiating off plants and soil and is helpful for crop monitoring, early detection of plant disease, and monitoring soil moisture levels.
Flight planning apps (The linked page does not include flight planning apps.)
For the survey, you need to fly a drone in a pre-planned pattern so that it can systematically take images. Flight planning apps are used to plan autonomous drone flight missions. You program your drone to survey the target field(s) and capture images at the height, speed, and overlaps you specify. Some flight management apps are standalone, and others are integrated into a mapping and analysis app.
Mapping and Analysis Software Applications
Mapping apps process and create various maps from the images collected during the survey flight. The same app can create vegetation index-based maps, such as NDVI, NDRE, SAVI, Soil line, ENDVI, GRVI,TGI, VARI. You may need a specific sensor for some of these indices. You can use these maps to determine the overall health and size of the crop, potential issues such as water and nutrient stress, or early detection of plant disease.
Implementing remote observation to manage crops and fields requires planning before the drone is launched. B4UFLY is a mobile or desktop that allows the drone user to check the appropriate airspace before beginning their flight. A typical workflow schedule for agriculture operations includes:
- Planning the flight over the target field.
- Collecting images of the crop and field.
- Plugging this data into data analysis applications to generate results that fit your needs.
It takes quite some time to achieve what you wish to know. Time to plan the flight, prepare items (e.g., charge batteries, check for weather), fly the drone, transfer the data to a mapping application, generate maps, and interpret data can accumulate quickly. Therefore, you must determine if investing the money and resources is worthwhile. As I mentioned earlier, requesting a company to survey your farm can be viable if your objectives do not require frequent flights.
Pilot Training and Licensing
To legally fly a drone, even if it’s just over one’s own land, it is necessary to obtain a license from the FAA certifying that the individual piloting the drone knows all of the regulations for flying an Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS). You must obtain a recreational license through an online exam. Some growers obtain a commercial license by passing the FAA Remote Pilot Certification Knowledge Exam. Several commercial services help you learn drone operations and be prepared for the commercial license exam.
Insurance
A grower is not legally required to insure their drone equipment in order to operate it. However, drone insurance typically covers repair or replacement of your equipment and also has a liability component to it as well so it is important to consider the amount of money you have invested in drone equipment and its accessories as well as the risk level for potential damage to property or persons to make a wise decision about obtaining an insurance policy.
Articles:
FAA Enforces Requirements For Farmers Operating A Drone
Drones Help Scout Crops But Growers Must Consider Costs
Drone Assignment: A Costly Investment, Consider Pros and Cons
How Can You Measure The ROI Of Your Drone-Based Farming Program?
Citations
Josh Jackson, Karla Ladino, and Gabriel Abdulai, Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering.Decision Aid For Estimating The Cost Of Using A Drone In Production Agriculture.University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food and Environment Cooperative Extension Service.http://www2.ca.uky.edu/agcomm/pubs/AEN/AEN160/AEN160.pdf
Kevin Brooks.Farm Coach.FAA Enforces Requirements For Farmers Operating A Drone.March 2023.University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, College of Agriculture, Consumer & Environmental Sciences Illinois Extension.https://extension.illinois.edu/blogs/farm-coach/2023-03-22-faa-enforces-requirements-farmers-operating-drone
Ben Luthi.BluePrint.What Is Drone Insurance?.Updated November 13, 2023.USA Today, a division of Gannett Satellite Information Network, LLC.https://www.usatoday.com/money/blueprint/insurance/what-is-drone-insurance/