Perception, Path Planning, and Flight Control for a Drone-Enabled Autonomous Pollination System

Abstract

The decline of natural pollinators necessitates the development of novel pollination technologies. In this work, we propose a drone-enabled autonomous pollination system (APS) that consists of five primary modules: environment sensing, flower perception, path planning, flight control, and pollination mechanisms. These modules are highly dependent upon each other, with each module relying on inputs from the other modules. In this paper, we focus on approaches to the flower perception, path planning, and flight control modules. First, we briefly introduce a flower perception method from our previous work to create a map of flower locations. With a map of flowers, APS path planning is defined as a variant of the Travelling Salesman Problem (TSP). Two path planning approaches are compared based on mixed-integer programming (MIP) and genetic algorithms (GA), respectively. The GA approach is chosen as the superior approach due to the vast computational savings with negligible loss of optimality. To accurately follow the generated path for pollination, we develop a convex optimization approach to the quadrotor flight control problem (QFCP). This approach solves two convex problems. The first problem is a convexified three degree-of-freedom QFCP. The solution to this problem is used as an initial guess to the second convex problem, which is a linearized six degree-of-freedom QFCP. It is found that changing the objective of the second convex problem to minimize the deviation from the initial guess provides improved physical feasibility and solutions similar to a general-purpose optimizer. The path planning and flight control approaches are then tested within a model predictive control (MPC) framework where significant computational savings and embedded adjustments to uncertainty are observed. Coupling the two modules together provides a simple demonstration of how the entire APS will operate in practice.

Is the Artificial Pollination of Walnut Trees with Drones Able to Minimize the Presence of Xanthomonas arboricola pv. juglandis? A Review

“…Especially, AI and machine learning are being integrated into pollination technologies to develop autonomous pollina-tion systems [15,16]. Based on the above, researchers are developing various drone-based pollination technologies, such as the use of tiny drones equipped with artificial intelligence to autonomously navigate and carry pollen between plants [17,18].…”

An Effective Precision Afforestation System for UAV

“…It can be put into ecological restoration and contribute to the purification of pollutants. Chapel Reid Rice and others proposed an autonomous pollination system (APS) supporting unmanned aerial vehicles, which consists of five main modules: environmental perception, flower perception, path planning, flight control, and pollination mechanism [43]. This system combines an unmanned aerial vehicle, sensor, and pollination device, and can complete pollination tasks by using optimal path planning.…”