Smart Agriculture Drone for Crop Spraying Using Image-Processing and Machine Learning Techniques: Experimental Validation

Abstract

Smart agricultural drones for crop spraying are becoming popular worldwide. Research institutions, commercial companies, and government agencies are investigating and promoting the use of technologies in the agricultural industry. This study presents a smart agriculture drone integrated with Internet of Things technologies that use machine learning techniques such as TensorFlow Lite with an EfficientDetLite1 model to identify objects from a custom dataset trained on three crop classes, namely, pineapple, papaya, and cabbage species, achieving an inference time of 91 ms. The system’s operation is characterised by its adaptability, offering two spray modes, with spray modes A and B corresponding to a 100% spray capacity and a 50% spray capacity based on real-time data, embodying the potential of Internet of Things for real-time monitoring and autonomous decision-making. The drone is operated with an X500 development kit and has a payload of 1.5 kg with a flight time of 25 min, travelling at a velocity of 7.5 m/s at a height of 2.5 m. The drone system aims to improve sustainable farming practices by optimising pesticide application and improving crop health monitoring.