Testing a multi-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle for spray application in high slope terraced vineyard

Abstract

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are being increasingly used for the spraying of pesticides for crop protection in complex geographic terrains that are not easily accessible by operators. This experiment was conducted to investigate the sprayer performance of a commercial UAV, equipped with different types of nozzles, and compare this new technology with the sprayers usually used on small size mountain vineyards (i.e. a knapsack sprayer and a sprayer gun). Field tests were conducted in a small high slope terraced vineyard. The operative parameters of the sprayers were calculated. Data on droplet coverage, density and size were collected by using water sensitive papers attached with clips to the leaves and analysed. The results showed that the working capacity of the UAV was 2-fold that of the sprayer gun 1.6-fold that of the knapsack sprayer. Droplet coverage, density and size were variable and affected by the position of the targets (water sensitive papers) and the type of sprayer used.

Advances in Unmanned Aerial System Remote Sensing for Precision Viticulture

“…From the bibliographic research on the use of UAS in viticulture, a limited amount of works focusses on the theme of in-flight product distribution operations. This shortcoming is justified by the innovativeness of these operations, as well as the evident limits to perform homogeneous distributions over the entire volume of the rows, and the limited autonomy of the UASs [ 21 ].…”

“…The remote sensing task currently accounts for the majority of the operations performed with agricultural UASs [ 16 ]. In addition to applications involving the use of sensors and the extrapolation of useful information, UASs are applied and are under study for various types of operations, such as crop spraying operations [ 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 ], or combined with wireless sensor network (WSN) ground monitoring systems [ 23 ].…”

Advances in Agriculture Robotics: A State-of-the-Art Review and Challenges Ahead

“…This characteristic imposes strong difficulties in the mobility of robots. To carry out the controlled application of pesticides in such crops, Italian researchers developed the UAV Bly-c-agri (depicted in Figure 6t) with the capacity to load a tank of up to 10 l of pesticide and, thus, eliminate all problems related to land locomotion [60]. Another UAV was used to spray Urea (organic compound) within predefined regions.…”

“…Another UAV was used to spray Urea (organic compound) within predefined regions. With a maximum load capacity of 5 L, this type of application also allows reducing expenses with the generalized application of herbicides [61].…”

Influence of Spray Technology and Application Rate on Leaf Deposit and Ground Losses in Mountain Viticulture

“…Research on pesticide deposition and ground losses in viticulture has included testing different types of sprayers [16,21] or more advanced equipment such as ultrasonic sensors for target detection [22]. Nevertheless, limited research has been carried out to evaluate spray equipment's effectiveness in mountain viticulture [20,23]. The current study aimed to define the most effective combination of spray technology and volume rate for the specific case of mountainous viticulture in Cyprus and generate useful recommendations considering vines' particularities.…”