Agriculture Drones Plant Seeds of Growth

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AGRICULTURE DRONES PLANT SEEDS OF GROWTHHow unmanned aerial vehicles are helping production for farms, forests

By Ed O’Brien

Farmers, ranchers, forestry companies, and government organizations have tried for years to find better ways to assess, monitor, spray, plant, and manage natural resources under their care. Many traditional methods are rooted in manual processes, which have slowed improvement in this space.

Existing methods of managing agriculture and timber resources, such as surveillance by airplane or helicopter, are costly. Even then, they are only appropriate in select cases where large tracts of land are under management. Likewise, using ground-based crews and teams of workers can be slow and exhausting, and do not offer three-dimensional views of areas being analyzed.

Many groups are turning to unmanned aerial vehicles, aka drones, to use in agricultural management applications. Their speed, nimbleness, and flexibility provide a level of precision previously unavailable.

LARGE MARKET POTENTIAL FOR AGRICULTURAL DRONES, ROBOTSAgricultural drones are a nascent subset of the larger UAV market, which was estimated to be about $1.6 billion in 2016, and expected to grow to a $15 billion market by 2022. Research firm MarketsandMarkets estimates the global agricultural drone market to grow from $864 million in 2016 to $4.3 billion in 2022, which includes fixed wing, rotary blade, hybrid vehicles, data analytics software, and imaging software. Another firm, IDTechEx, estimates that agricultural robots and drones could be a $35 billion industry by 2038.

Several agricultural drone providers have applied, or are applying for, Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) Part 107 waivers from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, which would let them operate across large tracts of land without a pilot needing to see the drone. The FAA continues to develop its UAS Integration Pilot Program, designed to create a new regulatory framework for safe drone integration into the national airspace. Since announcing 10 companies and programs in early 2018, at least four companies have demonstrated successful BVLOS flights.

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EXAMPLES OF PRECISION AGRICULTURAL DRONESHere is a sample of different types of drones and companies that are offering them for use in agricultural scenarios:

COMPANY NAME / DRONE MODEL DESCRIPTION

DJI Agras MG-1 The DJI Agras MG-1 is an octocopter designed for precision variable rate application of liquid pesticides, fertilizers, and herbicides, bringing new levels of efficiency and manageability to agriculture.

The MG-1 ‘s propulsion system allows the aircraft to carry up to 10 kg liquid payloads, including pesticides and fertilizers. The combination of speed and power means

that an area of 4,000-6,000 square-meters can be covered in just 10 minutes, or 40 to 60 times faster than manual spraying operations. The intelligent spraying system automatically adjusts its spray according to the flying speed, applying an even spray. This way, the amount of pesticide or fertilizer is precisely regulated to avoid pollution and economize operations.

The MG-1 has an intelligent flight control system that is integrated with a microwave radar system to provide terrain-following capabilities that contribute to an accurate and optimum amount of liquid being sprayed.

American Robotics Scout

American Robotics noted that its Scout drone is the world’s first fully-automated drone system for farmers (see below for more examples).

DroneSeed DroneSeed is the first FAA-approved provider of drone-swarms for agricultural payloads (see below for more examples).

Honeycomb AgDrone

The AgDrone System takes advantage of an advanced autopilot system, allowing the drone to fly itself. The user draws a polygon defining the flight area, and mission planning software automatically calculates the route. Safety measures come standard, including a low battery warning and return to home capabilities.

The drone has a composite design constructed of high-strength, aramid fiber, which is 10 times stronger than steel.

Parrot senseFly eBee SQ

The senseFly eBee SQ agriculture drone captures actionable crop data across four multispectral bands, plus RGB imagery (used to sense, represent, and display of images in electronic system), spanning hundreds of acres in a single flight, allowing efficient crop monitoring and analyses. The senseFly eBee SQ offers

precise, calibrated multispectral imagery that provides reliable insights into the health of various crops. The senseFly eBee SQ is compatible with existing Farm Management Information System (FMIS), agricultural machinery, and workflow systems.

PrecisionHawk PrecisionHawk offers a turn-key platform that uses drone data to automate and optimize farm management. (see below for more examples).

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EXAMPLES OF PRECISION AGRICULTURE IN THE FIELD

Example #1: DroneSeed Seattle-based DroneSeed is more than a component and drone supplier. The company works with commercial foresters, government resources, and other experts to make reforestation more efficient. The company offers a one-stop solution, with its team focusing on drone solutions for spraying fertilizer and herbicides to keep trees healthy and planting tree seeds, typically an arduous, time-consuming, and sometimes perilous job.

“We started out asking forestry and farming experts how can we automate the process, make it more cost-and labor-efficient, and safer,” said Grant Canary, CEO of DroneSeed. The company currently operates in the northwest and southeast sections of the U.S., and is interested in expanding into Canada and Brazil. It primarily works with forestry customers and other vertical crop farms, such as vineyards, fruit and nut orchards, and post-wildfire work with spraying services.

The company uses off-the-shelf drones with the biggest payloads and the longest flight times, which are then modified significantly, including adding software that flies drone swarms and payloads for tracts of land that are 10,000 acres or more.

“We can help customers in a wide variety of ways,” Canary said. “In addition to supplying agricultural drones, our team can offer expertise as forestry, biology, topography analyses, and other areas.” Beyond spraying services, the company plans to expand their data acquisition services, and offer seed-planting capabilities.

DroneSeed is the first FAA-approved company in the U.S. to use drone swarms to deliver agricultural payloads such as herbicides, fertilizer, and water. Individual drones or swarms of up to 15 drones can fly missions that carry up to four gallons of liquid per drone.

DroneSeed helps with spraying of fertilizer and herbicides, as well as reforestation efforts.

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The company is focusing much of its efforts on the millions of acres of forests that are currently under-utilized, or not easily reached by ground methods. The limited availability of dependable workers and the safety concerns of rough terrain often prevent trees from being planted and cared for.

The company is currently spraying in the Pacific Northwest and is developing the techniques for further aerial spraying and tree planting. This work includes various operations, such as spraying initiatives targeting invasive species that can be introduced when widespread planting occurs from reforestation efforts, such as those that occur after forest fires.

Example #2: PrecisionHawk offers drones and dataPrecisionHawk offers a full suite of solutions in the agricultural drone market. In addition to multi-rotor and fixed-wing drones, the company offers software, sensors, tracking, and analytics and consulting services. Insight into planting decisions can result in cost savings of many thousands of dollars per acre. PrecisionHawk drones can be flown by a pilot on the ground, and the company also provides software that allows operators to program a flight path that the drone can fly autonomously.

“Drones can be so much more efficient and provide so much more data and information on ground condition, the status of available water, and other important factors,” said Thomas Haun, senior vice president of partnerships at PrecisionHawk.

“Delivering new insights to farmers through high quality information will liberate productivity that allows for better harvests from optimum management.”

PrecisionHawk drones can operate in a wide variety of terrain and in longer-distance missions, as the company has the ability to operate within FAA Part 107 BVLOS regulations.

“Some of the questions we ask ourselves – and our customers – include: Are conditions acceptable? Are they changing across various areas of the

Grant Canary, DroneSeed CEO

PrecisionHawk drones include fixed-wing and multi-rotor drones, including ones that fly beyond a pilot’s visual line of sight.

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farm? What should be done in the next 1-3 years? What about the next 10 years?”, said Haun.

Key features available with the company’s software and analytics include:• PrecisionFlight Pro: Drone flight operations• PrecisionViewer: View data in the field• PecisionMapper: 2D and 3D processing and automated analytics

In addition, sensors can capture specialized data that can be analyzed by business units. Some examples include:

• Visual: Ability to capture high-resolution, low-distortion aerial imagery.• Video: Capture and live-stream high-definition video to multiple devices on

the ground.• Thermal: Tracks the relative surface temperature of land and objects.• Multispectral: Captures near-infrared radiation and ultraviolet light invisible

to the human eye.• Hyperspectral: Captures spectral information to identify vegetation,

minerals, and other materials.• Lidar: A remote-sensing method that uses light in the form of a pulsed laser

to measure distances, lidar collects accurate and high-quality elevation data of natural and man-made objects.

Some of the key capabilities and insight available from PrecisionHawk include plant counting and yield prediction, plant health and height assessments, canopy cover mapping, drought stress identification, draining mapping, and canopy temperature measurement. Select details include:

• Applications and analytics: Customers can receive reporting and insights from drone data, allowing them to make smarter decisions about farm management. The company’s software makes it easy to convert aerial data into models and business intelligence.

• Plant counting and yield prediction: Generate plant counts and forecast yield based on surveys of row-based plants.

• Plant health monitoring: Assess and monitor plant health throughout the season by producing a general index of live green vegetation. In addition, the company can assess canopy variation in biomass or detect plant stress in mid-to-late growth stages.

• Plant height measurement: Assess crop coverage and gauge productivity

Thomas Haun, PrecisionHawk

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and overall plant health by measuring plant height.• Canopy cover mapping: Track the progression of your field or forest by

measuring how much of the area is covered with vegetation.• Assess field performance: Provide quality plot-level statistics on plant

count, height, vigor, leaf area, and canopy cover.• Stockpile measurement: Monitors the supply and use of feed and fertilizer

by measuring its cut-and fill volume.• Drought stress identification: Optimize water usage by monitoring drought

stress at different growth stages.• Drainage mapping: Improve yields and optimize resources by generating

elevation maps to identify area requiring drainage.

Example #3: American Robotics scouts fields for farmersAmerican Robotics designs fully automated, industrial drone technology for the farm. The Boston-based company has raised more than $3.1 million in seed funding to support further development of its products.

Co-founder and CEO Reese Mozer said the company was started after conversations with farmers and agronomists indicated a gap in the types of technologies that could support them. “There are major gaps in what current drone technology provides,” said Mozer. “Without full automation, drones are far too time-consuming and expensive for farmers to use on any regular basis. This is particularly true for large farms with thousands of acres and fields that are miles apart. Our customers don’t have time to be drone pilots, and with Scout they can now focus simply on utilizing the data it provides.”

The fully autonomous Scout system from American Robotics works without manual intervention from end users.

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The company’s Scout drone system is fully autonomous, and does not require piloting. No manual intervention is required to operate the drone, nor is any needed for analysis and data to be sent to the farmer. After installing the drone and base station within a field, Scout can survey every acre of a farm with a touch of a button, and provide reports daily. It is also much less expensive than owning an airplane or helicopter, or using manned aircraft or drone services.

Main features of Scout include: • Fully autonomous: Farmers can set it and forget it, and focus on the data.

Scout operates independently, and for an entire season, imaging everyday with a high-resolution, multi-spectral camera, all without human piloting.

• Self-charging: The system autonomously docks with a charging station between flights, allowing for extended remote operation.

• Cloud-connected: Scout automatically processes and uploads completed data sets to the cloud for on-demand, remote access.

• Rugged and reliable: Scout is stored in a farm’s field within the weatherproof DB1 BaseStation (a video of which can be seen at the company’s website.

“The incredible interest in Scout from the community reflects that farmers recognize that autonomous systems will drive the future of precision agriculture,” said Mozer.

DRONES ARE SEEDING THE FUTURE FOR AGRICULTUREThe agricultural industry is an ideal market for the many capabilities of today’s drones. Methods traditionally used in farming, ranching, and forestry are often costly, labor-intensive, inefficient, and unsafe.

As agricultural drones enter the workforce for farming and forestry, they will create a revolution – providing efficiencies, cost savings, ease of use, and safety for humans working in the most rugged, hostile, and dangerous terrains.

In addition, new systems are being operated by end users – such as farmers, ranchers, and forestry personnel, alongside drone company partners. Software, data analytics and artificial intelligence are also being added to provide key data for those on the ground.