Analysis and Design of Unmanned Aerial Systems for Precision Agriculture applications on Vineyards
Creators: name:  M. CARRENO RUIZ 
name:   D. D'AMBROSIO 
name:   N. BLOISE 
name:   G. GUGLIERI 
Publisher: name: Proceedings of  the 9th European Conference for Aerospace Sciences. Lille, France, 27 June - 1 July, 2022
Year: 2022
Subjects: UAV
FUTURE APPLICATIONS
UAV SERVICES
UAV SPECIFIC TECHNOLOGIES

description: The 4.0 revolution in Agriculture is growing in recent years with the advent of new powerful technologies in Robotics, the Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data, and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Such technologies may address several issues, such as demographic increase, natural resource scarcity, climate changes, and food waste to create sustainable and smart farms. One of the many challenges in this field is related to Precision Agriculture techniques, which include high-resolution crop mapping, sensor networks for crop monitoring, or precise spraying operations with Plant Protection Products (PPP). Many research works demonstrate that Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) could replace conventional technologies for accurate mapping, fast operations, and high precision levels, regardless of the rough nature of the terrain and/or obstacles. A general discussion on the most common UAS applications (also known as RPAS - Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems) is present in [3], which focuses on methods and technologies, summarizing their advantages and disadvantages. Many studies using deep learning approaches in agriculture have been carried out in recent years, as shown in [4]. Such studies show that using Artificial Intelligence will help generate optimal UASs trajectories, and they will significantly improve production quality by reducing the response time and the environmental impact. Robust guidance and control algorithm combined with Wireless Sensor Networks will guarantee to visit all plants that need PPP or any other operations. In this paper, we address some open challenges posed by aerial spraying of PPP. The advantages of crop management and control using RPAS are the lower operator exposure, precision improvement, timeliness, and cost. The operative scenario for the present study is the vineyard. Such cultivation occurs in sloped terrain (hostile environment), usually muddy soils, and narrow, irregular rows (complex and variable operating environments), and for these reasons, it is ideal to evaluate the efficiency of precision agriculture. Our main goal is to design an innovative UAS with a dedicated spray system, which should be capable of performing precision operations with minimal spray drift. To precisely define the UAS spray system, we performed experimental and numerical campaigns. The experimental campaign consisted in wind tunnel tests using an hexacopter DJI Matrice 600 in which the effect of several operating parameters such as wind velocity, rotation rate and nozzle geometry, on the spray dispersion patterns using a LED visualization technique was assessed. On the other hand, the numerical campaign consisted in the validation of a CFD model for the prediction of the spray dispersion patterns under the rotors. The numerical model for the rotor is validated against experimental data [2]. The modelling of the droplets produced by a hollowcone nozzle has been done through a Lagrangian approach, injecting particles with the appropriate initial momentum, cone angle and diameter distribution. Numerical results are compared with experimental tests to validate spray dispersion predictions. The validated numerical model is then used to assess interesting scenarios for the final sprayer UAS configuration. Results of experimental and numerical campaign are used to propose an adequate design of the final UAS and spray system configuration. Our design drivers were the compliance with normative, spray precision, and maximum overflown area. We define the technical requirements and components for designing a UAS with a Maximum Take-Off Weight (MTOW) smaller than 25 kg starting from an agricultural UAS market analysis, which is essential to define general design characteristics and performances, as analyzed in [1].