Remotely Piloted Aircraft for Agricultural Spraying: Multiple-Season Results in Commercial-Scale Applications

摘要

Remotely piloted aircraft (RPA), or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), provide distinctive advantages for agricultural production through rapid, easily deployed access to crops for inspection, sensing, and cultural operations. While the predominant use has been in sensing for crop health assessment, commercial use for delivery of crop inputs, including agrochemicals, is increasing and the availability of RPA-based spraying systems is growing. From operational and regulatory viewpoints, the delivery of agrochemicals through RPA presents unique capabilities and challenges in that the mechanics and logistics of operations have characteristics of both conventional ground and aerial applications. Payload and flight endurance characteristics and spray physics are similar to aerial applications, but deployment, ground speed, and ground operations such as mixing and loading are similar to ground-based application. The regulatory environment is dynamic, with a combination of federal and state regulations and with the aviation aspects being primarily federally based and the pesticide application aspects remaining state-based. Operator certification is currently federally based for piloting and state-based for pesticide application.Currently, RPA with takeoff weights less than 25 kg are regulated under more relaxed rules than larger aircraft; consequently, most of the commercial RPA in use are small, resulting in limited payload and endurance capabilities. However, there are larger (i.e., greater than 100 kg) aircraft in commercial use, and substantially larger aircraft are in development. This paper presents an overview of deployment, performance, and operational results for multiple seasons of RPA pesticide application. In field application of pesticides, pest control efficacy and crop quality of wine grapes were maintained at a level equivalent to that of conventional ground-based sprays. In evaluations of spray deposition in orchard crops, spray deposition was observed to be similar to that from manned aircraft applications. Additionally, novel applications of highly targeted chemical delivery and logistical challenges of RPA agrochemical delivery are discussed.