I. Monitoring applications of drones in pest control
- Spectral image acquisition
- Drones can be equipped with multispectral or hyperspectral sensors to collect spectral information of vegetation in farmland. By comparing the normal spectrum of plants with the spectrum of infected plants, the type and degree of pests and diseases can be accurately identified. For example, researchers at the University of California, Davis, used drone hyperspectral cameras to collect spectral images of barley fields and successfully detected barley infected with rice blast.
- Thermal infrared image acquisition
- Drones equipped with thermal infrared cameras can detect surface temperature changes of crops to identify pests and diseases. The thermal characteristics of infected plants are different from those of healthy plants, and analyzing thermal infrared images can quickly identify infected plants. For example, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign used drone thermal infrared cameras to detect thermal characteristics of potato fields and identify potatoes affected by soil-borne diseases.
II. Data analysis and processing of drones in pest control
- High-resolution image data collected by drones can be transmitted to ground computers or the cloud. Image processing algorithms and machine learning techniques can automatically identify different pests and diseases and generate maps. For example, researchers at Nanjing Agricultural University in China developed a deep learning algorithm to accurately identify various diseases such as tomato yellow leaf curl and tomato carcass blight using high-resolution infrared images collected by drones.
3. Precision spraying and management of drones in pest and disease control
- Combining pest and disease maps with GPS technology can accurately determine the infected area. Drones can automatically adjust the dosage and route of pesticide spraying based on the diagnosis results, and carry out targeted spraying of pesticides or fertilizers. For example, an Israeli agricultural technology company uses multispectral image acquisition and directional spraying technology in citrus orchards to achieve early warning and targeted prevention and control of pests and diseases.
4. The rapid response and monitoring advantages of drones in pest and disease control
- Drones can quickly cover large areas of farmland and monitor plant health in real time, allowing farmers to quickly detect pests and diseases and take measures to reduce losses. For example, an agricultural company in Paraná, Brazil, uses drones to monitor soybean fields, promptly discovers large-scale outbreaks of soybean aphids, and helps farmers make prevention and control decisions.
- In actual forestry production, drones also play an important role. For example, a county forestry bureau organized a pest control company to use drones to control aphids on 1,000 acres of walnuts at the Yingkeng National Hickory Demonstration Base in Qizili, effectively curbing the spread of pests and reducing labor costs. The spraying is uniform and the operation area is wide. One drone can control 350 acres a day. At the same time, it also helps the transformation and upgrading of the forestry industry, escorts the quality and production increase of economic forests, and promotes the increase of forest farmers' income and the increase of industry efficiency.
