Use of Drones in Agriculture
Drones are currently used in two standard agricultural applications — tracking and
distribution.
• Tracking (and subsequent analysis) is used in both plant and livestock agriculture and helps
farmers understand the status, resources, and productivity of their farms.
• Distribution using drones involves physically moving resources across a farm, including
spreading agricultural chemicals such as pesticides, fungicides, and fertilizer.
Agricultural Drone Benefits
Data Visualization and Smart Agriculture Processing
Companies worldwide utilize intelligent drones and smart agriculture-specialized algorithms
to analyze vast amounts of data in seconds. This data enables farmers to see how their crops
are performing. In one instance, farmer Brent Gerke used drone technology from
DroneDeploy to obtain a 'bird's-eye' view of his farm to pinpoint the exact location of a large
rust fungus in his wheat crop in minutes. So, how did he do it?
When you think of a healthy plant, it's likely green and colorful. This indicates the plant's
overall vigor and status. Based on the condition of a plant, specific frequencies of light get
reflected, and a distinct spectrum of colors is presented. Put simply, a thriving yellow tulip
will reflect a rich green from its stem and leaves and a vibrant yellow from its petals. In
addition, colors outside our visible spectrum of sight are also reflected, such as near-infrared
colors. This presented color spectrum holds a significant amount of information about the
plant and can be used to determine the overall health of entire crop fields.
When Brent Gerke used a drone to analyze his crops, he noticed varying levels of reflected
light and a distinct spectrum that specific sections of his farm displayed, which indicated
different levels of plant health across the land. Upon realizing that multiple areas 'looked'
unhealthy from a spectrum analysis point of view, Gerke set out to visually inspect his wheat.
He quickly discovered rust fungus in the visually unhealthy sections, which prompted him to
use a specialized fungicide to return his plants to their expected vigor. Without the use of
drone and camera technology, Gerke may have never detected the origin of the rust fungus
until it had caused irreparable damage to his entire crop.
Beyond the Fieldwork: Crop Health Analysis
Ultimately, the technology Gerke utilized on his farm can be applied to a multitude of
agricultural scenarios that will help him to be more productive in the future. Drone
technology can help detect pests, irrigation issues, fungus and weed presence, disease impact,
and even soil and fertilizer problems. While there have been many methods of identifying
these agricultural issues long before the advent of drones, the time required to inspect an
entire field on foot manually can be nonproductive and costly. Drone and data visualization
technology enable farmers like Gerke to decrease the man-hours needed to inspect and detect
crop issues, which allows them to respond to the problems on their farms effectively.
It's easy to detect specific pest and weed infestations, as each has a unique spectrum identifier
and will visually stick out when compared to the majority of the crops. This data analysis and
documentation give farmers a map of infestation locations so they can focus their efforts. The
same holds true for irrigation issues, which cause stress on entire sections of a farm that
receive too much water, or not enough. If farmers notice large areas of pooled water or overly
dry soil in certain sections of their farm, they can address the situation immediately and alter
their watering patterns.
Agriculture Drone for Spraying Fertilizer and Pesticides
Pinpointed Agriculture Chemistry with Drones and AI
Several drone technologies have made it possible to quickly, accurately, and effectively
distribute spray fertilizers and pesticides. Industrial-grade drones such as DJI's Agras T16
distribute pesticides with extreme accuracy and efficiency, which ultimately decreases the
amount of time it takes to spray a field properly. For example, the Agras T16 covers nearly
25 acres of farmland per hour, significantly outpacing the typical farmer on foot, who can
only cover around two acres in a day.
Spraying crops using a drone is more complex than you may think. There are critical factors
you must consider:
- Fight path planning can significantly increase the efficiency of spraying and
flight time. For instance, flying a drone in a way that changes inertia frequently, such
as making short, fast movements and turns, can be detrimental to the battery's flight
life.
- The drone's height directly influences the spray pattern's geometry and the
subsequent effectiveness of the chemicals that get distributed. If the drone is too high,
the fertilizer or pesticide may not reach all plants within the spray zone. If the drone is
too low, the chemicals may be too concentrated, which negatively impacts the crops.
Sensors such as LiDAR or radar are often used to verify flight height and for object
avoidance.
- Flight time and chemical capacity are directly related and can influence the
effectiveness of a smart agriculture drone. While some drones may be able to support
heavy payloads, their overall flight time may be shortened. The Agras T16, for
example, has a higher payload capacity of 16 fluid liters.
- Drone hardware and smart agriculture technology are fused and optimized to
reach their full potential. For instance, DJI software allows for three-dimensional
scanning of an orchard via a small Nibbler drone, which identifies trees, barren
landmasses, altitude changes, and other factors to understand the full landscape. Then,
using specially designed software and AI analysis, optimized flight paths and spray
patterns are designed to efficiently distribute fertilizer and pesticides across a hilly
orchard, which dramatically increases productivity.
How to Use Drones in Agriculture
Drones are revolutionizing the way farmers conduct their day-to-day operations. Tracking the
routine activities of crop health and unwanted pests give farmers a competitive edge and
increased reactivity at a never-before-seen rate. Drones have also made distributing
agricultural chemicals more streamlined and efficient, allowing farmers to be more accurate
and productive in their spraying efforts. As smart agriculture evolves, drones will continue to
create innovative solutions for streamlining the farming and livestock industry.
Agriculture Sensors: Top 5 Sensors Used in Agriculture
pH Sensors in Agriculture
The availability of nutrients is as essential to plant growth as it is to animals and livings
organisms. In optimizing a plant's growth potential and yielding highly productive harvests,
it's imperative to have a deep and quantitative understanding of the soil conditions from
which agricultural products come. Using pH sensors provides critical feedback regarding soil
nutrient deficiencies or the presence of unwanted chemicals. These sensors help smart
agriculture monitor daily, weekly, monthly and annual fluctuations in soil pH and nutrient
levels to continue to educate the agricultural industry.
GPS Sensors
Typically associated with the automotive and cellular communication industries, GPS sensors
are also advantageous to smart agriculture. From ancient settlers herding sheep with wooden
staffs to the cattle drives of the Old West, keeping track of their flocks has always been of
utmost importance to farmers. Modern GPS tracking of livestock has heightened the ability to
monitor animals with a simple push of a button.
On the mechanical side of agriculture, plant harvesting and related farming techniques have
recently adopted GPS technology in highly precise vehicle guidance systems. In many
farming applications, such as tilling a field, the use of auto-guided systems can optimize field
routing, reduce process overlap and ultimately reduce the amount of time required to
complete a task.
Agricultural Temperature Sensors
Temperature Sensors are crucial in two key categories of smart agriculture — ambient
condition monitoring and mechanical asset monitoring. Ice wine harvesting, for example, is
known to occur within the narrow temperature window when ambient temperatures first
reach between -10°C and -12°C during a harvesting season. Highly accurate temperature and
humidity sensors and precise predictive temperature forecasts are imperative to the ice wine
industry. Temperature sensors not only play a significant role in monitoring the ambient
conditions of physical space, but they play an essential role in nearly all smart agriculture
asset monitoring applications.
Asset Monitoring
Asset monitoring is another application in smart agriculture in which temperature sensing
plays a critical role. In addition to monitoring the plants that are harvested, temperature
sensors observe the equipment that gathers these plants. Temperature sensors send out alerts
whenever an equipment system requires minor maintenance, is underperforming, or is
critically failing. They're used in nearly every predictive and reactive maintenance system to
protect against overheating and detrimental failure.
Accelerometer Sensor
Similar to the use of temperature sensors in predictive maintenance, accelerometers are
widely utilized across the smart agriculture industry to predict and assist with required
maintenance. Primarily used on moving components and motors, accelerometers detect slight
variations in movement and vibration inconsistencies and predict when standard maintenance
is required or a compromised component needs replacement. Although not commonly
associated with farming and other agriculture, accelerometers play a valuable role in the
maintenance of vital smart agriculture equipment.
Accelerometers are also used in a variety of automated systems and tracking methods. For
example, a low-power accelerometer makes it simple to monitor the status of an adjustable
spray nozzle on the end of a fertilization beam. In more recent technology, autonomous drone
use in smart agriculture relies heavily on accelerometers and IMU (inertial measurement
units)
to track motion, speed, crash events, and even position in space.
Smart Cameras use in Agriculture
While smart camera technology is far from a stereotypical analog sensor, it has been
increasingly adopted for a variety of smart agriculture applications. Companies such as Blue
River Technology, a division of John Deere, have implemented smart camera technology to
detect weeds and other plant locations to automatically and accurately dispense herbicides
and fertilizer. This optimizes chemical utilization and increases overall productivity while
decreasing chemical usage.
Additionally, pest control has consistently been one of the most significant challenges in
agriculture. Farmers now utilize smart cameras for real-time pest detection and monitoring to
effectively seek action against pests without harming agriculturally helpful non-target insects.
Smart cameras can also replace semi-legacy sensing devices such as ambient light
monitoring, which enables system simplification and a reduction in the component count.
Future of Agriculture Sensor Technology
The smart agriculture industry is continually growing and expanding, with new solutions
coming to the market almost daily. Devices that aggregate sensor data, relay critical
information to farmers and ranchers, and help optimize vast agricultural processes are
continually increasing in capability and importance. To learn more about Arrow's
involvement in smart agriculture, please contact our Smart Agriculture and IoT division.
Smart Agriculture Gets a Boost from Big Data and AI
Big Data in Agriculture: A Two-Part Approach
Big data plays a variety of roles in smart agriculture, which can be split into two distinct
categories — data acquisition and model training. While the applications of either
methodology are nearly endless, their impact on the progress and efficiency of agriculture is
dramatic.
Smart Agriculture and Big Data Acquisition
Sensors have become smaller, more beneficial, and more energy-efficient. While a single
sensor may not produce a significant amount of data, an array of edge nodes containing a
multitude of sensors distributed across several acres of farmland produces vast amounts of
data. Big data can be used in a variety of actionable ways. It creates dashboards, conditions
monitoring infrastructures, and provides farmers with intelligence that would never be
available at the scale big data processing allows.
Big Data Applications in Agriculture
Let's look at a real-life example of the application of big data. Yanmar, a Japanese
manufacturing company, set out to create a sustainable 'smart' greenhouse infrastructure to
increase process efficiencies. The original architecture of Yanmar's smart greenhouse
network is shown below. Cameras objectively track plant growth. Yanmar then utilizes
Amazon Web Services to document, track, and analyze this video feed to understand the
various stages of a crop's progress. Once certain growth milestones are achieved, Yanmar
uses its newly found data intelligence to intuitively adjust the water and nutrient balances that
the plants receive to optimize their overall growth. This pattern of growth tracking and
nutrient balancing allows Yanmar to create tangible data around which method of agricultural
nurturing is best and develop new methodologies for farming specific types of plants while
maintaining resource-conserving practices.
All in all, Yanmar's smart greenhouse boils down to one critical technology — big data.
Yanmar utilizes loads of data that require even more staggering amounts of processing to
understand the data's values.
The first facet of big data involves the use of cameras, which generate massive amounts of
data. Transferring this data can be costly, as it may require high bandwidth and large amounts
of off-site storage. Next, processing this vast amount of big data requires substantial
computing abilities, which requires a capable infrastructure.
With this infrastructure in place, the farming process can be easily optimized and controlled
with minimal effort. Yanmar's solution is one of many that have built smart agriculture aimed
at increasing efficiencies and (literally) growing the industry in a way that has never been
done more intelligently. There is, however, another critical factor that enables Yanmar's
success — the implementation of artificial intelligence in the processing of its big data.
AI in Agriculture
The classic example used to explain deep learning, a sub-technology of AI, prescribes a
methodology used to get a simple camera to interpret handwritten text. This example
illustrates the vast amount of data required to train a simple deep learning model to be semi-
successful. While possibly an oversimplification of what AI is capable of, getting a computer
to understand written numerals can be very complex. The smart agriculture industry takes this
complexity in stride and utilizes AI in ways that prove extremely useful, such as identifying
critical growth stages of plants, as in Yanmar's case.
Application of AI in Agriculture: Plant Identification
An even more effective application of deep learning in agriculture can be found in Blue River
Technologies' use of cameras to identify different types of plants. This AI application is
implemented on tractors that distribute fertilizer, pesticide, herbicide, and even water.
Cameras and their associated edge computers analyze the ground as a tractor is moving,
identifying and classifying plants and insects as they appear. Based on pre-trained, deep-
learning neural networks, the classification of plants and animals leads a controller to
distribute fertilizer, pesticide, herbicide, or, even more importantly, not distribute anything at
all. This intelligent sensing method limits the number of chemicals used by accurately using
them only when needed. Blue River Technologies' AI solution has achieved a 90% reduction
in herbicide costs by selectively applying it when required, which could potentially lead to a
global reduction of 2.5 billion pounds of herbicide.
Future of AI in Agriculture
Artificial intelligence is used far beyond plant identification in impacting smart agriculture.
AI can be used in navigation, sensor analysis, asset management, threat detection, mass land
analysis, and drone flight. Artificial intelligence continues to evolve, and its applications in
smart agriculture are only beginning to flourish. John Deere, one of the largest agricultural
equipment manufacturers on the planet, utilizes AI technology only on its highest-end
equipment and navigation systems. However, as is true with most industries, the
implementation of AI will continue to be seen in more entry-level models for a variety of
uses.
Conclusion
Big data and artificial intelligence are in a mutually exclusive relationship — as one
advances, the other benefits. As it benefits, it progresses, and the cycle continues to evolve
both technologies. In more applicable terms, the use of big data collecting activities in smart
agriculture will create more resilient and useful AI models, as with Blue River Technologies.
The deployment of these models will create more efficient methods of smart agriculture
processes, as we see with companies such as Yanmar. That, in turn, will generate more data
to be understood and optimized.
The implementation of big data and AI in smart agriculture has already had profound effects
on a small scale, and its global impact will assuredly be even more insightful in years to
come.
