Method for spraying narrow-row crops using unmanned aerial vehicles

Abstract

FIELD: agriculture.SUBSTANCE: invention relates to the spraying of agricultural crops. The method consists of installing a control panel for an unmanned aerial vehicle at a point located in the middle of the edge of the field on the leeward side. An unmanned aerial vehicle equipped with a control system, directional sensors, a GPS module, an altimeter, a camera system for wireless image transmission and machine vision sensors is given a predetermined flight route, a flight altitude depending on the height of agricultural crops and a rate of application of the working solution per unit area. An unmanned aerial vehicle sprays agricultural crops in a field along a predetermined flight route. At the same time, the control system, using signals from the altimeter and technical vision sensors, automatically regulates the flight altitude of the unmanned aerial vehicle and using signals from the GPS module, automatically regulates the speed of the unmanned aerial vehicle.EFFECT: improved quality of plant treatment with working solution.1 cl, 1 dwg

Description

[0001] The invention relates to plant growing and can be used for spraying narrow-row crops using unmanned aerial vehicles.

[0002] A known method for spraying agricultural crops in narrow rows using unmanned aerial vehicles consists of installing a control panel for the unmanned aerial vehicle at a point located in the middle of the edge of the field on the leeward side. The unmanned aerial vehicle, equipped with a control system, direction sensors, a GPS module, a camera system for wireless image transmission, is given a predetermined flight route, a flight altitude depending on the height of the agricultural crops, and an application rate of the working solution per unit area. The unmanned aerial vehicle sprays agricultural crops along the predetermined flight route (see CN Patent No. 117652473 A, IPC A 01 M 7 / 00, B 64 D 1 / 18, B 64 U 101 / 40, 101 / 45, 08.03.2024).

[0003] The disadvantage of this method of spraying narrow-row crops using unmanned aerial vehicles is the low quality of plant treatment with the working solution.

[0004] A method is known for spraying agricultural crops in narrow rows using unmanned aerial vehicles, which consists in the fact that when spraying agricultural crops, the control system automatically regulates the flight altitude of the unmanned aerial vehicle based on signals from an altimeter, which the unmanned aerial vehicle is additionally equipped with, and the speed of the unmanned aerial vehicle based on signals from a GPS module (see WO 2020 / 004367 A1, published 02.01.2020).

[0005] The disadvantage of this method of spraying narrow-row crops using unmanned aerial vehicles is the low quality of plant treatment with the working solution.

[0006] The problem that the invention is aimed at solving is improving the quality of plant treatment with a working solution.

[0007] To solve this problem, a method for spraying agricultural crops in narrow rows using unmanned aerial vehicles is used, which consists of installing a control panel for the unmanned aerial vehicle at a point located in the middle of the edge of the field on the leeward side; the unmanned aerial vehicle, equipped with a control system, direction sensors, a GPS module, an altimeter, a camera system for wireless image transmission, is given a pre-set flight route, a flight altitude depending on the height of agricultural crops, and a rate of application of the working solution per unit area;along a given flight route, the unmanned aerial vehicle sprays agricultural crops, while the control system automatically regulates the flight altitude of the unmanned aerial vehicle based on signals from the altimeter and the speed of the unmanned aerial vehicle based on signals from the GPS module; according to the invention, the flight altitude of the unmanned aerial vehicle is also regulated based on signals from technical vision sensors, with which the unmanned aerial vehicle is additionally equipped.

[0008] Varying flight altitude due to uneven field topography changes the application rate of the working solution per unit area. Increasing flight altitude increases the sprayed area, while decreasing flight altitude decreases the sprayed area due to the conical spray pattern of the nozzles. Increasing the sprayed area reduces the application rate of the working solution per unit area (less than the standard application rate), while decreasing the sprayed area increases the application rate of the working solution per unit area (more than the standard application rate). Automatic altitude control of the UAV based on altimeter signals does not take into account the influence of plant size, as the altimeter can measure the distance to the soil surface, or to leaves and other plant parts, and therefore the automatic altitude setting may not be optimal.Machine vision sensors, additionally equipped on the unmanned aerial vehicle, determine the actual location of crops and their parts and transmit this information to the control unit, which automatically regulates the UAV's flight altitude. This automatically sets the UAV's optimal flight altitude based on signals from the altimeter and machine vision sensors, thereby ensuring a consistent application rate of the working solution per unit area in accordance with the set standard, thereby improving the quality of plant treatment with the working solution.

[0009] Fig. 1 shows the flight diagram of an unmanned aerial vehicle when spraying agricultural crops in narrow rows.

[0010] A method for spraying narrow-row crops using unmanned aerial vehicles 1 involves installing a control panel for the unmanned aerial vehicle at a point 2 located in the middle of the edge of field 3 on the downwind side; the unmanned aerial vehicle 1, equipped with a control system, directional sensors, a GPS module, an altimeter, a camera system for wireless image transmission, and vision sensors, is assigned a predetermined flight route 4, a flight altitude depending on the height of the agricultural crops, and a rate of application of the working solution per unit area. Along the predetermined flight route 4, the unmanned aerial vehicle 1 sprays the agricultural crops in field 3.In this case, the control system, based on signals from the altimeter and technical vision sensors, automatically regulates the flight altitude of the unmanned aerial vehicle 1, and based on signals from the GPS module, automatically regulates the speed of the unmanned aerial vehicle 1, which ensures that the amount of application of the working solution per unit area is close to the application rate.

[0011] The use of the proposed method of spraying narrow-row crops using unmanned aerial vehicles will improve the quality of treatment of crops with working solutions of pesticides and mineral fertilizers.

Claims

A method for spraying narrow-row crops using unmanned aerial vehicles, which involves installing a control panel for the unmanned aerial vehicle at a point located in the middle of the edge of a field on the leeward side; the unmanned aerial vehicle, equipped with a control system, directional sensors, a GPS module, an altimeter, and a camera system for wireless image transmission, is given a predetermined flight route, a flight altitude depending on the height of the crops, and a rate of application of the working solution per unit area;along a given flight route, the unmanned aerial vehicle sprays agricultural crops, while the control system automatically regulates the flight altitude of the unmanned aerial vehicle based on signals from the altimeter and the speed of the unmanned aerial vehicle based on signals from the GPS module, characterized in that the flight altitude of the unmanned aerial vehicle is also regulated based on signals from technical vision sensors, with which the unmanned aerial vehicle is additionally equipped.

Images