Efficient utilization of unmanned aerial vehicles for pesticide application
Final Report Abstract
Field experiments were conducted to determine the influence of the Unmanned Agricultural Aircraft Systems (UAAS) design on spray drift during a common arable field application and a simulated vineyard treatment. In both cases, edge of field airborne drift collectors were used in addition to determine the drift potential as a possible alternative for characterising the downwind sedimentation drift. Four models of UAAS representing three different designs, one single rotor, one 6-rotor and two 8-rotor designs, were involved in the study. All UAASs where equipped with individual spraying systems but the same nozzles were used: Lechler TR 80-0067 and Lechler IDK 120-015, providing nominal application rates of 40 l ha-1 and 75 l ha-1, respectively. The results of the study show that the effect of the UAAS design on spray drift was relatively low compared to the influence of the type of nozzles used. The conventional hollow cone nozzle TR 80-0067 produced much more spray drift compared to the air induction flat fan nozzle IDK 120-015. A good correlation was found between drift sediment and airborne drift potential. Therefore, the latter seems to be a suitable alternative for spray drift evaluations, at least for comparing different spraying systems where a downwind fetch may not be available. The test results have been used already for the drift risk assessment of drone applications in Germany. The study was part of the scientific basis for the introduction of PPP application with drones in German steep slope vineyards. The general application rule to use air induction nozzles only was also based on the results of this project. The results also helped to define environmental requirements on UAASs within the standardisation project of ISO/TC23/SC6 which resulted in the publication of ISO 27113- 1:2023 „Agricultural and forestry machinery - Unmanned aerial spraying systems - Part 1: Environmental requirements“. It was originally planned to conduct further experiments with a similar arrangement as used in 2019 on a steep slope in China in 2020 but this was not possible due to Covid-19 restrictions despite of the twofold extension of the project. It was also not possible to conduct these experiments in Germany instead due to the lack of appropriate test sites and UAASs.
Publications
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The influence of Unmanned Agricultural Aircraft System design on spray drift. JOURNAL FÜR KULTURPFLANZEN, 72(2019)1. S. 1–11
Herbst, A.; Bonds, J.; Wang, Z.; Zeng, A.; He, X. & Goff, P.
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Drift potential and evaluation of UAV spraying unit in wind tunnel conditions. Chinese journal of Pesticide Science (2020)
Zeng, A.; Wang, C.; Wang, Z.; Song, J.; Huang, M.; Herbst, A. & He, X.
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The influence of Unmanned Agricultural Aircraft System design on spray drift. Aspects of Applied Biology 144(2020). International Advances in Pesticide Application. S. 263-270
Herbst, A.; Bonds, J.; Wang Z.; Wang, C. & Zeng A. & He, X.
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Assessment of spray deposition, drift and mass balance from unmanned aerial vehicle sprayer using an artificial vineyard. Science of The Total Environment, 777, 146181.
Wang, Changling; Herbst, Andreas; Zeng, Aijun; Wongsuk, Supakorn; Qiao, Baiyu; Qi, Peng; Bonds, Jane; Overbeck, Verena; Yang, Yi; Gao, Wanlin & He, Xiongkui
