Autonomous System for Pest Bird Control in Specialty Crops using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Abstract

Abstract. Pest birds have long been a significant source of crop loss for specialty crops growers. Traditional methods of bird deterrence like netting are effective on small farms, but require far too much material and man power for large scale applications. Audio and visual systems only provide short term deterrence. Avicides and pesticides have too many environmental impacts and too much liability associated with it to be cost effective. Herein, a low cost, autonomous bird control system using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is presented. This overall system consists of: (i) bird detection using wireless ground sensor network (WGSN) and wearable devices (including mobile phones, tablets); (ii) swarm of automated UAV-based systems for bird control; and (iii) a smart cloud-based decision system. The UAV-based bird control system utilizes: (a) multirotor hexacopter to present a visual threat; (b) combined with speakers producing a unique audio signature; (c) armed with a sprayer (fogger) to irritate the birds and encourage them to leave the crop; and (d) a “smart control system-SCS”. It combines a visual, audio, and chemical threat to pest birds, essentially becoming its own predatory species for long term pest bird deterrence. When the WGNS detects a flock of birds in a field’s zone, the decision system creates a “mission” and deploys the UAV-based system to pest, irritate and encourage the birds to leave the crop. In this paper, a prototype UAV-based system was developed and evaluated in the field to prove the hypothesis. The “bird detection event” was simulated.