Design and Development of Multipurpose Agricultural Drone

Abstract

Agriculture has been the most important aspect of human life. Especially in developing countries like India, the livelihood of over 70% of the rural people depends upon agriculture. The crops are affected by various diseases caused by pests and insects, which reduces productivity. Pesticides are used to kill the insects and pests in order to enhance the crop quality. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UN FAO) expects that food production must be raised by 70% throughout the following 40 years to meet increasing demand due to rising economic welfare and population growth. As the global labour force does not match the plant growth, the main focus of this project is to design an affordable multi-purpose agricultural drone. With increased precision in the spraying, it is possible to reduce the amount of pesticide used and improve the quality of agricultural products as well as mitigate the risk of environmental damage. In addition, to develop an Aerial Seeding mechanism which can be used to plant seeds in the agricultural field using drones to pace the process of seeding. The drone is designed in such a way that it can be affordable for farmers. The discussed system involves designing a prototype which use simple cost effective equipment like BLDC motor, Ardupilot - Flight Controller, ESC wires, etc.