Research status and trends of downwash airflow of spray UAVs in agriculture

Abstract

Downwash airflow of spray UAVs in agriculture has been gradually focused on and a few studies have already been involved in it. Thus, this paper firstly reviewed the current research of downwash airflow of UAVs for agricultural spray. It is found that Chinese scholars have published the majority of the studies in this area. Furthermore, two aspects of this kind of research, one, the work related to the caused results of UAV downwash acting on spray, the other, that regarding downwash itself for investigation, were analysed. It is illustrated that the present research usually uses water-sensitive paper, electronic devices, like wind-speed arrays and PIV, and CFD simulation. However, the existed electronic devices have some limitations, such as lacking of the ability of showing and demonstration of downwash in big enough areas in detail during recording. Moreover, the studies directly related to downwash have been just launched around the world and the examination for multi-rotor UAVs is even seriously not enough. Therefore, in terms of research trends, it is significant to develop specialised sensors for downwash measurement. The general and reliable CFD models of a class of UAVs are also needed. In addition, the combination of UAV downwash with real applications and actual production is important for the clarification of the details in different situations. Keywords: spray UAV, downwash, representation results, investigation methods DOI:  10.33440/j.ijpaa.20190201.0023  Citation : Yang S H, Zheng Y J, Liu X X.  Research status and trends of downwash airflow of spray UAVs in agriculture.  Int J Precis Agric Aviat, 2019; 2(1): 1–8. Â