Abstract
The number of tasks that nowadays are accomplished by using unmanned aerial vehicles is rising across many civil applications, including agriculture. Thus, this work aims at providing the reader with an overview of the agronomical use of unmanned aerial vehicles. The work starts with a historical analysis of the use of aircrafts in agriculture, as pioneers of their use in modern precision agriculture techniques, currently applied by a high number of users. This survey has been carried out by providing a classification of the vehicles according to their typology and main sensorial and performance features. An extensive review of the most common applications and the advantages of using unmanned aerial vehicles is the core of the work. Finally, a brief summary of the key points of the legislation applicable to civil drones that could affect to agricultural applications is analyzed.
Highlights
Other works are focused on estimating water stress in vineyards at canopy scale by using methods based on shortwave infrared data obtained from an Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) [51]
In [62] a 2 m wingspan plane mX-SIGHT was used over olive trees in sensory platform for greenhouse monitoring in Almeria (Spain) to assess their crown parameters by using a Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1 RGB camera, which was modified for color infrared (CIR) detection by removing the internal infrared filter
In [80] paper presents a hierarchical structure based on the collaboration between unmanned aerial vehicles and federated wireless sensor networks (WSNs) for crop monitoring in precision agriculture
Summary
According to the mentioned report, precision agriculture applications are expected to witness considerable growth, since the use of drones is becoming one of the most critical aspects of managing fundamental operations of farms. These devices can help farmers in a wide variety of operations, including analysis and planning of crop plantation as well as field monitoring to determine the growth and health of crops. According to the mentioned forecast, factors such as the increase in UAV venture funding, technological developments and applications in commercial sectors such as 3D mapping and drone delivery, are expected to contribute to market growth.
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