AGRICULTURAL SPRAY DRONES TO SAFELY AND EFFECTIVELY IMPROVE PRODUCTIVITY, SUSTAINABILITY, AND PRECISION APPLICATION FOR GROWERS

• Sponsoring Institution: Agricultural Research Service/USDA
• Project Status: ACTIVE
• Funding Source: USDA COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 0446720
• Project Start Date: Aug 15, 2024
• Project End Date: Aug 14, 2028
• Program Code: [(N/A)]- (N/A)

Recipient Organization
AUBURN UNIVERSITY
108 M. WHITE SMITH HALL
AUBURN,AL 36849

Performing Department
(N/A)

Non Technical Summary
(N/A)

Animal Health Component

60%

Research Effort Categories

Basic

40%

Applied

60%

Developmental

0%

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
402	2300	1140	20%
402	5310	2020	80%

Knowledge Area
402 - Engineering Systems and Equipment;

Subject Of Investigation
5310 - Machinery and equipment; 2300 - Weeds;

Field Of Science
2020 - Engineering; 1140 - Weed science;

Keywords

unmanned

aerial

vehicles

weed

management

Goals / Objectives
The goal is to develop and evaluate UAV technology to improve the production efficiency and reduce the environmental impact of precision pesticide applications.

Project Methods
This project will develop and evaluate new spray drone technology to improve the production efficiency. Evaluation will be conducted in a variety of settings including evaluation and crop production in field studies. The evaluation will include new spray drone uses in a variety of settings to reduce production costs as well as monitoring environmental conditions to enhance system sustainability, such as soil moisture and ground cover status for water runoff and soil erosion forecasting and mitigation. Data collected in these studies will be used to develop strategies and methods for drone and UAV data processing and management, so producers know how to personalize drones for individual operations.