Progress 09/01/19 to 08/31/21
Outputs
Target Audience:The development of the UAV SPLAT technology will create new opportunities and markets for semiochemical-based pest management technologies by demonstrating the feasibility of a faster, cheaper method of application, enabling treatment of a larger area than conventional ground treatment, and greater accuracy and precision than current aerial application methods. To date, agricultural UAVs have been used largely for visual surveillance of crops (detection of pest infestations, assessments of plant stress, soil quality, etc.), and while they have been assessed for conventional pesticide application on an experimental basis, this project represents one of the first attempts to evaluate this technology for the application of semiochemical-based pest control. If successful, adoption of this new technology will reduce the negative environmental impacts of broadcast insecticide usage and will decrease the probability of pest resistance, to which semiochemical-based products are far less prone than conventional pesticides, as well as reducing associated industry costs. Not only will SPLAT UAV technology enhance food security by enabling greater productivity with decreased insecticide inputs, but it will also enhance food safety. According to NIFA, "new technologies are needed to boost food production by developing improved sustainable production systems, developing better ways to protect agricultural production systems from diseases and pests, and developing innovative ways to enhance food accessibility to vulnerable populations." The technologies proposed here will enhance high-quality food accessibility by reducing the risk of contamination with deleterious insecticides. There is growing public concern over the possible harmful effects of insecticide residues on human health, and pressure is increasing on growers to adopt more sustainable, environmentally sound pest management tactics. The introduction of novel and innovative technologies like the UAV application techniques proposed here can allow more efficient, reliable, and specific pest control by diminishing reliance upon or even entirely replacing the use of traditional insecticides. Additionally, these reductions could help decrease the post-harvest processing costs of ensuring crops are within insecticide tolerance limits and ready for market. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?
Nothing Reported
How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?
Nothing Reported
What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Task 1: Optimize mechanical and electrical design of the PI UAV SPLAT applicator. We have optimized the mechanical and electrical design of the UAV applicator developed in Phase I, to increase carrying capacity to >10 lb of product. Components of the drone applicator for SPLAT. While the PI UAV SPLAT applicator was originally designed to be used with the MG-1S drone, manufactured by DJI, in Phase II ISCA scientists elected to adapt the applicator to a different drone model, the DJI Agras Mg-1P.This model is equipped with two critical features lacked by the MG-1S: an obstacle-avoidance radar and a first-person-view (FPV) camera, allowing the operator to monitor the application in real-time and reduce the risk of an accidental collision. The drone controller box consists of an enclosure, a 12-volt battery, an Arduino microcontroller, three motor controller boards to control the linear actuators, and a printed circuit board (PCB). A global positioning system (GPS) module is also integrated into the system responsible for adjusting the application rate based on the drone's speed. The most crucial element of the applicator, however, is the linear actuator that pushes the SPLAT product out of the caulking tube mounted to the applicator. We have been able to add three linear actuators on the latest version of the drone. To avoid any unnecessary weight while still maintaining durability and performance, we selected actuators machine-made out of aluminum, thus remaining under the 10-kg payload limitation of the drone, which includes all the add-on mechanisms, controllers, and batteries. Programming and operation of the UAV SPLAT applicator. Prior to the deployment of the drone, the user can define the desired size of the SPLAT point source to be applied as well as the desired application rate using a conventional computer. These parameters are then uploaded into the applicator's controller box. When the microcontroller activates the linear actuators, the predefined quantity of SPLAT (3 g, for example) is extruded from the nozzle of the caulking tube. Over the course of the test applications, it was observed that the ejected SPLAT did not separate easily from the tube nozzle due to its sticky, viscous consistency, so an additional adjustment was made to the design: a cutter system designed to mechanically detach the SPLAT material when it has been extruded in the correct quantity, allowing it to drop onto the crop canopy. The cutter, controlled by a servo motor, converts the rotational movement of the motor into the linear motion of a blade that cuts off the extruded SPLAT material by moving up and down in front of the caulking tube's nozzle. Task 2: Develop a reservoir-based, bottom-mounted flowable SPLAT applicator for the MG-1P platform to efficiently apply ISCA's new class of flowable SPLAT products. The first round of field tests of the PII prototype flowable SPLAT applicator have been conducted in California orange fields, using a product called ANAMED. This attract-and-kill product combines a blend of semiochemical attractants and feeding stimulants (aka phagostimulants) in a flowable formulation, designed to draw multiple species of fruit fly pests away from susceptible crops and kill them before they can cause significant damage. The initial results of the test indicated that the drone application was successful, with the product easily being dispersed to the thick citrus foliage. Task 3: Conduct field trials in various crop types with both applicator systems, comparing drone-applied SPLAT and manually applied SPLAT on the following parameters: ability to suppress pest population, reduction of crop damage, and time and cost required to carry out the application. While COVID lockdowns halted development of the flowable SPLAT application (Task 2), we were fortunately able to conduct field trials in various crop types with the thick SPLAT applicator systems, comparing drone-applied SPLAT and manually applied SPLAT on the time and cost required to carry out the application. In 2019, as part of ISCA's ongoing partnership with the Institute of Agricultural Health and Quality in the Mendoza Province of Argentina (see Background) to reduce crop damage by the European grapevine moth, Lobesia botrana, in wine vineyards, we introduced the prototype SPLAT UAV application technology. The drone technology was determined to perform much better and faster than manual application, allowing quicker access to urban and suburban properties than applying pheromone devices by hand, an arduous operation that needs a lot of manpower. UAV application was finally chosen by the Argentinian government as its preferred application method for SPLAT in the tight urban and suburban target areas. We are currently in negotiations with a drone-leasing company to produce drones with our SPLAT application platform, so that applications can be scaled up and adjusted for use anywhere in the world, with operators leasing the drones, instead of buying them. We are working with AgriDrones of Israel, a drone leasing company (https://www.agridrones.co.il), to refine the mechanical and software design of the UAV system, incorporating a finer GPS and visual system for image processing, which empowers the drone to more accurately apply our SPLAT products to individual crop trees in a given predefined area, in addition to physical obstacle avoidance. We are also planning trials with APIS Bloom, a pollination enhancer that our distributors, Nutrien and Helena, have launched in the US with great success. In the past, application of insect management products in high-value products like berries has been manual, where cost and availability of labor has not been much of a problem. However, the cost of agricultural labor has recently increased--doubling or even tripling in some settings--creating an opportunity to introduce drone applications to this section of market. To ensure that the UAV method of application will be well suited to growers' needs, ISCA has conducted extensive interviews with growers all over the US and Canada, as well as internationally. Our stakeholders nationwide and globally have all expressed extreme interest in a UAV application system for a wide range of crop types.
Publications
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Progress 09/01/19 to 08/31/20
Outputs
Target Audience:In response to global population growth, expected to exceed 9 billion by 2050, advanced, data-driven agriculture is vital to enabling farmers to grow more and better food with less labor, water, and pesticides and less harm to the environment. ISCA Technologies seeks to further the trend of precision agriculture by developing a novel method of insect pest control: the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to apply extreme-low-volumes of safe,specific semiochemicals to suppress pest populations before they can cause major crop damage. In this Phase II project, we will continue to develop pheromone formulation applicators that can be attached easily to commercially available UAVs and controlled remotely, facilitating timely, precise automated field applications. ISCA will use UAVs to apply its Specialized Pheromone & Lure Application Technology (SPLAT) to a variety of crops. SPLAT is a controlled-release matrix made of food-grade materials, which sustains release of semiochemical active ingredients into the field at biologically effective rates for weeks to months at a time. While most other pheromone-based technologies require hand-applied dispenser devices--such as puffers, rubber septa, and bubble caps--SPLAT is a sprayable formulation, amenable to application by a range of mechanized technologies, including piloted aircraft. Use of UAVs will greatly expand the utility of SPLAT aerial applications, enabling safe and inexpensive control for various insect pests in farms growing all kinds of crops at any scale, and on any type of terrain. This technology will be of particular value on mid-scale (10-1,000 ha) farms, some of which are too small for traditional aircraft applications or too large for manual application to be feasible. Changes/Problems:We had problems with logistics and travel. But we were lucky because the COVID19 pandemic has not impacted this project as severely as we initially predicted. We still were able to work with the drone prototypes remotely through long Zoom calls. The field trials occurred in different geographies, but we have not been able to assist at the level we planned, due to risk related to travel. Progress on the optimization of the drone platforms and the remaining tasks continues to be on schedule. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?
Nothing Reported
How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?
Nothing Reported
What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?This year we introduced the prototype SPLAT UAV application technology, and it deemed to performe much better, faster, allowing faster access to urban and suburban properties, and was finally chosen by the program as its preferred choice for application of SPLAT in the tight urban and suburban target areas. We are collecting field data on the effectiveness of the application, compared to hand application methods. We are in negotiations with a drone-leasing company to produce drones with our platform for SPLAT application, so that it that the applications can be scaled up anywhere in the globe, with operators leasing the drones, instead of buying them. We are working together with Agridrones to refine the mechanical and software design of the UAV system, incorporating a finer GPS and visual system for image processing, which empowers the drone to more accurately apply our SPLAT control products to individual crop trees in a given a predefined area, in addition to physical obstacle avoidance.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The overall objective of this project is to continue development and evaluation of semiochemical-based control for agricultural pests using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to apply a sprayable controlled-release product, SPLAT, including the development of an applicator for new, flowable SPLAT products. Experiments planned for Phase II are designed as four separate tasks. Task 1: Optimize mechanical and electrical design of the Phase I UAV applicator, to increase carrying capacity to >10 lb of product with a novel bottom-mounted design on the DJI MG-1P drone platform. Task 2: Develop a reservoir-based, bottom-mounted flowable SPLAT applicator for the MG-1P platform to efficiently apply ISCA's new class of flowable SPLAT products. Task 3: Conduct field trials in various crop types with both applicator systems, comparing drone-applied SPLAT and manually applied SPLAT on the following parameters: ability to suppress pest population, reduction of crop damage, and time and cost required to carry out the application. Task 4: Involve stakeholders in problem identification and implementation of results. Task 1: has been developed: We have optimized the mechanical and electrical design of the Phase I UAV applicator, to increase carrying capacity to >10 lb of product with a novel bottom-mounted design on the DJI MG-1P drone platform. Task 2: We are still developing the reservoir-based, bottom-mounted flowable SPLAT applicator for the MG-1P platform to efficiently apply ISCA's new class of flowable SPLAT products. First field tests have been done in CA orange fields with a flowable formulation called ANAMED. The product worked well, the application was successful. Covid lockdowns did not allow us to do more field tests. Task 3: We were able to start conducting field trials in various crop types with the thick SPLAT applicator systems, comparing drone-applied SPLAT and manually applied SPLAT on the time and cost required to carry out the application. Task 4: We have involved the stakeholders in problem identification and implementation of results, including four final users/clients and our distributors.
Publications
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