Certain investigations and Performance analysis of unmanned Aerial vehicle for precision farming

Abstract

Farming and agriculture are the known oldest profession which is also newlineaccommodating the technology revolution to meet the demands of everincreasing newlinepopulation of the world. Drone technology is a part of agriculture newlinerevolution aimed to increase crop yields, and accurately monitor fields whilst newlineaddressing the issue of labour shortage, effective utilisation of time and other newlineresources. However, the drone technology is yet to penetrate the rural India as newlinemany of them are small farmers and may not afford such systems. Moreover, newlinethe payload capacity, endurance and selective spraying are the major concerns newlinein adopting this technology. Therefore, it is essential to develop a costeffective newlinedrone providing better endurance. newlineIn this work, a low-cost hexacopter drone was developed by changing newlinethe materials and structure of the arm assembly. The weight was reduced by newline1.5 kgs which resulted in 10% increase in endurance. The arm was made as newlinemodular with two dimensions and fabricated with Acrylonitrile Butadiene newlineStyrene (ABS) plastic. The structural stability of arms was analysed using newlineFEA and provided a factor of safety of 6 for an operating load of 9kg and newline10kg. newlinePesticide/fertilizer spraying is one of the important functions by newlinesimultaneously decreasing time, labour, and resources. Hence, it is necessary newlineto establish a relationship between pressure, area coverage and cone angle. In newlinethis work, orifice diameter of flat fan nozzle and full cone nozzle was varied newlineand investigated the spray pattern for various pressure and height of spray. A newlinerelationship was established between these parameters which will help the newlinefarmers to choose the right nozzle for their crop. These nozzles were fitted in newlinethe drone and was field tested for paddy crop which showed the remarkable newlineincrease in yield whilst reducing the operating cost. newline