Digital Analysis with the Help of an Integrated UAV System for the Surveillance of Fruit and Wine Areas

George Ipate, Catalina Tudora and Filip Ilie ()
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George Ipate: Department of Biotechnical Systems, National University of Science and Technology Polytechnic Bucharest, 060042 Bucharest, Romania
Catalina Tudora: National Institute of Research, Development for Machines and Installations Designed for Agriculture and Food Industry, INMA Bucharest, 013811 Bucharest, Romania
Filip Ilie: Department of Machine Elements and Tribology, National University of Science and Technology Polytechnic Bucharest, 060042 Bucharest, Romania

Agriculture, 2024, vol. 14, issue 11, 1-23

Abstract: The main purpose of this study was to create a prototype of an unmanned aerial system equipped with intelligent hardware and software technologies necessary for surveillance and monitoring the health and growth of crops from orchards with vines and fruit trees. Using low-cost sensors that accurately measure ultraviolet solar radiation was an important objective. The device, which needed to be attached to the commercial DJI Mini 4 Pro drone, had to be small, portable, and have low energy consumption. For this purpose, the widely used Vishay VEML6075 digital optical sensor was selected and implemented in a prototype, alongside a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W minicomputer. To collect data from these sensors, a program written in Python was used, containing specific blocks for data acquisition from each sensor, to facilitate the monitoring of ultraviolet (UV) radiation, or battery current. By analyzing the data obtained from the sensors, several important conclusions were drawn that may provide valuable pathways for the further development of mobile or modular equipment. Furthermore, the plantation state analysis results with proposed models in the geographic information system (GIS) environment are also presented. The visualization of maps indicating variations in vegetation conditions led to identifying problems such as hydric stress.

Keywords: drone; sensors; UV radiation; remote sensing; GIS; unmanned aerial system (UAS); crop; orchard; vineyards monitoring; agricultural surveillance; plant health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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