Remote-Controlled Monitoring of Flying Pests with an Electrostatic Insect Capturing Apparatus Carried by an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

Koji Kakutani, Yoshinori Matsuda, Teruo Nonomura, Yoshihiro Takikawa, Kazumi Osamura and Hideyoshi Toyoda
Additional contact information
Koji Kakutani: Pharmaceutical Research and Technology Institute and Anti-Aging Centers, Kindai University, Osaka 577-8502, Japan
Yoshinori Matsuda: Department of Agricultural Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Kindai University, Nara 631-8505, Japan
Teruo Nonomura: Department of Agricultural Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Kindai University, Nara 631-8505, Japan
Yoshihiro Takikawa: Plant Center, Institute of Advanced Technology, Kindai University, Wakayama 642-0017, Japan
Kazumi Osamura: Technical Development Unit, Panasonic Environmental Systems and Engineering Co., Ltd., Osaka 564-0062, Japan
Hideyoshi Toyoda: Research Association of Electric Field Screen Supporters, Nara 631-8505, Japan

Agriculture, 2021, vol. 11, issue 2, 1-15

Abstract: The purpose of the study was to construct an electrostatic insect-capturing apparatus that could be applied to a drone (quadcopter). For this purpose, a double-charged dipolar electric field screen (DD-screen) was constructed using oppositely charged insulator tubes that was then attached to a drone. For charging, the inner surface of the tubes was coated with a conductive paste and then linked to a negative or positive voltage generator. The opposite charges of the tubes formed an electric field between them and created an attractive force to capture insects that entered the field. The DD-screen constructed here was sufficiently light to enable its attachment to a drone. The screen was hung from the drone perpendicular to the direction of drone movement, so as to receive the longitudinal airflow produced by the movement of the drone. It was positioned 1.8 m below the drone body to avoid the influence of the downward slipstream generated by the rotating propellers. Eventually, the drone was able to conduct a stable flight, with sufficient endurance, and captured airborne insects carried by an airflow of 8 m/s during the flight. This study, therefore, provides an experimental basis for establishing a new method for conducting trap-based monitoring of airborne insects during remote-controlled flight through operation of a DD-screen attached to a drone.

Keywords: electric field; attractive force; double-charged dipolar electric field screen (DD-screen); quadcopter; unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV); slipstream; housefly; vinegar fly; tomato leaf miner fly (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: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/11/2/176/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/11/2/176/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jagris:v:11:y:2021:i:2:p:176-:d:502680

Access Statistics for this article

Agriculture is currently edited by Ms. Leda Xuan

More articles in Agriculture from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().