I want to know the actual design and spec of the UAV that can assist in spraying application. This technology is quite new at this moment.

Thank you very much Patrick!

DJI recently launched ARGUS UAV spray. Check it out, I am trying to use UAV for herbicide spray using machine vision for  weed detection.

There are indeed some agricultural drones on the market which can, among others, perform spray operations:  https://www.dji.com/mg-1 , http://rmax.yamaha-motor.com.au/ , ...

The usability strongly depends on local conditions as well as on the legislation. In Belgium as well as in most other EU countries, aerial spray applications are not allowed. Knowing the problem of spray drift, I think drone spray applications only have an added value for very local site specific spray applications, biological application or in areas with difficult accesibility.

Hi there,

I agree with @David Nuyttens. Specifically regarding technical aspects of spray application techniques, drone-based application of plant protection products (PPP) are not currently ready to substitute ground sprayers in conventional applications. It is already difficult to perform a correct application of PPP with a regular sprayer both in arable crops and orchards. Many parameters are to be considered and controlled: droplet size, drift, air conditions, air flow rates, forward speed, distance to the target, PPP dose rate, nozzle pattern overlapping and others.... Many of them are very difficult or even impossible to control from a drone. Moreover, in 3D crops where an air flow rate is required for PPP penetration into the canopy I cannot image correctly distributed applications from currently available spraying drones.

In my opinion, drones may be used in very few unique situations: site-specific application of PPP AND in cases were the PPP dose rate is not critical (since precise overlapping of nozzle patterns, forward speed and  air turbulences may significantly affect the applied dose of active matters).

With dues respect, I am disagree that UAV cant perform spray application with precision. Fixed wing plane fly at higher speed, relatively higher altitude and there air thrust is horizontal. Therefore I agree they are unfit for spray activities. when when we talk about multicopters, Story is totally different. We can control altitude, airspeed, they fly at at pre planned route with extremely high precision. They have range sensors which allow us to fly them at extremely low altitude (

Hi, my assumption is that aerial applications (from real airplanes and helicopters) can never be as accurate as ground applications in terms of canopy penetration, even product distribution and drift. You'll find studies about it in the scientific literature.