Today, we have performed a series of precision farming flight trials at Castel Campagnano in Italy within U-ELCOME DSD Project. The first set of flight operations has conducted for the digital mapping of the area to select the portion of the vineyards requiring an organic phytosanitary treatment. The second set of flights has executed the organic phytosanitary treatment through some focused spraying operations on parts of the vineyard that require it and the third set of flight operations has been conducted mainly for the video footage of the trial.
We show you from Castel Campagnano (Campania region) some precision agriculture operations with drones executed by TopView within the Italian cluster of the U-ELCOME DSD project coordinated by Eurocontrol. Specifically, organic phytosanitary treatment by focused spray operations are carried out with accurate precision on the vineyards following a previous digital mapping to identify the areas requiring the treatment. The flight trials have been supported by the U-space services provided by D-Flight. During the missions, noise measurements were also carried out with a dedicated platform provided and managed by CIRA. In addition human performance assessment has been performed by NAIS with dedicated questionnaires.
The purpose of the missions is to distribute plant protection products in a targeted and precise manner over the vineyard rows in order to optimise plant growth and improve crop yields. The flight mission begins with the mapping of cultivated fields, which provides information on the size of the field and the areas requiring treatment or fertilisation. Subsequently, the drone is programmed to fly a predefined flight path that covers all areas of the field that require such interventions.
The UAS used for the mission has been a DJI AGRAS T10, a new-generation drone with a maximum payload of up to 10 kg, capable of spreading specific treatments 2 metres away from the rows of vines, flying automatically on a predefined path, capable of following the course of the terrain automatically while avoiding obstacles that have been marked during field planning.
Some other videos
