Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Agricultural Applications

Abstract

Drones or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) receive a growing interest in media and literature, not only for military and surveillance applications, but also as toys and for agricultural purposes. In this research, we reviewed the current state of art of UAV technology, and found that most current applications are based on remotely piloted observation. Next, we define potential agricultural applications where autonomous UAVs can be used, like monitoring of crops and animals, but also controlling field robots and performing management actions. Before this becomes reality in the complex agricultural domain, significant work has to be done both by research and technology providers, especially in the field of autonomous decision making, so as to allow safe and reliable autonomous operation.