Drones - The UAV and farming

Hermes 450 Escorted by Manned Plane on Crop Inspection

Imagine a 1,200 pound Hermes 450 UAV zipping through the skies with its camera lens taking photos of the crops below – while a manned plane flies along next to it.

That hasn’t been spotted in the skies of North Dakota … yet. But that will all change if a proposed project by North Dakota State University is approved, according to John Nowatzki, NDSU ag machine systems specialist.

“This is a real game changer for unmanned aerial systems,” he told producers gathered for the Diversity Direction & Dollars (DDD) ag workshop in Dickinson.

Nowatski said the Hermes 450, built by Elbit Systems of America, will be gathering a ton of usable growing crop information for producers in two eastern counties this summer, if the project is approved.

The manned aircraft is required to fly next to the UAV because the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requires that all UAVs be flown within line-of-site of the operators, he explained.

All the crop information will be shared with the producers involved, so they can adjust their crop management as the crop grows, Nowatski said.

“Farmers in Steele and Traill counties will have free access to all the information we gather,” Nowatski said.

The Hermes 450 can carry sensors and cameras of up to 400 pounds, and can scan at about 92 mph. It can fly fast enough to cover all of Stark County (where Dickinson is located) in about five hours, he added.

NDSU is collaborating with the Northern Plains UAS Test Site and Elbit Systems of America to conduct the crop project.

Many producers in North Dakota are buying, registering and flying their own smaller UAVs to check on crops and livestock, Nowatski said.

But the Hermes is the next step in NDSU’s quest to provide the best information possible about growing crops and livestock to producers – using UAVs

The Hermes 450 will have a camera taking photos of the growing corn, sugarbeet and other crops in all stages which will be potentially usable to identify fertility deficiencies, yield estimates, weed and disease issues, Nowatski said.

“Using remote sensing to identify crop production issues is not easy, and will require more research,” Nowatski said.

One problem with UAV images is distinguishing different colors that mean different problems with the crop, he said.

Corn with nitrogen deficiencies; corn with sulfur deficiencies and corn with excess moisture all have yellowing on the plant. However, NDSU agronomists say young yellow leaves usually means sulfur deficiency and old yellow leaves on the plant usually indicate nitrogen deficiency, Nowatski said.

“NDSU Crop Science personnel will be collaborating on this project to try to resolve some of these issues,” he added.

Privacy was an issue in meetings held about the flight, Nowatski said. However, he is hoping there can be a computer that will download the information at NDSU, and be available only to the producers involved and other agencies involved on a need-to-know basis.

The Hermes 450 will be able to fly 14 hours at 8,000 feet covering 50,000 acres per hour, Nowatski said.

John Nowatzki, NDSU ag machine systems specialist, shows a UAV at a recent field days in Dickinson, N.D.

UAVs that NDSU has flown

Nowatski talked about some UAVs that NDSU has flown and that producers might have or are thinking about buying:

– The Trimble 6×5 is the first UAV NDSU started with, he said It is very durable, has fixed wing and flies for one hour over one section of land.

The Trimble flies crossways to the wind and has RGB and infrared cameras, and sells at $50,000 between the plane, camera and software.

The Trimble can take images with up to one-square- inch resolution.

– The Draganflyer RTF Rotocopter costs about $2,000 and has a $350 GoPro camera attached.

“This one you can purchase a thermal sensor, fly over a herd of cattle, and pick out which one has a fever,” Nowatski said. “Another use is picking out pregnant cows that are ready to calve. The cows temperature goes up by 2 degrees before calving.”

– The Skywalker II is Styrofoam and good for a starter UAV. It takes index photos and flies for about 20 minutes and can withstand about 20 mph winds.

– The RF70 costs about $10,000 and comes with a camera that is similar to a Sony camera.

– The Altavian Nova F6500 is a fixed wing with a 6-foot wingspan that flies for an hour and a half and can cover a section of land in one flight.

– The DJ Phantom can be purchased for about $1,000, and is good for family gatherings.

Nowatski said producers need a camera that takes both RGB and infrared images, at least, if they want to use it to get good, usable images of crops and livestocks.

In the future, Nowatski predicts that large UAVs will be owned by agronomy or other companies and producers will be able to clip out the pictures of their crops with information about yield and weeds, etc.

“A company will be able to have a large UAV that can take high resolution images of crops for their producers/customers,” Nowatski said.

Besides checking for weeds and diseases, producers could have stand counts of their crops. Research at NDSU has conducted stand counts, he said.

“This is where the value of infrared comes in. It shows you where the fertilizer has shut off,” Nowatski said.

An NDSU Extension project found that Nowatski’s UAV yield counts were 90 percent accurate, he said.

In addition, NDSU searched for purple loosestrife and found that weed amongst other plants. They were also able to find wild oats and will have a project this summer looking for herbicide-resistant weeds.

There will also be real time monitoring of livestock, so producers can identify problems with their livestock immediately.

“Another project in the works is reading the RFID tags of cattle. The tags will be active with batteries,” Nowatski said.

The future for UAVs in agriculture looks bright.

“There is going to be a future for both small UAVs and large UAVs,” Nowatski concluded.