Drift correction during the application of crop protection agents
AssigneeBASF Agro Trademarks GmbH
InventorsOle PETERS, Holger HOFFMANN, Eva HILL
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention relates to the autonomous application of crop protection products by means of a drone. The present invention relates to a process and to an unmanned aerial vehicle for applying crop protection product taking into consideration drift phenomena. The present invention furthermore relates to a computer program product which can be employed for controlling the process according to the invention.
Claims10
A process for applying a crop protection product to a field by means of an autonomous aerial vehicle (drone), comprising the steps
- providing a digital application map for the field in which the amounts of crop protection product to be applied are recorded for individual partial areas of the field
- passing over the field by the autonomous aerial vehicle along a route, and applying the crop protection product via at least one nozzle
- determining the spatial distribution of the crop protection product during the application
- adapting the parameters for applying the crop protection product to the spatial distribution determined, so that the crop protection product is applied to the partial areas of the field in accordance with the digital application map.
An unmanned aerial vehicle (drone) for applying a crop protection product to a field on which crop plants are grown, comprising
- a tank for the crop protection product
- at least one nozzle for applying the crop protection product above the field
- conveying means for conveying a crop protection product from the tank towards the at least one nozzle
- a storage unit for storing a digital application map in which the amounts of crop protection product to be applied are recorded for individual partial areas of the field
- a control unit which is configured such that it manoeuvres the aerial vehicle along a route above the field and, in doing so, prompts the conveying means to apply crop protection product to the field via the at least one nozzle according to the digital application map while the unmanned aerial vehicle passes over the field;
- wherein the control unit, during the application of the crop protection product, receives information on the spatial distribution of the crop protection product applied and adapts application parameters when the spatial distribution results in the deviation of the amounts applied from the data of the digital application map.
A computer program product comprising a storage medium and program code which is stored on the storage medium, and a computer or a control unit into whose main memory the program code is loaded, which causes the following steps to be carried out:
- reading in a digital application map in which the amounts of crop protection product to be applied are recorded for individual partial areas of a field
- controlling a drone for applying the crop protection product on the field according to the digital application map
- determining drift during the application of the crop protection product
- adapting the application parameters and/or flight parameters and/or route such that drift is reduced or minimized.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.