Unmanned aerial vehicle developed at SPC RAS aimed at processing agricultural lands in order to suppress weeds has successfully passed field tests in the Novgorod Region. Two TV channels of the Novgorod Region took part in filming.
For the next year the plan is to use unmanned aerial vehicles in various economic spheres of the Novgorod Region. Mobile groups with drones will be formed, including those to combat hogweed, to monitor deforestation. In the agricultural fields of the Novgorod Region, advanced technologies have already been tested for potato tops’ desiccation and weed control. Weeds were sprayed at the farm of the Soletsky District. In one flight, an agricultural drone can cover about 1.5 hectares of the field.
“It is enough just to have a large stock of batteries and a car so that they could be recharged in the process, then the being processed area is practically unlimited,” says Artem Ryabinov, Software Developer of the Laboratory of Autonomous Robotic Systems at SPC RAS.
Alexey Ponomarev, Chairman of the agricultural sales and supply consumer cooperative "Oratai", Oleg Shakhov, Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Novgorod Region, Denis Raev, Director of the GOKU "Agroindustrial Development Support Center of the Novgorod Region" positively assessed the work of the SPC RAS group as regards the fields’ processing by drones.
Preliminary, a set of two such drones, a trailer and a unit for mixing the solution may cost from 5 million rubles. More expensive than a trailer sprayer, but according to the developers, the costs at the start are offset by savings at operating. It is cheaper to bring unmanned aerial vehicles to the fields than to use a tractor with a sprayer.
More details are given in the storylines : https://novgorod-tv.ru/news/v-soleczkom-okruge-obrabotali-pole-ot-sornyakov-s-pomoshhyu-bespilotnikov
