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Safety and Certification Considerations for Expanding the Use of UAS in Precision AgricultureThe agricultural community is actively engaged in adopting new technologies such as unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) to help assess the condition of crops and develop appropriate treatment plans. In the United States, agricultural use of UAS has largely been limited to small UAS, generally weighing less than 55 lb and operating within the line of sight of a remote pilot. A variety of small UAS are being used to monitor and map crops, while only a few are being used to apply agricultural inputs based on the results of remote sensing. Larger UAS with substantial payload capacity could provide an option for site-specific application of agricultural inputs in a timely fashion, without substantive damage to the crops or soil. A recent study by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) investigated certification requirements needed to enable the use of larger UAS to support the precision agriculture industry. This paper provides a brief introduction to aircraft certification relevant to agricultural UAS, an overview of and results from the NASA study, and a discussion of how those results might affect the precision agriculture community. Specific topics of interest include business model considerations for unmanned aerial applicators and a comparison with current means of variable rate application. The intent of the paper is to inform the precision agriculture community of evolving technologies that will enable broader use of unmanned vehicles to reduce costs, reduce environmental impacts, and enhance yield, especially for specialty crops that are grown on small to medium size farms.
Document ID
20160010343
Acquisition Source
Langley Research Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Hayhurst, Kelly J. (NASA Langley Research Center Hampton, VA, United States)
Maddalon, Jeffrey M. (NASA Langley Research Center Hampton, VA, United States)
Neogi, Natasha A. (NASA Langley Research Center Hampton, VA, United States)
Vertstynen, Harry A. (Whirlwind Engineering, LLC Poquoson, VA, United States)
Date Acquired
August 14, 2016
Publication Date
July 31, 2016
Subject Category
Aircraft Design, Testing And Performance
Air Transportation And Safety
Report/Patent Number
NF1676L-24324
Meeting Information
Meeting: 2016 International Conference on Precision Agriculture (ICPA)
Location: Saint Louis, MO
Country: United States
Start Date: July 31, 2016
End Date: August 3, 2016
Sponsors: International Society of Precision Agriculture
Funding Number(s)
WBS: WBS 357672.04.04.07.02
CONTRACT_GRANT: SAA1-17902
CONTRACT_GRANT: SAA1-17878
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.

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