Review on Key Technologies for UAV Precision Agro-chemical Application

Characterized by rapidness，high efficiency，wide adaptability and nice operator safety，agro-chemical application technology using unmanned aerial vehicle（UAV）has rapidly been developed as an emerging industry with Chinese characteristics in China in recent years.According to growth and development stages of field crops and conditions of diseases，pests and weeds，by on-demand application of pesticides on crops，UAV precision pesticide application technology could significantly improve application efficiency，increase effective utilization of pesticides，and reduce harm to human body and pollution to environment.Therefore，precision application technology using UAV has been highly valued in plant protection industry.In terms of UAV body，UAV related techniques on flight control，navigation and obstacle avoidance，information acquisition of field crops，aerial variable-rate spray methods，key technologies used for realizing UAV precision pesticide application and development status were summarized，and problems existing in implement of UAV precise application in fields were analyzed，such as lack of dose prescription guidance for a specific crop and various of plant diseases and insect pests，lack of a systematic research on required atomization characteristic parameters and proper flight parameters for a concrete pesticide-applying scenario.It was proposed that artificial intelligence（AI）technology should be effectively introduced in UAV precision pesticide application system to improve adaptability and robustness of application system，which would make it easy for agricultural practitioners to operate UAV precision application system for plant protection and promote application，promotion and popularization of UAV precision application technology.