Drones in agriculture

Abstract The use of drones has become widespread in agriculture, and it is associated with unique opportunities and challenges. The most common role of drones in agriculture is as a remote sensing platform to assess and monitor crops, but emerging agricultural applications include precision distribution of agricultural chemicals and biological control agents, livestock health monitoring, and remote sampling. Several different drone designs and sensor types are used, each with its associated advantages and limitations. The use of sensors with wide angles of view at relatively low altitudes above ground level presents challenges that require unique data capture and data processing procedures to overcome. This chapter provides an overview of the development of agricultural drone use, approaches and methods used to ensure that data quality is adequate for agricultural applications, and a selection of traditional and emerging agricultural drone applications.