Korean Journal of Agricultural Science ISSN:2466-2402(Print) 2466-2410(Online) 농업과학연구

This study was conducted to evaluate the spraying performance according to the flight conditions of agricultural drones for the development of a variable control system. The analyzed flight conditions comprised six factors: spraying direction, flight speed, altitude, wind speed, wind direction, and rotor rotational speed. The ratio of the area sprayed on the water-sensitive paper was used as the coverage, and the distribution and amount of the coverage were evaluated. The coverage distribution based on the distance from the drone was used to evaluate a spray pattern, and the distribution was expressed as a Gaussian function approximation. In addition, the probability distribution based on coverage was expressed as the cumulative probability via Gamma function approximation to analyze the spraying efficiency in the target area. The results showed that the averaged coverage decreased significantly as the flight speed and wind speed increased, and the wind direction changed the spray pattern without a coverage decrease. This study contributes to the development of a control technique for the precision control system of agricultural drones.