UAV-UGV cooperative targeted spraying system for honey pomelo orchard

Yuli Chen, Zibo Liu, Zhen Lin, Zifeng Xu, Xianlu Guan, Zhiyan Zhou, Dateng Zheng, Andrew Hewitt

Abstract


To enhance adaptability in orchards with taller average tree heights and improve spraying effectiveness on Jinggang pomelo trees, this paper proposes a UAV-UGV cooperative targeted spraying system (UCTSS) and develops a prototype. The UCTSS primarily consists of a UAV and a UGV, networked using the Robot Operating System (ROS). During operation, boththe UAV and UGV navigate between tree rows while carrying the spraying module. When the UAV reaches suitable spraying positions, the UGV halts to activate the spraying module, and the UAV performs targeted spraying from top to bottom. The paper employs a master-slave method for basic formation control of the UAV and UGV, resulting in an average tracking errorof 0.118 m and a standard deviation of 0.040 m during testing. Additionally, a LiDAR-based targeted spraying detection method is designed and validated through simulation experiments, achieving an accuracy rate of 96% with an average position error of 0.13 m. Field trials in orchards demonstrate that the UCTSS meets stability requirements, with the average tracking error of the UAV measuring 0.158 m during coordinated movement and 0.013 m during spraying. In terms of spraying effectiv-eness, the UCTSS exhibits higher average droplet density and deposition values at various heights of the same tree compared tothe DJI-T50, along with a lower coefficient of variation between levels, resulting in a more uniform spraying effect. The feasibility of the UCTSS is validated, providing a novel approach for orchard protection in areas with taller average tree heights.
Keywords: plant protection, UAV-UGV cooperation, orchard, master-slave, targeted spraying, LiDAR
DOI: 10.25165/j.ijabe.20241706.8989

Citation: Chen Y L, Liu Z B, Lin Z, Xu Z F, Guan X L, Zhou Z Y, et al. UAV-UGV cooperative targeted spraying system for honey pomelo orchard. Int J Agric & Biol Eng, 2024; 17(6): 22–31.

Keywords


plant protection, UAV-UGV cooperation, orchard, master-slave, targeted spraying, LiDAR

Full Text:

PDF

References


Li L L, He X K, Song J L, Liu Y, Wang Z C, Li J Y, et al. Comparative experiment on profile variable rate spray and conventional air assisted spray in orchards. Transactions of the CSAE, 2017; 33(16): 56–63. (in Chinese)

Ding S M, Fu X M, Xue X Y, Zhou L F, Lü X L. Design and experiment of self-propelled air-assisted sprayer in orchard with dwarf culture. Transactions of the CSAE, 2013; 29(15): 18–25. (in Chinese)

Jiang H H, Niu C Q, Liu L M, Wang D W, Wang J S, Mao W H. Design and experiment of air volume control system of orchard multi-pipe air sprayer. Transactions of the CSAM, 2020; 51(S2): 298–307. (in Chinese)

Qiu W, Gu J B, Ding W M, Lü X L, Sun C D, Lu J. Experiment on control effect of different pesticide concentration using air-assisted sprayer. Journal of Chinese Agricultural Mechanization, 2015; 46(1): 94–99. (in Chinese)

Li T, Qi P, Wang Z C, Xu S Q, Huang Z, Han L, et al. Evaluation of the effects of airflow distribution patterns on deposit coverage and spray penetration in multi-unit air-assisted sprayer. Agronomy, 2022; 12(4): 944.

Ru Y, Zhou H P, Jia Z C, Wu X W, Fan Q N. Design and application of electrostatic spraying system. Journal of Nanjing Forestry University: Natural Sciences Edition, 2011; 35(1): 91–94. (in Chinese)

He X K, Yan K R, Chu J Y, Wang J, Zeng A J. Design and testing of the automatic target detecting, electrostatic, air assisted, orchard sprayer. Transactions of the CSAE, 2003; 19(6): 78–80. (in Chinese)

Yang Z, Niu M M, Li J, Xing X, Xu J T, Chen Z C. Design and experiment of an electrostatic sprayer with on-line mixing system for orchard. Transactions of the CSAE, 2015; 31(21): 60–67. (in Chinese)

Qiu W, Sun H, Sun Y H, Liao Y Y, Zhou L F, Wen Z J. Design and test of circulating air-assisted sprayer for dwarfed orchard. Transactions of the CSAE, 2021; 37(6): 18–25. (in Chinese)

Niu M M, Fang H M, Qiao L, Jian S C, Zhu Z B, Peng Q J. Design and experiment of high clearance type recycling tunnel sprayer. Journal of Chinese Agricultural Mechanization, 2019; 40(11): 41–48. (in Chinese)

Li L F, He X, Xiao Y M, Jiao T W, Li W. Design and experimental verification of targeted and variable sprayer for the potato. Agriculture, 2023; 13(4): 797.

Li L L, He X K, Song J L, Wang X N, Jia X M, Liu C H. Design and experiment of automatic profiling orchard sprayer based on variable air volume and flow rate. Transactions of the CSAE, 2017; 33(1): 70–76. (in Chinese)

Song S R, Ruan Y C, Hong T S, Dai Q F, Zhang C. Self-adjustable fuzzy PID control for solution pressure of pipeline spray system in orchard. Transactions of the CSAE, 2011; 27(6): 157–161. (in Chinese)

Ahmed Arshed, Hamza Shahram, Tahir Muhammad Naveed, Saleem Shoaib Rashid, Ahmed Rashed. A performance comparison of variable rate technologies for spot-specific and uniform spraying for citrus orchard. Environmental Sciences Proceedings, 2022; 23(1): 21.

Xiao K, Hao Y, Gao G D. Design and experiment of automatic variable-distance precision spraying system in orchard. Transactions of the CSAM, 2022; 53(10): 137–145. (in Chinese)

Chen Z W, Hu Z R, Xiong Y F, Wang P, Yu Y, Peng M, et al. Design and test of the canopy wrap-around profiling-to-target sprayer for orchards. Transactions of the CSAE, 2023; 39(3): 23–32. (in Chinese)

Zhou Z Y, Ming R, Zang Y, He X G, Luo X W, Lan Y B. Development status and countermeasures of agricultural aviation in China. Transactions of the CSAE, 2017; 33(20): 1–13. (in Chinese)

Daly J M, Ma Y, Waslander S L. Coordinated landing of a quadrotor on a skid-steered ground vehicle in the presence of time delays. Autonomous Robots, 2015; 38(2): 179–191.

Rodriguez-Ramos A, Sampedro C, Bavle H, Moreno I G, Campoy P. A deep reinforcement learning technique for vision-based autonomous multirotor landing on a moving platform: RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), IEEE, 2018; pp.1010–1017. DOI:10.1109/IROS.2018.8594472

Lange S, Sunderhauf N, Protzel P. A vision based onboard approach for landing and position control of an autonomous multirotor UAV in GPS-denied environments. 14th International Conference on Advanced Robotics, IEEE, 2009; pp.484-961.

Yang T, Ren Q, Zhang F B, Xie B L, Ren H L, Li J, et al. Hybrid camera array-based UAV auto-landing on moving UGV in GPS-denied environment. Remote Sensing, 2018; 10(11): 1829.

Li Y F, Han L, Liu L M, Huang Z, Wang C L, He X K. Design and spray performance evaluation of an air–ground cooperation stereoscopic plant protection system for mango orchards. Agronomy, 2023; 13(8): 2007.

Tokekar P, Hook J V, Mulla D, Isler V. Sensor planning for a symbiotic UAV and UGV system for precision agriculture. IEEE Transactions on Robotics, 2016; 32(6): 1498–1511.

Zhang M, Li S R, Li B Q. An air-ground cooperative scheduling model considering traffic environment and helicopter performance. Computers & Industrial Engineering, 2021; 158(4): 107458.

Godbole A R, Subbarao K. Nonlinear control of unmanned aerial vehicles with cable suspended payloads. Aerospace Science and Technology, 2019; 93: 105299.

Zhang J L, Yan J G, Zhang P. Multi-UAV formation forming control based on adaptive method under wind field disturbances. Acta Aeronautica ET Astronautica Sinica, 2020; 41(1): 229–242. (in Chinese)

Wu Y, Liang T J. Improved consensus-based algorithm for unmanned aerial vehicle formation control. Acta Aeronautica ET Astronautica Sinica, 2020; 41(9): 167–185. (in Chinese)

Chen Z W, Xiong Y F, Hu Z R, Li C, Pang Y L, Yang M J. Path finding and tracking of clutch brake track chassis based on virtual searchlight. Transactions of the CSAE, 2023; 39(12): 10–19. (in Chinese)

Jiang S J, Ma H T, Yang S H, Zhang C, Su D B, Zheng Y J, et al. Target detection and tracking system for orchard spraying robots. Transactions of the CSAE, 2021; 37(9): 31–39. (in Chinese)

Song S R, Chen J Z, Hong T S, Zhang C, Dai Q F, Xue X Y. Design and experiment of orchard flexible targeted spray device. Transactions of the CSAE, 2015; 31(10): 57–63. (in Chinese)

Sultan M M, Zahid A, He L, Choi D, Krawczyk G, Zhu H P, et al. Development of a LiDAR-guided section-based tree canopy density measurement system for precision spray applications. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 2021; 182: 106053.

Aljaž O, Tone G, Marko H, Brane Š, Matej S. Real-time positioning algorithm for variable-geometry air-assisted orchard sprayer. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 2013; 98: 175–182.

Zhou L F, Xue X Y, Zhou L X, Zhang L, Ding S M, Chang C, et al. Research situation and progress analysis on orchard variable rate spraying technology. Transactions of the CSAE, 2017; 33(23): 80–92. (in Chinese)

Lin Z, Fan X L, Deng K H, Lin J Q, Zhou Z Y. Influence of plant protection unmanned aircraft operation parameters and operation mode on the effectiveness of controlling Panonychus citri mite in Jinggang Honeydew. Journal of Environmental Entomology, 2024: https://link.cnki.net/urlid/44.1640.Q.20240703.1156.002. (in Chinese)




Copyright (c) 2024 International Journal of Agricultural and Biological Engineering

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

2023-2026 Copyright IJABE Editing and Publishing Office