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During pesticide spraying operations, the downwash airflow generated by the rotor UAV disperses the rice canopies with different wind vortex intensities, resulting in different degrees of morphological changes of rice sheaves in the target area. However, it is inconclusive whether it will affect rice yield. In this paper, dispersed canopy parameters and rice yield data through experiments of conventional flight operation and unconventional hovering operation were collected, aiming to conduct a comparative analysis of the effects of UAV wind vortex intensity on the morphology and yield of rice sheaves in the spraying operation. The results showed that in the conventional flight operation, the wind vortex had little effect on rice morphology and yield. Due to the influence of the short downwash airflow, the rice canopies were rapidly dispersed and produced a restorable canopy-vortex patch. After the UAV withdrew, the rice canopies recovered immediately. In the unconventional hovering operation, with the increase of vortex intensity, the rice canopies forged unrestorable canopy-vortex, which caused significant changes in rice morphology and eventually led to a yield reduction, of 1.21% at preliminary heading stage, 9.05% at full heading stage and 4.87% at mature stage. The experiments indicated that wind vortex did not affect rice during conventional plant protection, while the unrestorable canopy-vortex patch caused by the prolonged operational duration in unconventional hovering operation did affect rice morphology and yield, especially after the full heading stage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. According to the UN FAO recommendations, it is necessary to produce one ton of grain for each inhabitant of the Earth for the production of bread and feed for livestock and poultry farming in order to obtain meat, milk, eggs, etc. However, the current level is 3 times lower, which confirms the relevance of the research. Methods and means. In the article, based on a systematic analysis of existing approaches in agriculture, a systematic synthesis of high-tech technological processes in agriculture, as well as fire protection of farmland and forests, was carried out. Examples of modern solutions in this area are given, including monitoring of farmland and forests using unmanned drones, small aircraft and helicopters. The latest developments in the development of airships for these purposes are described, including methods patented by the authors for detecting and fighting fires using gas separation nanotechnology to replace water with atmospheric nitrogen. Results. The conditions for self-organization of technological processes in agriculture are determined, on the basis of which the synthesis of the model of an "agro-fire combine-airship" is carried out, which combines "inside itself" not only the functions of fire extinguishing with separated atmospheric nitrogen, but also all agricultural technologies and precision farming techniques - "without tractors, seeders, combine harvesters, trucks and land reclamation systems. The results of the "energy assessment" of the effectiveness of the introduction of domestic innovations in this area are presented. Conclusion. As a result of the research, it was concluded that agro-fire combines-airships can implement not only technologies for extinguishing landscape and forest fires, but also have an unrivaled quality in the organization of agriculture, due to the proposed integration of these innovative solutions.

Agricultural aircraft operations are an integral part of the agricultural sector. According to the National Agriculture Aviation Association (NAAA), aerial applications are conducted in all 50 states of the U.S. and account for 28% of all treated cropland. A typical application operation consists of an operator (Part 137 certificate holder, permission to apply chemicals to agricultural crops) and one or more pilots. This article explores the risk perceptions of operators (pilots with a Part 137 certificate) and non-operators (pilots without a Part 137 certificate) using data from two industry surveys. In an effort to explain the differences between risk perceptions of operators and non-operators, a series of regression analyses were conducted controlling for age, work experience, prior encounters with hazards and history of reported injuries. In addition to exploring the aggregated perceptions across all hazards, perceptions of specific hazards were also examined. Data indicate that non-operators perceive hazards as significantly more dangerous than operators. Power lines are perceived as the most hazardous, followed by communication towers and meteorological towers. The regression results indicate that risk perception differences remain even after controlling for differences in age, work experiences, prior hazard encounters and injuries between the two groups. Heterogeneity in risk perceptions within an organization can result in discrepancies over daily decision-making concerning operations. Further research is needed to identify the causal factors behind the observed differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Organizações em Contexto is the property of Revista Organizacoes em Contexto and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Tecno-Lógica is the property of Tecno-Logica and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Reciprocating internal combustion engines have wide application in agricultural, recreational and experimental aircraft, resulting from their low cost and less complex maintenance compared to other engines. Thus, this work analyzed the performance of a conventional four-stroke engine operating in the two-stroke cycle by means of direct fuel injection and mechanical air supercharging. The use of a supercharger was essential in this design to provide adequate gas exchange inside the cylinder during the long valve overlap required, while direct fuel injection made it possible to reduce the short circuit of air-fuel mixture to the exhaust. Due to the double ignition frequency compared to a four-stroke engine, it was possible to obtain a large power density (40 kW/L) at a speed of 2400 rpm, also a specific fuel consumption of 270 g/kWh with gasoline and 400 g/kWh with ethanol. The use of ethanol in replacement of gasoline made it possible to operate at full load (160 Nm/L) at 800 rpm without the occurrence of knocking combustion.

Accelerating the development of agricultural aviation technology is the need of China's modern agricultural construction. With the rise of emerging industries such as artificial intelligence, biotechnology, autonomous navigation, and the Internet of Things, agricultural aviation is further developing toward the direction of intelligence to meet the requirements of efficient and sophisticated agricultural aviation operations. Bionics is a multi-discipline and comprehensive border subject. It is produced by the mutual penetration and integration of life science and engineering science. Bionic technology has received more and more attention in recent years, and breakthroughs have been made in the fields of biomedicine and health, military, brain science and brain-like navigation, and advanced manufacturing. This study summarized the research progress of biomimetic technology in the field of agricultural aviation from three aspects of biological perception, biological behavior, and biological intelligence. On this basis, problems of related research and application of agricultural aircraft in real-time obstacle avoidance, path planning, and intelligent navigation were analyzed. Combined with the practice of the rapid development of agricultural aircraft, research and application of bionic technology suitable for agricultural aircraft were then proposed. Finally, prospects of agricultural aero-bionic technology were also discussed from multiple bionic target fusion, three-dimensional spatial information exploration, sensors, and animal brain system mechanism. This review provides a reference for the development of bionic technology in China's agricultural aviation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crop production management has advanced into the stage of smart agriculture, which is driven by state-of-the-art agricultural information technology, intelligent equipment and massive data resources. Smart agriculture inherits ideas from precision agriculture and brings agricultural production and management from mechanization and informalization to intelligentization with automatization. Precision agriculture has been developed from strategic monitoring operations in the 1980s to tactical monitoring and control operations in the 2010s. In its development, agricultural aviation has played a key role in serving systems for spray application of crop protection and production materials for precision agriculture with the guidance of global navigation through geospatial prescription mapping derived from remotely-sensed data. With the development of modernized agriculture, agricultural aviation is even more important for advancing precision agricultural practices with more efficient soil and plant health sensing and more prompt and effective system actuation and action. This paper overviewed the status of agricultural aviation for precision agriculture to move toward smart agriculture, especially in the Mississippi Delta region, one of the most important agricultural areas in the U.S. The research and development by scientists associated with the Mississippi Delta region are reported. The issues, challenges and opportunities were identified and discussed for further research and development of agricultural aviation technology for next-generation precision agriculture and smart agriculture.

Aerial electrostatic spray technology for agriculture is the integration of precision agricultural aviation and electrostatic spray technology. It is one of the research topics that have been paid close attention to by scholars in the field of agricultural aviation. This study summarizes the development of airborne electrostatic spray technology for agricultural use in China, including the early research and exploration of Chinese institutions and researchers in the aspects of nozzle structure design optimization and theoretical simulation. The research progress of UAV-based aerial electrostatic spray technology for agricultural use in China was expounded from the aspects of nozzle modification, technical feasibility study, influencing mechanism of various factors, and field efficiency tests. According to the current development of agricultural UAVs and the characteristics of the farmland environment in China, the UAV-based aerial electrostatic spray technology, which carries the airborne electrostatic spray system on the plant protection UAVs, has a wide potential in the future. At present, the application of UAV-based aerial electrostatic spray technology has yet to be further improved due to several factors, such as the optimization of the test technology for charged droplets, the impact of UAV rotor wind field, comparison study on charging modes, and the lack of technical accumulation in the research of aerial electrostatic spray technology. With the continuous improvement of the research system of agricultural aviation electrostatic spray technology, UAV-based electrostatic spray technology will give play to the advantages in increasing the droplets deposition on the target and reducing environmental pollution from the application of pesticides. This study is capable of providing a reference for the development of the UAV-based agricultural electrostatic spray technology and the spray equipment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chemical pesticide residues have posed a great impact on crops and the ecological environment in recent years, as the prevention and control of crop diseases and pests have widely been used in agricultural production. Consequently, an aerial pesticide application technology has become an effective way for plant protection in modern agriculture. The powerful technology is characterized to reduce the numbers and residues of pesticides for the better effectiveness of pesticide application. Alternatively, a high-voltage electrostatic device is often used to charge the spray droplets in an electrostatic spray system. Specifically, the chemical liquid is atomized into droplets near the nozzle to obtain a charge of the same polarity as the nozzle. An electrostatic field is then formed between the nozzle and the crop target under the action of high-voltage static electricity. As such, the droplets of opposite polarity are quickly adsorbed on the front and back of crop targets during the spraying process. Aerial electrostatic spraying is a deep integration of electrostatic spray system and aviation pesticide spraying in precision agriculture. The droplets can quickly be deposited along the power line in the process of aircraft spraying, thereby greatly reducing the drift loss for highly efficient deposition of droplets. Furthermore, the electrostatic spray technology has achieved excellent control effects on crops, fruit trees, and greenhouse vegetables in field tests. The top countries of aerial electrostatic spray technology in the world are the United States and Brazil, in terms of technology usage, and innovation. Particularly, the electrostatic spray technology in the United States has been fully commercialized for the aviation spraying equipment. In addition, an efficient aircraft is highly required for large-scale planting and plant protection in vast arable land and mostly plains in some developing countries. The manned fixed-wing aircraft is mainly used in electrostatic spray systems at present. This review outlined the international development of aerial electrostatic spraying technology to further clarify two main lines of reports at home and aboard, ranging from basic theoretical research to commercialization process. An application level of technology was set to analyze in China. The research on aviation electrostatic spray technology in China has presented a promising increase trend, due mainly to small environmental and topographical impacts in field tests. Moreover, the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) has become the most suitable aircraft equipped with an electrostatic spray system after long-term research. However, large research gaps still remained in manned vehicles and lately commercial plant protection UAV, compared with the state-of-the-art electrostatic spray technologies overseas. There were also numerously repeated and invalid studies overlapped in the main parameters in China. Anyway, it is still necessary to delve into the specific interaction mechanism between the process of spraying droplets and the operating parameters. The industrialized development of aviation electrostatic spray system was also reviewed at the end, together with the development prospects. Some suggestions were listed as: (1) The performance of each charge needed to be elucidated in the aerial electrostatic spray system. (2) The measurement technology of charged droplet deposition was highly demanding to accurately evaluate the actual properties of electrostatic spray. (3) Measurement of charge-to-mass ratio was necessary to rethinking using the cutting-edged quantum theories. An ever-increasing demand is coming soon using aviation electrostatic spray system for crop protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accelerating the development of agricultural aviation technology is the need of China’s modern agricultural construction. With the rise of emerging industries such as artificial intelligence, biotechnology, autonomous navigation, and the Internet of Things, agricultural aviation is further developing toward the direction of intelligence to meet the requirements of efficient and sophisticated agricultural aviation operations. Bionics is a multi-discipline and comprehensive border subject. It is produced by the mutual penetration and integration of life science and engineering science. Bionic technology has received more and more attention in recent years, and breakthroughs have been made in the fields of biomedicine and health, military, brain science and brain-like navigation, and advanced manufacturing. This study summarized the research progress of biomimetic technology in the field of agricultural aviation from three aspects of biological perception, biological behavior, and biological intelligence. On this basis, problems of related research and application of agricultural aircraft in real-time obstacle avoidance, path planning, and intelligent navigation were analyzed. Combined with the practice of the rapid development of agricultural aircraft, research and application of bionic technology suitable for agricultural aircraft were then proposed. Finally, prospects of agricultural aero-bionic technology were also discussed from multiple bionic target fusion, three-dimensional spatial information exploration, sensors, and animal brain system mechanism. This review provides a reference for the development of bionic technology in China’s agricultural aviation.

ABSTRACT: The use of aerial application with electrostatic charge is an alternative to improve the quality of insecticide applications in soybean crop. The objective of this study was to evaluate the drift and chemical control of the caterpillar and stink bug complex promoted by aerial applications of insecticide in the soybean crop, using electrostatic spray system and rotary atomizers. The insecticide Thiamethoxam + Lambda cyhalothrin was applied with a Cessna 188 Ag Truck agricultural aircraft in two treatments: SPE® electrostatic system, with 54 SPE-5 nozzles and 10 L ha-1 application rate, and Travicar model® 05165 rotary atomizer, with 55° angle blades and application rate of 20 L ha-1. Drift was evaluated through quantification of active ingredient, by means of liquid chromatography, on nylon strings set 20, 40, 80, 160 and 320 m downwind from the applied area. Control efficiency was measured by counting caterpillars and stink bugs found five days after application. The droplet spectrum was also evaluated through water sensitive papers placed in the target area. It was verified that the hydraulic nozzles, associated with the electrostatic system, generated lower drift, but there was no difference in pest control efficiency, in relation to the rotary atomizers.

ABSTRACT Pesticide drift is an issue in modern farming, mainly for crops under constant spraying as soybeans. This study aimed at assessing drift and pest control for aerial applications in soybean crops. Hydraulic nozzles and rotary atomizers, regulated to a wide spectrum of droplet sizes, sprayed thiamethoxam plus lambda-cyhalothrin using an agricultural aircraft Ipanema 202A at volume rate of 20 L ha−1. Treatments consisted of testing two devices: a rotary cage atomizer (Micronair AU 5000) with blade angles of 65° for larger droplets, and with angle of 55° for smaller ones; and a set of adjustable nozzles (Stol model) with deflector angle of 90° for smaller droplets, and with angle of 30° for larger ones. Drift was evaluated through quantification of active ingredient, by means of liquid chromatography, on nylon strings set 20, 40, 80, 160 and 320 m downwind from the applied area. Control efficiency was measured by counting caterpillars and stinkbugs found five days after spray. Rotary atomizers produced lesser drift compared to adjustable nozzles at the designed setting. Furthermore, drift can be reduced through a suitable regulation of the devices, keeping an effective pest control.

Aerial electrostatic spray technology for agriculture is the integration of precision agricultural aviation and electrostatic spray technology. It is one of the research topics that have been paid close attention to by scholars in the field of agricultural aviation. This study summarizes the development of airborne electrostatic spray technology for agricultural use in China, including the early research and exploration of Chinese institutions and researchers in the aspects of nozzle structure design optimization and theoretical simulation. The research progress of UAV-based aerial electrostatic spray technology for agricultural use in China was expounded from the aspects of nozzle modification, technical feasibility study, influencing mechanism of various factors, and field efficiency tests. According to the current development of agricultural UAVs and the characteristics of the farmland environment in China, the UAV-based aerial electrostatic spray technology, which carries the airborne electrostatic spray system on the plant protection UAVs, has a wide potential in the future. At present, the application of UAV-based aerial electrostatic spray technology has yet to be further improved due to several factors, such as the optimization of the test technology for charged droplets, the impact of UAV rotor wind field, comparison study on charging modes, and the lack of technical accumulation in the research of aerial electrostatic spray technology. With the continuous improvement of the research system of agricultural aviation electrostatic spray technology, UAV-based electrostatic spray technology will give play to the advantages in increasing the droplets deposition on the target and reducing environmental pollution from the application of pesticides. This study is capable of providing a reference for the development of the UAV-based agricultural electrostatic spray technology and the spray equipment.

Copyright of Wieś & Rolnictwo is the property of Instytut Rozwoju Wsi & Rolnictwa, Polska Akademia Nauk and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Agricultural use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in China has risen recently with the increased demand for precision agriculture. The focus of UAS use in China is on improving the efficiency of crop production and reducing environmental harm from runoff related to current crop management activities. This use will keep increasing with the support of new policies on land transfer and appropriately scaled operations for farming in the near future. A major agricultural application of UAS in China is plant protection, toward increasing pest and disease management efficiency. The advantages of UAS are apparent in the country, which has the largest number of small-sized farms in the world. UAS in China have advantages for farms in mountainous regions and orchard production, where it is difficult for ground-based machines to manoeuvre. Advances of UAS use in the country have created new challenges to the agricultural aviation industry in crop monitoring, pest sampling, pest detection, pest diagnosis and spraying technology. This article reviews the agricultural use of UAS in China, with a focus on plant protection. The challenges and prospects of UAS use in the country are also summarised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of the present study was to analyze the influence of spray mixture volume and flight height on herbicide deposition in aerial applications on pastures. The experimental plots were arranged in a pasture area in the district of Porto Esperidião (Mato Grosso, Brazil). In all of the treatments, the applications contained the herbicides aminopyralid and fluroxypyr (Dominum) at the dose of 2.5 L c.p. ha-1, including the adjuvant mineral oil (Joint Oil) at the dose of 1.0 L and a tracer to determine the deposition by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) (rhodamine at a concentration of 0.6%). The experiment consisted of nine treatments that comprised the combinations of three spray volumes (20, 30 and 50 L ha-1) and three flight heights (10, 30 and 40 m). The results showed that, on average, there was a tendency for larger deposits for the smallest flight heights, with a significant difference between the heights of 10 and 40 m. There was no significant difference among the deposits obtained with the different spray mixture volumes.

During the process of plant protection in agriculture, the distribution and deposition of droplets or fog fields could directly influence the effectiveness and efficiency of spray. The traditional method of measurement of the distribution of droplets mainly used water sensitive papers, glass containers or flour to collect data and inverse results, while a new method of measurement based on the principle of reflection of LIDAR was presented. Droplets were the major targets of the study, and four important algorithms were primarily developed, including the recognition and extraction of targets, the superposition in time-domain, the calculation of effective ranges of distribution, and the development of 3D distribution models. Combined with these algorithms, in order to eliminate the environmental noise, the methods of Fuzzy Environment Matching and Secondary Filter were created and utilized. Meanwhile, the statistics was used for analysis of the duration of scanning as well as computation of the distribution, with enough datasets but the minimum length of time. The results of the experiments showed that the relative error of measurement was less than 7% and Relative Standard Deviation was less than 16%, compared with the values of manual measurement. Furthermore, the 3D models were accurate and clarified in the wind-tunnel experiment. The completed system based on this method could adapt to the requirements of both indoor and outdoor detection. Besides, it is capable of the quantized detection of droplet distribution, providing an effective way of tests for spray technique, especially for the research of the application of plant protection by UAVs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adopting the principle that it is better to self-regulate than to be regulated; voluntary accreditation schemes have been introduced by a range of high-hazard industries to lift safety and environmental performance. Both industries and regulators need to know if such programmes are effective. This paper presents a comparative case study of safety and environmental performance for a voluntary industry-led accreditation programme (Aircare) in the New Zealand agricultural aviation sector. The study hypotheses relate to rates of reported: • Accidents • Incursions and other incidents • Discharge and low flying occurrences • Equipment defects While there were observed differences in rates for the above occurrence types between accredited, transitional and non-accredited operators, none of these was found to be statistically significant, therefore the null hypotheses could not be rejected. An additional sensitivity test was undertaken in which all examined occurrences were combined into one variable “all events”. Non-accredited operators had a higher rate of these combined occurrences (risk ratio 1.32) and this finding was significant at a 90%, one-tailed, level of confidence. The additional test suggests that statistically significant results may emerge as more data becomes available. This finding indicates that participation in robust voluntary safety and environmental programmes may be associated with lead indicators of safer operations and fewer environmental incidents. Participation in such programmes may therefore convey important information on likely future safety and environmental performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The liquid quantity data is one of the most important information to spraying UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle). During the aerial spraying, the liquid quantity in the pesticide tank is dynamic, the operators have always to paid attention to the liquid quantity so that they can make suitable decisions for the flight controlling. Therefore, the liquid quantity monitoring method for pesticide tank is the most important in UAV spraying operation. However, other special characteristics need to be evaluated in order to achieve real-time monitoring the amount of pesticide liquid of spraying UAV, including unstable liquid surface, variation of physical and chemical properties of different pesticides, shapes of different tanks, the anti-corrosion requirements, tank sizes, etc. In this paper, we aimed to explore the feasible method for liquid quantity monitoring of pesticide tank in spraying UAV. Based on the above characteristics, we developed a solution called dual-pressure liquid quantity monitoring system, which consisted of double pressure sensors for liquid-level monitor, wave filter for liquid level turbulence (i.e.va combination of the median filter and the moving average filter), liquid level correction for aircraft on a tilt (based on a gyroscope), and conversion model for liquid level and liquid quantity. In order to verify the feasibility of the proposed method, a prototype of liquid monitoring device was developed, and the relevant verification test was conducted to test its performance. The experimental results showed that there was a significant (p < 0.05) linear negative correlation between the liquid level and pressure difference (between ambient atmospheric pressure and sealed air chamber pressure caused by liquid level), and the correlation coefficient R2 was 0.9989. It showed that the dual-pressure method can effectively eliminate the influence of ambient atmospheric pressure changes on the measurement accuracy and stability. By using the proposed wave filter, the C.V. (coefficient of variation) of liquid level data decreased from 28.45% to 12.27%, indicating that the proposed wave filter can filter off the liquid level turbulence effectively. By using liquid-level correction for aircraft on a tilt, the error was reduced to 0.05 from -1.09 hPa when the aircraft tilt up to 30°. Therefore, the proposed tilt correction method can effectively eliminate the error caused by aircraft body tilt. In order to test the performance of prototype of liquid quantity monitor in the actual spraying operation, the test based on a spraying UAV, 3WDM4-10, was conducted. The test included three different flying attitudes, forward, backward and turn around at the edge of field. When the payload of the pesticide tank was 2, 4 and 6 L, the mean liquid quantity data out by the liquid quantity monitor were 1.985, 3.942, and 5.984 L, the relative errors of the liquid quantity monitor were 0.75 %、1.45%、0.77%, the RMS error was 0.182, 0.199 and 0.180 L, respectively. The results demonstrated that the output of the proposed liquid quantity monitor is stable and reliable in different flying attitude. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Este trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar o efeito da tecnologia de aplicação aérea e terrestre de fitossanitários na deposição de calda, na cultura da soja. Avaliou-se, após a aplicação de um traçador, a deposição nas partes inferior e superior do dossel da cultura, por meio de espectrofotometria. O ensaio foi conduzido no delineamento em blocos ao acaso, com quatro repetições e oito tratamentos (formas de aplicação): 1 - Terrestre (Ponta de jato cônico vazio-TXA 8002 e 180 L ha-1); 2 - Terrestre (Ponta de jato plano defletor duplo com indução de ar-AITTJ 11002 e 150 L ha-1); 3 - Terrestre (Ponta de jato plano defletor com indução de ar-TTI 11002 e 150 L ha-1); 4 - Terrestre (Ponta de jato plano defletor duplo-TTJ60 11002 e 150 L ha-1); 5 - Terrestre (Ponta de jato plano defletor-TT 11002 e 150 L ha-1); 6 - Aéreo (Atomizador rotativo e 40 L ha-1); 7 - Aéreo (Atomizador rotativo e 30 L ha-1); e 8 - Aéreo (Atomizador rotativo e 20 L ha¹). Também foi conduzido um estudo de espectro de gotas. As aplicações terrestres com ponta de jato cônico vazio e aérea (40 L ha-1) foram as mais eficientes em promover a penetração da calda no dossel, embora seus espectros de gotas sejam mais suscetíveis à deriva. A aplicação aérea mostrou-se viável tecnicamente, quanto à deposição de calda, em comparação aos tratamentos terrestres.This study aimed to evaluate the effect of aerial and ground application technology in spray deposition on soybean crop. It was evaluated the spray deposition on the bottom and the top of the plant canopy, after application of a tracer, by spectrophotometric technique. The experiment was conducted in a randomized block design with four replications and eight treatments (application technologies): 1 - Ground (Hollow cone nozzle-TXA 8002 and 180 L ha-1) 2 - Ground (Air induction turbo twin flat fan nozzle-AITTJ 11002 and 150 L ha-1), 3 - Ground (Air induction turbo flat fan nozzle-TTI 11002 and 150 L ha-1), 4 - Ground (Turbo twin flat fan nozzle-TTJ60 11002 and 150 L ha-1) , 5 - Ground (Turbo flat fan nozzle-TT 11002 and 150 L ha-1) 6 - Aerial (Rotary atomizers and 40 L ha-1) 7 - Aerial (Rotary atomizers and 30 L ha-1) and 8 - Aerial (Rotary atomizers and 20 L ha-1). The droplet spectra were also evaluated. It was concluded that ground application with hollow cone nozzle and aerial with rotary atomizers (40 L ha-1) were the most effective in promoting the droplet penetration into soybean canopy, although their droplet spectra were more susceptible to drift. The aerial application was technically feasible in spray deposition, compared to ground treatments.

The soybean rust caused by Phakopsora pachyrhizi is considered the main soybean disease and consequently the appropriate selection and the use of spraying equipment are vital for its control. The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of aerial application equipment for soybean rust control. It was used: Micronair AU 5000 at 10 L ha-1 (with oil) and at 20 L ha-1 (without oil); Stol ARD atomizer at 10 and 20 L ha-1 (both with oil) and Spectrum (electrostatic) at 10 L ha-1 (without oil). The adjuvant was cotton oil (1.0 L ha-1) with emulsifier (BR 455) at 0.025 L ha-1. The field trial was set up at the 3rd fungicide application, when f four replications of each treatment. There were no statistical differences among treatments related to fungicide deposits by at a Confidence Interval of 95%. It was observed that the best results were obtained with Micronair (10 L ha-1 with oil), Stol (20 L ha-1 with oil) and electrostatic system at 10 L ha-1 with the lowest relative humidity (64%).A ferrugem asiática da soja, causada pelo fungo Phakopsora pachyrhizi, é considerada a principal doença da soja, e, portanto, a escolha e o uso adequado dos equipamentos de pulverização são essenciais para seu controle. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar o desempenho de diferentes equipamentos de pulverização aérea para o controle curativo da ferrugem da soja, utilizando o fungicida Impact 125 SC (flutriafol) a 0,5 L p c ha-1. Os seguintes tratamentos foram avaliados: atomizador Micronair AU 5000 (10 L ha-1 com óleo e 20 L ha-1 sem óleo na calda); atomizador Stol ARD (10 e 20 L ha-1 ambos com óleo) e o sistema eletrostático Spectrum (10 L ha-1 sem óleo a 64 e 71% de umidade relativa). Utilizou-se óleo de algodão (1,0 L ha-1) acrescido de emulsificante BR 455 a 0,025 L ha-1. O ensaio foi realizado na terceira aplicação de fungicidas, quando foram analisadas quatro repetições nas áreas aplicadas e quatro testemunhas não aplicadas para cada tratamento, avaliando-se a severidade da ferrugem, os depósitos de flutriafol nas folhas de soja e o percentual de redução de ferrugem. A análise dos depósitos nas folhas mostrou que não houve diferenças significativas entre os tratamentos. Os melhores controles da ferrugem foram obtidos com os tratamentos Micronair (10 L ha-1 com óleo), Stol (20 L ha-1 com óleo) e o sistema elestrostático (10 L ha-1) com a menor umidade relativa do ar (64 %).

Os avanços da tecnologia de aplicação aérea de agroquímicos têm-se dado na direção de redução do volume de calda, o que pode ocasionar má distribuição e consequente deposição irregular. O presente trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar a qualidade da aplicação de calda de pulverização em aplicação aérea, na cultura da soja (Glycine Max L.). Para a aplicação, foi utilizada uma aeronave agrícola experimental, aplicando um volume de calda de 20 L ha-1 . Para a determinação dos volumes depositados nas folhas do terço superior, médio e inferior das plantas de soja, foi utilizado corante alimentício azul brilhante adicionado à calda de pulverização. Estas folhas foram lavadas, e o volume determinado por espectrofotometria. Para a obtenção do espectro de gotas, foram utilizados alvos artificiais constituídos por papel hidrossensível, distribuídos no terço superior e médio das plantas. Os dados foram submetidos à análise de variância de fator único, considerando as diferentes posições na planta, e cartas de controle foram feitas a partir dos limites inferior e superior de controle. A aplicação aérea de calda de pulverização na cultura da soja apresentou menores valores de diâmetro da mediana volumétrica, amplitude relativa e cobertura no terço médio em relação ao terço superior da cultura da soja. Houve menor deposição da calda de pulverização no terço inferior. Os indicadores de cobertura da calda de pulverização demonstraram que a aplicação aérea com a aeronave agrícola experimental avaliada não se encontra sob controle estatístico de processo, ou seja, fora do padrão de qualidade.Advances in aerial pesticide application technology of chemicals have been given in the direction of reducing the syrup volume, which can cause poor distribution and consequent irregular deposition. This study aimed to evaluate the quality of the syrup spray on aerial application in soybean crop (Glycine Max L.). For the application, an experimental agricultural aircraft was used, applying a spray volume of 20 L ha-1. A bright blue food coloring added to the syrup spray was used for the determination of the volumes stored in the leaves of the upper third, middle and bottom of the soybean plants. These leaves were washed, and the volume determined by spectrophotometry. To obtain the drops spectrum were used artificial targets set by water sensitive paper, distributed in the middle and upper third of the plants. Data were submitted to analysis of variance with a single factor, considering the different positions in the plant, and control cards were made from the lower and upper control limits. The aerial application of syrup spray in the soybean crop had lower values of the volumetric median diameter, relative amplitude and coverage on the middle third in relation of the upper third of the soybean crop. There was less of the syrup spray deposition in the lower third. The coverage indicators of the syrup spray showed that aerial application with the evaluated agricultural experimental aircraft is not under statistical process control, in other words, outside of the quality standard.

Realizou-se um experimento em uma área de implantação da cultura do eucalipto no município de São Miguel Arcanjo-SP, com o objetivo de avaliar a eficácia da aplicação aérea de grânulos de argila como veículo dos herbicidas sulfentrazone e isoxaflutole, no controle de plantas daninhas. Foi realizada aplicação aérea dos herbicidas sulfentrazone, nas doses de 500 e 750 g i.a. ha-1, e isoxaflutole, nas doses de 150 e 225 g i.a. ha-1, utilizando-se como veículo grânulos de argila com densidade de 1,05 g cm ³, alta capacidade de absorção (24 mL 100 g-1), alta resistência ao desgaste e tamanho das partículas entre 500 mícrons e 1 mm. Também foram feitas aplicações via líquida dos mesmos herbicidas e doses com um pulverizador convencional, acoplado a um trator. Além desses tratamentos, foi mantida uma parcela testemunha, sem aplicação dos herbicidas. Nas parcelas experimentais foram semeadas as espécies de plantas daninhas Brachiaria decumbens, Ipomoea grandifolia, Merremia cissoides e Panicum maximum, sendo realizadas avaliações visuais de controle aos 75 e 110 dias após a aplicação. Em geral, foram observados, nas plantas daninhas avaliadas, resultados de controle semelhantes ou superiores para a aplicação aérea (via grânulos) até 75 DAA e superiores para essa modalidade de aplicação aos 110 DAA, indicando uma extensão no período do efeito do residual dos herbicidas estudados.An experiment was carried out in the eucalyptus area of São Miguel Arcanjo in the State of São Paulo, Brazil, to evaluate the efficacy of the aerial application of the herbicides sulfentrazone and isoxaflutole using clay granules for weed control. Aerial application of the herbicides sulfentrazone at 500 and 750 g a.i. ha-1 and isoxaflutole at 150 and 225 g a.i.. ha-1 was carried out using clay granules with 1.05 g cm-3 density, high absorption capacity (24 mL 100 g-1), high wear resistance, and particle size between 500 microns and 1 mm. Liquid spraying was also performed using the same herbicides at the same doses. A check plot without herbicide application was also used. The weeds Brachiaria decumbens, Ipomoea grandifolia, Merremia cissoides and Panicum maximum were sown in the experimental plot, with control evaluations being conducted at 75 and 110 days after application. In general, similar or superior weed control results were observed for the aerial application (via clay granules) up to 75 DAA, and superior results for the same application modality at 110 days DAA, indicating an extension of the period of the residual effect of the herbicides studied.

Aerial electrostatic spraying system is the specialized application of conventional electrostatic spraying technology over the air operating platform. It plays an important role in aerial plant protection technology. Droplets with aerial electrostatic spraying can be adsorbed to the lower part of crop plants and the back of leaves as well as the front of the crop leaves. Aerial electrostatic spraying system is able to achieve disease and pest control and reduce environmental pollution with lower chemical application rate due to its uniform chemicals coverage, rapid droplet sedimentation, and low drift loss. The application of aerial electrostatic spraying system in agricultural production is an important part of aerial plant protection technology, which has attracted extensive attention of scholars in the world. When researchers originally developed aerial electrostatic spraying systems, the electrostatic spraying technology had been successfully applied in greenhouses, orchards and other ground spraying operations, which could significantly increase the droplet deposition on the target and reduce the drift to non-target areas. The United States is first country of the world to use an aircraft for pesticide spraying operations. For the experimental study on how to apply electrostatic spraying technology to aerial spraying equipment, the United States is also taking a leading role in this field. Research on aerial electrostatic spraying in the United States started in the 1960s. This summary is intended to detail this development process during the past 50 years and related test work, including early research on aerial electrostatic spray system, its continuous improvement, and the final determination of the prototype of the system. Aerial electrostatic spraying system can effectively reduce spray rate and increase spray droplet deposition, but it still has to face the challenges of improving the crop control effectiveness and reducing downwind spray drift. In addition, the application scope and optimum operating conditions of the aerial electrostatic spraying system for different crops and pests control require further research and exploration.Agricultural aviation industry has maintained great interests on aerial electrostatic spraying since the concept was first proposed. Laboratory test data of electrostatic spraying systems demonstrated a significant increase in the effect of droplet deposition and full coverage of leaves, but the droplet deposition and pest control results in field trials were not satisfied, and sometimes even lower than conventional spraying system. Nevertheless, the potential of aerial electrostatic spraying technology in increasing droplet deposition on the back of leaves and the reduction of chemical application rate shows that most technology has its scope of application and optimal operating conditions. Many factors affect the effectiveness of aerial electrostatic spraying operations. In addition, since the labelled application rate of most pesticides available in the United States is greater than that of an aerial electrostatic spraying system, it will be so difficult to maintain the required charge to mass ratio for an aerial electrostatic spraying system. The contradiction has hindered for the development of the aerial electrostatic spraying technologies. However, this also proved the advantages of aerial electrostatic spraying system from the other hand. The lower application rate per unit area can greatly improve the overall efficiency of aviation spraying operations in that one single flight sprays larger area of crops.China''s aerial electrostatic spraying systems in application mainly focused on introducing expensive overseas key equipment. Chinese researchers must research and develop aerial electrostatic spraying systems and accessories that work for our own conditions while introducing overseas technologies. It is proposed in this paper that the study of aerial electrostatic spraying technology in China should be combined with precision spraying and variable rate spraying technology to carry out related research and exploration.The great advantage of aerial electrostatic spray systems has established its place in the scheme of modern agriculture aviation. With continued experimental research and evaluation, modern aerial electrostatic spray systems will continue to support the agricultural aviation industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) has undergone rapid development in field of agricultural plant protection; however, the payload and max-endurance are bottlenecks that limit its further development. Tensairity is a new structure consisting of a bag filled with low-pressure gas, an upper rigid rod and a lower flexible cable. It puts tension pressure on the whole structure through internal gas pressure, provides continuous support to the upper rigid rod, and that is to say, the tensairity improves the stability of the structure in some way. And also, tensairity is a self-supporting and self-balancing system, which means it is a simple, lightweight structure with small storage volume, strong bearing capacity, and low engineering cost. It also has the advantages of gasbag and BSS (beam string structure). The main objective of this research was to introduce the theoretical basis of tensairity and then discussed its development and applications. Moreover, the advantages and disadvantages of tensairity were summarized, and development prospects of tensairity in agricultural aviation were presented. At last, it can be concluded that tensairity has potentials in agricultural aviation. If tensairity is applied in agricultural UAVs, it will solve the two major problems of payload and max-endurance better, and help promoting the development of agricultural aviation technology in agricultural aviation administration and application. Also, it will help with meeting the aerial application requirements of high efficiency and maximal environmental protection. This research will provide a reference for improving working efficiency and economic benefits of UAVs in agricultural plant protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Unmanned aerial vehicles have been developed and applied to support agricultural production management. Compared with piloted aircraft, an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) can focus on small crop fields at lower flight altitudes than regular aircraft to perform site-specific farm management with higher precision. They can also "fill in the gap" in locations where fixed winged or rotary winged aircraft are not readily available. In agriculture, UAVs have primarily been developed and used for remote sensing and application of crop production and protection materials. Application of fertilizers and chemicals is frequently needed at specific times and locations for site-specific management. Routine monitoring of crop plant health is often required at very high resolution for accurate site-specific management as well. This paper presents an overview of research involving the development of UAV technology for agricultural production management. Technologies, systems and methods are examined and studied. The limitations of current UAVs for agricultural production management are discussed, as well as future needs and suggestions for development and application of the UAV technologies in agricultural production management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]