In the future, cameras will be able to spot blackbirds feeding on grapes in a vineyard and launch drones to drive them off, then return to watch for the next flock. There was no human nearby.
A Washington State University research team has developed a system that can be used in agriculture. Pest birds, like European starlings or crows, cost growers millions of dollars a year in stolen or ruined fruit, so the system is designed to have automated drones available to patrol 24 hours a day.
"Growers don't really have a good tool they can rely on for deterring pest birds at an affordable price," said the study's corresponding author.
The team ran two separate tests to detect birds and deploy drones. Karkee's team developed a camera system that would find birds and count them as they flew in and out of fields.
The team deployed small drones for flight tests on small plots.
The system resembles a package delivery system. It will be several years before this particular technology would be commercially available for growers because there are still several hurdles, including making sure it works at scale, complies with federal drone regulations, and continues to deter birds even if drones are commonly flying around.
Karkee is affiliated with the Center for Precision and Automated Agricultural Systems. We don't want a system that only lasts for a few months or years before they stop being scared off.
The birds are scared off by the noises made by drones. Karkee said that sounds like distress calls or bird noises could be added. Special drones could be designed for the job.
He said they could make drones look like predator or have reflective propellers that are really shiny. We need to research that for a long time.
There are three studies on drones and bird pests. The first showed that manually operated drones were successful in keeping birds away from vineyards. They found that drones reduced bird counts.
The impact driving off birds can have on crop yield was shown in the second project. Karkee's team drove birds off the fields. The fields had a reduction in damaged fruits.
Karkee plans to meet with growers, technology companies, and other stakeholders to begin the next steps in the development of a commercially available automated drone system.
The results so far are exciting, he said. We are looking forward to doing more work on this project.
More information: Santosh Bhusal et al, Automated execution of a pest bird deterrence system using a programmable unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), Computers and Electronics in Agriculture (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.compag.2022.106972 Citation: Automated drones could scare birds off agricultural fields (2022, June 1) retrieved 1 June 2022 from https://phys.org/news/2022-06-automated-drones-birds-agricultural-fields.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.
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