ASSEMBLY OF A REMOTELY PILOTED AIRCRAFT OF LOW COST APPLIED TO AGRICULTURE

• Published in: Engenharia Agrícola 2017-12, Vol.37 (6), p.1268-1274
• Main Authors: Cunha, João P. A. R. Da, Sirqueira Neto, Matheus A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING; precision agriculture; quadcopters; RPA
• ISSN: 0100-6916; 1809-4430; 0100-6916
• DOI: 10.1590/1809-4430-eng.agric.v37n6p1268-1274/2017

The remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) have great applicability in agriculture. Although it is a technology that has been developed for many years, in the field of agriculture it passed unnoticed for a long time. The high cost of acquisition is still a limiting factor for small and medium-sized farmers. In this way, this study had as objective to develop a low cost RPA for agriculture application. In the present study, the development and the assembly of an RPA prototype of a quadcopter type is presented, consisting of four engines and of vertical propulsion, capable of moving without human intervention, that is, autonomous flight, applied to agriculture and low cost investment. In it was boarded a data control and processing system collected from sensors and cameras, using hardware and software from a free platform (Open Source). The assembly equipment showed to be robust, with a payload of approximately 1,000 grams, with an acquisition cost (R$ 2,393.16), included the camera module, much lower than those commercially available and suitable for the agricultural application, as acquisition, processing and interpretation of digital images, due to the quality of the images obtained.