Date:- 06/03/2017

Name of the Participant/s: Mayur Patil ,Yogeshwar Chavan

Registration ID: 1073

University/College: Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Technology,Andheri west ,Mumbai..

Specialization: Agriculture

TOPIC

Focus Area: Agriculture Focus Sector: UAV

WRITE-UP

• Past Scenario -10 years ago

Thousands of farmers are killing themselves in India every year. They make this ultimate

sacrifice not just because the weather gods have been brutal. Less than 23% of India’s millions

farmers are covered by crop insurance, and even those who are insured regularly suffer

financial hardship from delayed payouts. Although UAV technology shows considerable promise for agricultural insurers in India, there

are plenty of regulatory and logistical challenges to overcome. Since October 2014, civilians

have been banned from using drones in India – a restriction that will likely last until the Indian

Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) comes up with a regulatory system for

commercial drones.

Earlier in 2014, Skymet, AIC and the Gujarat government implemented satellite remote

sensing technologies and drones across 10 villages in Morbi district of Gujarat, the report

added.

• Current Scenario

The Indian government has launched a collaborative research project involving use of drone

technology in farming sector for assessing quality of soil and compensation for losses due to

flood, the Ministry of Agriculture said in a Lok Sabha query.

The project aims to implement Hyper spectral Remote Sensing using drone systems and

developing a locally researched prototype for soil health monitoring and integrating it with

satellites for large scale agricultural applications in the future.

Use of drones in agriculture

In February, Weather forecasting company Skymet in partnership with Agriculture Insurance

Company (AIC) had earlier conducted a pilot in Gujarat and Rajasthan, which involved use of

drones for surveying farmer’s crops, helping them map crop diseases along with assistance for

insurance companies in settling claims, as indicated by Economic Times.

While the civilian UAV ban is still in place, some government organisations are beginning to

acquire the devices. In January 2016, the Agriculture Ministry announced that it would allow

the Mahalanobis National Crop Forecast Centre (MNCFC) to purchase UAVs for assessing

crop damage.

• Future Scenario -10 years from now

UAVs to collect high quality aerial data. For this work, autonomous quadcopters have been

used and equipped with consumer-grade cameras, which can produce highresolution NIR and

RGB (red, green, blue) images of under-served agricultural areas. This experience generated

further interest in UAV technology among indigenous communities in eastern Panama,

inspiring other leaders to ask for UAV support.

Agricultural drones are Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) used for precision agriculture, which is a modern method of farming that uses Agricultural drones are Unmanned Aerial

Vehicles (UAVs) used for precision agriculture, which is a modern method of farming that

uses Big Data, aerial imagery and other means to optimize efficiency. They offer powerful

data processing capabilities afforded by Cloud-based computing to deliver aerial monitoring,

inspection, and intelligence-gathering capabilities.

On the same lines, the need for electro-mechanical machines that operate automatically by a

computer program and contains sensors, control systems, manipulators, power supplies and

software all working together to perform a task resulted in development of robots.

Agricultural drones are Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) used for precision agriculture,

which is a modern method of farming that uses Big Data, aerial imagery and other means to

optimize efficiency. They offer powerful data processing capabilities afforded by Cloud-based

computing to deliver aerial monitoring, inspection, and intelligence-gathering capabilities.

A report published by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI)

indicates agricultural drones are expected to capture 80% of the commercial UAV market and

has the potential to generate more than 100,000 jobs in the US.