IONOS was honored to be invited as a speaker at the online Photonics Conference, for the presentation of the pilot project ‘’Optical fiber sensors for monitoring Agricultural Drone Spraying Operations”.
The dual presentation was made by Mr. Christodoulou Stelios for IONOS, and the Researcher Dr. Pissadakis Stavros, Director of the Institute of Electronic Structure and Laser (IESL), Foundation for Research and Technology – Hellas (FORTH).
Mr. Christodoulou explained how IONOS team connected the technology of agricultural drones with that of photonics, the optical fibers. Also mentioned:
‘’An estimated 150.000 drones by 2035 are to be used across Europe’s farms. In general, all of these units will fall into the ‘specific’ category under the EASA framework given in the 945 + 947 UAS regulations and their current or future modifications. As we can estimate, shortly there will be a lot of drone sprayers above EU crops. Drift measurement of those operations is critical for many reasons.
For evaluating spraying efficiency and the possible drift on near crops and areas, at the begging, we used in our missions the Water sensitive papers mostly. As we getting deeper and deeper into the drone’s precision spraying operations, we understand that for the work evaluation of robotic technology, we need state of the art sensors. After a diligent search, we realized that water sensitive papers or washing fabrics are not suitable for our operational technology, and decided to search for other technologies and materials, developing our spraying monitoring system.
The risk assessment analysis of those operations needed an evaluation process that could give us serious data for planning our missions, in a safe and no drifting way. It is critical to detect the drift effect accurately and make the necessary operational parameters corrections on flight speed, route, pumps, and nozzles.
Optical fiber sensors meet the above operational requirements!! ‘’
At the following links you can find and view the presentation, as well as more information about the conference:
https://smartfarmingconference.com/
https://smartfarmingconference.com/previous-editions/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIiltycCvQI
https://smartfarmingconference.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/SMART-FARMING-IONOS.pdf
