Abstract
Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) have been hugely developed in recent year. In particular, small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are very promising in monitoring application. Their flexibility, ease of operation and relative low-cost make them the best candidates for monitoring activity in precision farming, where prompt reactions to plant disease, lack of plants nutrients and environmental changes are the focal point to farm efficiency and productivity.
Recent development in high-resolution remote sensing and image processing technology has yield to small-size sensors compatible with small UAV payload weight. Each kind of sensor needs a certain flight pattern over the fields.
Nevertheless, a Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) used for specialized operations or experimental activities has to be compliant with National Civil Aviation Authority regulations. Pre-flight and post-flight procedures are necessary to ensure an appropriate level of safety to the specialized operations. A restriction in term of maximum distance of the flying platform to the pilot is also applied.
The aim of this paper is the management analysis of RPAS for their use in precision agriculture, taking into account the Italian regulatory prescription (ENAC, 2013) and commercial sensor characteristics. UAVs are here treated similarly to any other farm machine, providing actual rates of works and expected operative costs. These are derived considering the aforesaid constraints, that lead to the analysis of hierarchical time elements associated to the different ways of planning a flight mission of the UAV on the field to be monitored. The analysis even includes in-field pre-flight calibration and post-processing needs.