Evaluation and Experiment of Flight Parameter Quality of the Plant Protection UAV Based on Laser Tracker

• Main Authors: Xin Huang, Xiaoya Dong, Jing Ma, Kuan Liu, Shibbir Ahmed, Jinlong Lin, Fiaz Ahmad, Baijing Qiu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-07-01
• Series: Agriculture
• Subjects: plant protection UAV; flight parameter quality; laser tracker; accurate measurement
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/11/7/628

Research shows that the accurate acquisition of flight parameters of the plant protection UAV and accurate evaluation of flight parameter quality have great significance for improving the effect and precision of spraying. In order to further improve the accuracy of the flight parameter quality evaluation of the plant protection UAV, this study conducted an evaluation and experiment of the flight parameter quality of the plant protection UAV using a laser tracker. The experimental results showed that the current plant protection UAV used the average altitude and speed of the onboard sensors to determine whether it reached the preset flight operation parameters, but this interpretation method could not accurately reflect the actual flight situation. Laser trackers could obtain more accurate flight parameters, especially instantaneous flight parameters. Compared with the laser tracker, the flight trajectory, altitude, and speed of the UAV reflected by onboard sensors were erroneous and tended to be smooth and stable. This method can obtain more accurate flight parameters, improve the accuracy of the flight parameter quality evaluation of the plant protection UAV, and provide data support and a reference for the precision spraying and performance improvement of the plant protection UAV.