Achievements and Opportunities of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Precision Agriculture
Dr. Alfonso Torres-Rua, Ph.D.
ABSTRACT
Increasing challenges in water supply access and reliability, as well as the need for improved productivity per land unit, is encouraging the development of technologies such as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), as a means to capture detailed information on vegetation conditions within and across farms to inform management decisions. UAVs have been available for more than a decade and past and ongoing research is showing a wide range of applications where this technology is proving of great value. This is especially true in the areas of consumptive water use and stress, where UAVs have shown significant advances and accuracy. Nevertheless, UAVs are seldom used in commercial agriculture due to challenges towards the “last mile problem” or the seamless integration of UAV products into farming activities. This presentation will provide a summary of the UAV research being conducted by the Utah State University groups: The Agricola Research Team and the AggieAir UAV Program, in conjunction with different United States’ federal and states water agencies to advance the use of UAVs in water management in agriculture, as well as discuss the detected roadblocks limiting wider use of UAVs that need to be addressed as regulation, technology, and science evolve in the next years.
BIOSKETCH
Doctor in Philosophy Civil and Environmental Engineering Utah State University, 2011.
Master of Science Biological and Irrigation Engineering Utah State University, 2006.
Bachelor of Science Agricultural Engineering La Molina National Agrarian University, 2000.
Expertise: My research and teaching focus on water management from a spatial perspective. Therefore, my efforts are in remote sensing technology, applications, and solutions for natural, urban, and agricultural environments. For technology, using ground, unmanned aerial vehicles, and satellites to understand water-related processes. In applications, understanding and accurate estimation of water balance components and abiotic stressors influence. Lastly, physical, data-driven, and hybrid solutions are needed due to weather and climate, crops, and soil human management variability and interactions.