Automated Pest Sampling using Unmanned Aerial Systems

Abstract.

The use of multirotor drones to take images of croplands has become widespread in crop-related research of insects and pests. These images are useful for identifying locations of crop damage, but have failed to positively identify the type of pest causing the damage. To account for this lack of functionality, researchers and/or producers are walking to the damaged area and manually taking samples. This approach is slow, imprecise, and labor intensive. This paper explores the possibility of automating the pest collection process by developing a multirotor drone attachment capable of lowering itself to the correct depth in the canopy of the crop and using suction to take samples from the damaged area. We have built a functional prototype of such a device using a PI height controlled spool apparatus, suction trap, and collection bins. Testing has demonstrated that this prototype is capable of capturing all species of pest captured by a comparable manual collection.