LiDAR-Assisted UAV Variable-Rate Spraying System

In wheat pest and disease control methods, pesticide application occupies a dominant position, and the use of UAVs for precise pesticide application is a key technology in precision agriculture. However, it is difficult for existing UAV spraying systems to accurately achieve variable spraying according to crop growth conditions, resulting in pesticide waste and environmental pollution. To address this issue, this paper proposes a LiDAR-assisted UAV variable-speed spraying system. Firstly, a biomass estimation model based on LiDAR data and RGB data is constructed, LiDAR point cloud data and RGB data are extracted from the target farmland, and, after preprocessing, key parameters including LiDAR feature variables, canopy cover, and visible-light vegetation indices are extracted from the two types of data. Using these key parameters as model inputs, multiple machine learning methods are employed to build a wheat biomass estimation model, and a variable spraying prescription map is generated based on the spatial distribution of biomass. Secondly, the variable-speed spraying system is constructed, which integrates a prescription map interpretation module and a PWM control module. Under the guidance of the variable spraying prescription map, the spraying rate is adjusted to achieve real-time variable spraying. Finally, a comparative experiment is designed, and the results show that the LiDAR-assisted UAV variable spraying system designed in this study performs better than the traditional constant-rate spraying system; while maintaining equivalent spraying effects, the usage of chemical agents is significantly reduced by 30.1%, providing a new technical path for reducing pesticide pollution and lowering grain production costs.