A Study of Using A Fleet of UAV to Spray Pesticides in The Rice Field

• Main Authors: CHIEN, WEI-CHEN, 簡偉臣
• Other Authors: HUANG, CHI-KONG
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2019
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/nbvae8

碩士 === 國立雲林科技大學 === 工業工程與管理系 === 107 === Rice is a staple Chinese food which is the largest crop in Taiwan. It is necessary to spray pesticides immediately for preventing the spread of pests and diseases. Nowadays, the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are invented to carry out pesticide spraying operations. It is also necessary to consider that the UAVs need to refill the pesticide and change the battery in a large field. This operation can be investigated as an agricultural field operations problem (AFOP) which is the major topic in this study. This study transforms the AFOP into a capacitated vehicle routing problem (CVRP). The goal of this study is to find an efficient method for arranging UAVs routing, refilling pesticides operation, and schedule of changing the battery. A mixed integer linear program mathematical model is developed to minimize the maximum operating time of UAVs. The overall operation time includes: (1) travel time, (2) operation time, (3) refilling time, and (4) changing battery time. A mathematical model is developed first. The solution algorithm is then developed by using the logic of Mix-opt simulated annealing algorithm. The solution program using Python language is also developed to solve a real-world problem. The Taguchi method is used to find better parameters used in the solution algorithm. Finally, a sensitivity analysis is conducted including: (1) adjust the UAVs spraying direction, (2) adjust the number of spraying UAVs, and (3) adjust the UAVs spraying rate. Based on the results of sensitivity analysis, suggestions and conclusions are made to provide the management level of agricultural operations.