Herbicide Ballistic Technology for Unmanned Aircraft Systems

• Published in: Robotics (Basel) Vol. 11; no. 1; p. 22
• Main Authors: Rodriguez, Roberto, Leary, James J. K., Jenkins, Daniel M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.02.2022
• Subjects: Accuracy; aerial application; Aircraft; Automation; Aviation; Cameras; Containment; Flight plans; Flight time; Ground stations; Helicopters; Herbicides; Pesticides; precision application; Projectiles; Prototypes; Strategic management; Surveillance; Transmitters; Unmanned aircraft; unmanned aircraft system; Watersheds; Hawaii; United States > US
• DOI: 10.3390/robotics11010022
• ISSN: 2218-6581

Miconia is a highly invasive plant species with incipient plants occupying remote areas of Hawaiian watersheds. Management of these incipient plants is integral to current containment strategies. Herbicide Ballistic Technology (HBT) has been used for 8 years from helicopters as a precision approach to target individual plants. We have developed a prototype HBT applicator integrated onto an unmanned aircraft system, HBT-UAS, which offers the same precision approach with a semi-automated flight plan. Inclusion of the HBT payload resulted in statistically significant deviations from programmed flight plans compared to the unencumbered UAS, but the effect size was lower than that observed for different stages of flight. The additional payload of the HBT-UAS resulted in a large reduction in available flight time resulting a limited range of 22 m. The projectile spread of the HBT-UAS, within a 2–10 m range, had a maximum CEP of 1.87–5.58 cm. The most substantial limitation of the current prototype HBT-UAS is the available flight time. The use of larger capacity UAS and potential for beyond visual line of sight operations would result in a substantial improvement in the serviceable area and utility of the HBT-UAS for containment of invasive plants.