PROJECT OF AN EXPERIMENTAL SIMULATOR DESIGNED TO ANALYSE PESTICIDE SPRAYING TECHNIQUES IN VINEYARD USING DRONES

This paper presents the study and the project of an innovative experimental simulator useful to experiment pesticide spraying techniques in vineyard using drones. The project was about: the study of the hydraulic circuit used to spray the pesticide, the drone characteristics, the vineyard characteristics and dimensions. This experimental simulator allows to modify and to test the flight height of the drone from the soil, the advancement velocity of the drone, the effect of the drone rotors, the number and the position of the spraying nozzles, their supply pressure and flowrate, using an original and innovative vineyard simulator designed by the authors. The dimensions of the experimental simulator is suitable to use it in a laboratory. The control of this experimental simulator was designed following a specific flowchart that allows preliminary to configurate the bench and to carry out the tests. The vine leaves were simulated using hydro sensible papers or real vine leaves. Using both these solutions authors want to test the performance of the hydraulic circuits and the distribution of the droplets in the crop. The vineyard is simulated with a structure designed in real scale (1:1), whose dimensions was obtained from a real crop. This structure allows to change the collocation of the devices used to test the hydraulics circuits and simulating the vine leaves.