{"title":"The application of UAV technology in maize crop protection strategies: A review","authors":"Yongwei Yan, Fa Song, Jiyu Sun","doi":"10.1016/j.compag.2025.110679","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) play an important role in precision agriculture (PA). UAVs can achieve efficient plant protection operations by carrying advanced sensors for real-time monitoring and pesticide spraying of maize crops. This paper aims to summarize recent research progress on UAVs in corn crop protection across various agricultural processes, to identify potential applications of biomimetic technology and to propose ideas for the future application of UAVs in corn crop protection. First, protection strategies for maize crops at different growth stages are explored. Agricultural applications of UAVs in maize crop protection are subsequently investigated, demonstrating their significant advantages. UAVs can facilitate efficient crop monitoring, including nutrient assessment, health assessment, disease detection, weed control, and yield estimation, providing accurate agricultural management information. Moreover, UAVs have performed well in terms of crop spraying, thereby achieving precise pest control, fertilization, and pollination, and increasing operational efficiency and crop yield. However, seeding and pollination should be investigated further. In addition, the application of biomimetic technology in crop protection UAVs is described, including drone designs, applications of biomimetic sensors and artificial intelligence technology, which can increase the monitoring accuracy, operational accuracy, and intelligence level of UAVs. Finally, future development trends in crop protection UAVs are outlined, and associated challenges are analysed.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50627,"journal":{"name":"Computers and Electronics in Agriculture","volume":"237 ","pages":"Article 110679"},"PeriodicalIF":8.9000,"publicationDate":"2025-06-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Computers and Electronics in Agriculture","FirstCategoryId":"97","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168169925007859","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"AGRICULTURE, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) play an important role in precision agriculture (PA). UAVs can achieve efficient plant protection operations by carrying advanced sensors for real-time monitoring and pesticide spraying of maize crops. This paper aims to summarize recent research progress on UAVs in corn crop protection across various agricultural processes, to identify potential applications of biomimetic technology and to propose ideas for the future application of UAVs in corn crop protection. First, protection strategies for maize crops at different growth stages are explored. Agricultural applications of UAVs in maize crop protection are subsequently investigated, demonstrating their significant advantages. UAVs can facilitate efficient crop monitoring, including nutrient assessment, health assessment, disease detection, weed control, and yield estimation, providing accurate agricultural management information. Moreover, UAVs have performed well in terms of crop spraying, thereby achieving precise pest control, fertilization, and pollination, and increasing operational efficiency and crop yield. However, seeding and pollination should be investigated further. In addition, the application of biomimetic technology in crop protection UAVs is described, including drone designs, applications of biomimetic sensors and artificial intelligence technology, which can increase the monitoring accuracy, operational accuracy, and intelligence level of UAVs. Finally, future development trends in crop protection UAVs are outlined, and associated challenges are analysed.
期刊介绍:
Computers and Electronics in Agriculture provides international coverage of advancements in computer hardware, software, electronic instrumentation, and control systems applied to agricultural challenges. Encompassing agronomy, horticulture, forestry, aquaculture, and animal farming, the journal publishes original papers, reviews, and applications notes. It explores the use of computers and electronics in plant or animal agricultural production, covering topics like agricultural soils, water, pests, controlled environments, and waste. The scope extends to on-farm post-harvest operations and relevant technologies, including artificial intelligence, sensors, machine vision, robotics, networking, and simulation modeling. Its companion journal, Smart Agricultural Technology, continues the focus on smart applications in production agriculture.