This document discusses the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for agriculture in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It notes that UAE farms use over two-thirds of the country's water and covers approximately 200,000 acres of land. UAVs can provide high-resolution images from 1cm to view crop health through metrics like NDVI, helping save costs, time and resources compared to traditional ground surveys or lower-resolution satellite imagery. The document outlines UAV applications like crop management, livestock monitoring, water quality checks, and precision weed/pest control. It also notes factors to consider when choosing a UAV platform and provides an example of detailed imagery and NDVI maps collected from agricultural UAV

1. UAV use for
Agriculture
in the UAE
Peter Dawson
Senior Technical Lecturer
Institute of Applied Technology
Abu Dhabi

3. Topics Covered
• Farming in the UAE
• Reasons to use UAV’s
• How we see the health of crops
• What do we use
• Overflight results
• UAV applications in agriculture

4. Farming in the UAE
• Approximately 24,000 farms
• Two-thirds of Emirates water
consumption
• 200,00 acres of land cultivated

6. Reasons to use UAV’s
• Global environmental concerns
• Cost savings
• Timely data

7. Methods
• Traditional
– Labor intensive

8. Methods
• Satellite
– 5m resolution possible

9. Methods
• Unmanned Aircraft
– 1cm resolution possible

10. Differences

11. “UAV technology allows us to view
the landscape from an elevated
perspective”
It gives us information that may not
just be difficult to determine from
ground level but, may well be
impossible.

12. How do we see the health?
• NVDI
–Normalized Difference Vegetation
Index

13. NDVI

14. What do we use?
• A digital camera

15. Accuracy of Data
• Accuracy depends on
– Image resolution
–GPS quality and accuracy
–Camera position and time
–Ground control points
–Flight Planning

16. Post Production
• Raw Data
• Computing power or “Cloud”
• Finally – the end product
–Actual data we can use

17. Overflight Results
Pivot irrigated potatoes
and carrots
South Australia, Australia
2014

19. Flight Plan
Distance: 29 km
Altitude: 400 ft (123m)
Coverage: 390 acres
Time in air: 31 minutes

20. Color Infrared Orthomosaic

21. Colorized NDVI Map (carrots)
Low High
Mechanical
Issue

22. Platform Choice
• What is your budget
• What is the size of the project or
farm
• What is the accuracy requirements
• Environmental considerations
• Take-off and landing area

23. UAV Applications
• Crop management

24. UAV Applications
• Livestock management
Food
Stores
No reaction from cattle
Rumen bulges indicate fed condition

25. UAV Applications
• Water sources
Toxic Algae

26. UAV Applications
• Fence lines and facilities

27. UAV Applications
• Biomass
Higher Rice
Biomass
Less Rice
Biomass
Low/no Rice
Biomass
Higher Rice BiomassLow/no Rice Biomass

28. UAV Applications
• Weed spraying and pest control

29. Types of UAV’s
• Fixed Wing
• Multi
• Hybrid

30. Questions &
Answers