In Agricultural Fields, Drones Could Scare Off Birds

Commercial crops around the world are damaged by pest birds, causing significant problems for farmers. The adverse economic impact caused by pest birds has spurred the development of a cost-effective and automated deterrent.

An automated drone system designed to scare away pest birds, such as European starlings and crows, is currently being developed by scientists. A human is not required to drive off avian irritants from these unmanned aerial vehicles.

The has successfully exhibited 2 vital steps of the research, one is bird detection, and another is automated deploying of drones. For the study, they create tiny drones and deployed them on small fields, with simulated birds.

To make it easy to understand, this system is identical to the drone package delivery systems. Though not commercially available yet, the team is very hopeful, that it will be soon available to the growers. The few hurdles include keeping it up to date with drone regulations, ensuring it works at scale, and deterring birds even where drones are commonly flown.

Three studies have been conducted about drones and bird pests, the third being the automation research. The first study showed that drones flying randomly around vineyards drove birds away or kept them away. Fourfold fewer birds were counted when drones were used.