INVESTIGATION OF AERODYNAMIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL PARAMETERS OF AGRICULTURAL DRONES

Abstract

This study presents a system-level investigation of aerodynamic and technological parameters of agricultural unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) designed for aerial crop treatment under precision agriculture conditions. The research integrates computational fluid dynamics (CFD), CAD/CAE-based engineering design, aerodynamic optimization, and experimental validation to improve spraying efficiency and operational stability of agricultural drone systems. An experimental UAV platform named “ZAMINDAR” was developed and tested under real agricultural field conditions. The study evaluates airflow distribution, droplet dynamics, rotor-induced turbulence, and flight stability parameters affecting aerial spraying performance. Experimental results demonstrated that optimization of aerodynamic configuration and spraying parameters improved crop coverage uniformity up to 92.5–94.8 % while reducing chemical consumption by 18–22 %. The findings confirm the effectiveness of CFD-assisted engineering approaches for the development of resource-efficient and environmentally sustainable UAV systems for precision agriculture applications. The study focuses on system-level modeling of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), optimization of spraying parameters, and improvement of operational efficiency in precision agriculture systems. An experimental agricultural drone platform named “ZAMINDAR” was developed for precision spraying and crop monitoring applications. The research integrates CFD simulations, CAD/CAE engineering analysis, and experimental field validation. The results demonstrate that optimization of aerodynamic configuration and spraying parameters increases crop coverage uniformity up to 92.5–94.8 % while reducing chemical consumption by 18–22 %. The obtained findings confirm the effectiveness of UAV technologies in resource-efficient and digital agriculture systems.