The drone, synonymous with bombs, missiles and war, is now buzzing over fields. While this one appears to be a first cousin of sorts, it is being put to good use - surveying fields and using high-resolution sensors to improve crop yield and decrease damage.

Krishi Mela (Indian Agricultural Research Institute) 2014 was the ideal launch pad for the first drones of the farm sector.

These unmanned aerial vehicles, developed by Keyfalcon Solutions, will be used by officials of the agriculture department to know what's going on in fields in their taluks, the condition of the crops, to spot crop damage before it spreads, and apply chemicals with honeybee precision.

Why farms? Dr KT Rangaswamy, professor of plant pathology explains: "Crop damage analysis is a tedious process when covering a huge area as there are no ways to cover or reach fields. There is also a need to record the reason for damage of crops at the taluk level, along with evidence, so that corrective steps can be incorporated for future yield. To overcome this, drones are used to conduct aerial surveys that are connected with Android mobile apps to record field details."

He added: "A quadcopter is used to record images and capture videos from several different angles and distances, and using an Android app, the images are sent online to an expert team. Periodical aerial surveys are conducted at the taluk level for different types of crops, its health status is recorded and a detailed report submitted to agriculture experts on how to deal with this particular problem."

Source - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/