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First drone “swarms” allowed in agriculture

The use of drones, or unmanned aerial systems, to spray crops is gaining popularity.

Arthur Erickson, CEO and co-founder with Texas-based Hylio Drones, says there are several contributing factors.

“Besides being cheaper, and safer, and easier to deploy,”  he says, “the drones have some physical characteristics to them that make their applications more effective.”

He says a recent Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) exemption means Hylio can now utilize “swarms” of three drone sprayers with one operator.

“Before this ruling, the FAA would require two people out per drone over 55 lbs.”  He says, “And so most of these drones in this application space for crop inputs are well over 55 lbs, so that would be 6 people with a swarm of three drones, which doesn’t really make sense. It’s counterintuitive to the whole point of drones.”

Erickson tells Brownfield each drone can spray 50 acres per hour.

“It’s a big jump from 50 acres to around 150.”  He says, “It basically puts the drones on par with some of these large ground rigs that people deploy, or even some of these helicopters that are out there.”

He says the technical capabilities and safety features to operate multiple drones at once in a field have been available for quite some time.

“For example, we have redundant power systems. We have redundant GPS systems.”  He says, “We have redundant radar systems for obstacle detection and avoidance. So, these things really can operate without human intervention and the human is just there as a failsafe and to give high level commands to do these things.” 

Erickson says he expects other drone manufacturers to also apply for the exemption, which would expand the use of swarms to more fields across the country.

“So finally, the law caught up to what we technically have been able to do for years,” he says.

Hylio began using drone swarms in southern growing regions this spring.

AUDIO: Arthur Erickson – CEO @ Hylio Drones