Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
6.7
3.4
Journals
Agronomy
Special Issues
Unmanned Farms in Smart Agriculture—2nd Edition
share announcement

Unmanned Farms in Smart Agriculture—2nd Edition

A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Precision and Digital Agriculture".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 November 2025 | Viewed by 420

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Zhiyan Zhou

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Engineering, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China
Interests: onboard sensor design; sensor fusion; signal/image processing; agriculture; controlling system; navigation and position/orientation; autonomous take-off and landing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Lian Hu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Engineering, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China
Interests: intelligent agricultural machinery and equipment; unmanned farm; agricultural robots; agricultural artificial intelligence
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

At present, a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial change is emerging—information technology, biotechnology, new materials technology and new energy technology have been widely integrated into the field of agriculture, giving rise to a large number of strategic new industries, advanced manufacturing of agricultural equipment, te agricultural Internet of Things, agricultural data and agricultural robotics, and other technologies gradually applied to various areas of agricultural production. Smart agriculture has also shown a strong momentum of development and unmanned farms have become an important way to achieve smart development in agriculture. Unmanned farms are supported by biotechnology, intelligent farm machinery, and information technology. Biotechnology provides a variety of cultivation patterns adapted to mechanized operations for unmanned farms, intelligent farm machinery provides equipment support for automated operations of unmanned farms, and information technology provides support for precise positioning, data transmission, and the intelligent management of unmanned farms for operation by farm machinery.

Previously, we successfully published a Special Issue entitled “Unmanned Farms in Smart Agriculture”, and we now propose a second edition covering a broader range of applications.

In this Special Issue, we aim to exchange knowledge on any aspect related to unmanned farms in smart agriculture, thus promoting the rapid development of agricultural mechanization and intelligence, and facilitating the construction of unmanned farms in a period of rapid development.

Prof. Dr. Zhiyan Zhou
Prof. Dr. Lian Hu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Agronomy is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • smart agriculture
  • unmanned farms
  • intelligent farm machinery
  • automatic navigation
  • precision operation
  • unmanned farm
  • information technology
  • agricultural internet of things
  • smart management

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Related Special Issue

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

20 pages, 3588 KiB  
Article
Design and Experimental Operation of a Swing-Arm Orchard Sprayer
by Zhongyi Yu, Mingtian Geng, Keyao Zhao, Xiangsen Meng, Hongtu Zhang and Xiongkui He
Agronomy 2025, 15(7), 1706; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy15071706 - 15 Jul 2025
Viewed by 256
Abstract
In recent years, the traditional orchard sprayer has had problems, such as waste of liquid agrochemicals, low target coverage, high manual dependence, and environmental pollution. In this study, an automatic swing-arm sprayer for orchards was developed based on the standardized pear orchard in [...] Read more.
In recent years, the traditional orchard sprayer has had problems, such as waste of liquid agrochemicals, low target coverage, high manual dependence, and environmental pollution. In this study, an automatic swing-arm sprayer for orchards was developed based on the standardized pear orchard in Pinggu, Beijing. Firstly, the structural principles of a crawler-type traveling system and swing-arm sprayer were simulated using finite element software design. The combination of a diffuse reflection photoelectric sensor and Arduino single-chip microcomputer was used to realize real-time detection and dynamic spray control in the pear canopy, and the sensor delay compensation algorithm was used to optimize target recognition accuracy and improve the utilization rate of liquid agrochemicals. Through the integration of innovative structural design and intelligent control technology, a vertical droplet distribution test was carried out, and the optimal working distance of the spray was determined to be 1 m; the nozzle angle for the upper layer was 45°, that for the lower layer was 15°, and the optimal speed of the swing-arm motor was 75 r/min. Finally, a particle size test and field test of the orchard sprayer were completed, and it was concluded that the swing-arm mode increased the pear tree canopy droplet coverage by 74%, the overall droplet density by 21.4%, and the deposition amount by 23% compared with the non-swing-arm mode, which verified the practicability and reliability of the swing-arm spray and achieved the goal of on-demand pesticide application in pear orchards. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Unmanned Farms in Smart Agriculture—2nd Edition)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-1
Back to TopTop