The Role of UAVs in Modern Agriculture: Precision Spraying and Crop Health Analysis

Dear Colleagues,

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are playing an increasingly important role in modern agriculture, particularly in plant health assessment, pest detection, and precision spraying. As such drones are not impeded by physical barriers—they can move in any direction above plants and at varying heights, and can reach places that cannot be reached by ground equipment. Thanks to advanced sensors and artificial intelligence, drones can quickly and accurately monitor the condition of crops over large areas, identifying plants at risk of disease or pest attack. Mapping the field and identifying areas of change enables farmers to take preventive or corrective action at the most appropriate time. In terms of spraying, drones make it possible to apply chemicals precisely to the plants that require protection, which significantly reduces treatment time and the amount of pesticide used, thus minimizing negative impacts on the environment. The automation of this process reduces costs and increases the effectiveness of protective measures. The role of drones in agriculture is expected to continue growing, contributing to higher yields, improved environmental protection, and sustainable development.

This Special Issue aims to gather together original scientific articles and review articles that provide insights into the use of unmanned aerial vehicles for the identification and precise control of crop pests.

This Special Issue will welcome manuscripts that link the following themes:

• The effects of using various optical cameras and other sensors on the identification of plant pests;
• The use of drones for mapping fields and habitats of weeds, pests, and diseases in crops—methods, and approaches;
• The design, equipment, precision, and parameters of unmanned aerial vehicles used for crop spraying;
• Analysis of liquid application to plants and the biological effectiveness of plant spraying performed by drones;
• Artificial intelligence and automation in plant pest identification and spraying processes;
• Numerical simulations in the analysis of physical phenomena occurring during plant spraying from drones.

We look forward to receiving your original research articles and reviews.

Prof. Dr. Jerzy Chojnacki
Dr. Simone Pascuzzi
Dr. Marcin Siłuch
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. Drones 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.

• drone crop monitoring
• field mapping
• vegetation indexes
• imaging and sensor technologies
• artificial intelligence
• aerial spraying
• remote agriculture
• digital simulations