UAV-Based Surveys at ASU Experimental Field

The Educational Experimental Facility “Nachalo” of Astrakhan State University keeps conducting surveys with the use of unmanned air vehicles and artificial intelligence in agriculture.

According to Aleksandr Koshkarov, the Head of the ASU Research Laboratory of Big Data & Digital Technologies, the gardens of the Educational Experimental Facility “Nachalo” are an excellent experimental base for collecting data and conducting a survey, especially in August.

“Our research is aimed at using technologies of computer vision and artificial intelligence to detect problem areas on agricultural fields like arid areas, plant diseases, weeds and pests. To develop the learning algorithms, it’s necessary to collect relevant data, in our case these are, above all, aerial photos. The season of active ripening and subsequent harvesting is a good period for collecting additional data and raising the quality of the developed models,” says the scientist.

The application of decision-making systems in digital agriculture on the basis of artificial intelligence may help farmers make more reasonable and accurate decisions, save resources, take control of plant health and of the agribusiness development dynamics.