Taking flight: Deploying unmanned aerial systems for insect sampling in soybeans

Monday, November 11, 2024

11:54 AM – 12:06 PM MST

Location: Phoenix Convention Center, 131 A, PCC

Presenting Author(s)

WL

William Covington Lockhart, Sr.

Mississippi State University, Mississippi

Co-Author(s)

Fred R. Musser (he/him/his)

Professor and Interim Head
Mississippi State University, Mississippi
TT

Tyler B. Towles

Research and Extension Entomologist
Mississippi State University
Stoneville, Mississippi
JW

Joseph Whittenton

Mississippi State University
Starkville, Mississippi
MM

Marvin Merkl

Mississippi State University, Mississippi

Insect scouting in soybean is needed throughout the season, situationally it is a time-consuming task. When beans are tall, soils are wet, or beans are planted in narrows rows, walking through these fields can be nearly impossible. To overcome these limitations of manual sampling, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) sampling platform was developed that can collect insects in a sweep net attached to the bottom of the UAV. This system has been named the “Drone Insect Net Sampling System” (DINSS). Previous research has been done with this system has shown positive statistical correlations when comparing to traditional manual sampling methods. In efforts to improve this system, modifications were made to the system to hopefully increase insect counts per sample and to establish stronger positive correlations. But after statistical analyzation, it was found that there were no significant increases in sample counts. Finally, to validate this sampling method, multiple pilots and multiple aircrafts were employed to test for possible sampler bias from pilot to pilot as well as differences in sample counts among different size aircrafts.