A fleet of drones flies parallel lanes over the field. In Scan
mode each drone's downward camera samples a coverage grid and
flags patches of crop stress (shown in red); in Spray mode
drones instead only release chemical over those flagged patches
— precision application instead of blanket coverage.
coverage = cells_visited / total_cells
chemical_used = Σ flagged_cells × dose − saved_by_precision
lane_spacing = swath_width (set by altitude)
- Fleet size — more drones divide the field into more lanes and finish faster.
- Flight altitude — higher altitude widens each drone's camera/spray swath but reduces sensor resolution.
- Spray rate — chemical dose applied per flagged cell in Spray mode.
This mirrors real precision-agriculture drones: multispectral
cameras detect crop stress invisible to the naked eye (via NDVI),
and targeting only the stressed patches can cut chemical use by
more than half compared to blanket spraying.