Theses and Dissertations

Advisor

Lowe, John

Committee Member

Turnage Jr., Lee

Committee Member

de Avila, Luis

Committee Member

Chesser, G.

Date of Degree

8-12-2026

Original embargo terms

Immediate Worldwide Access

Document Type

Graduate Thesis - Open Access

Major

Agriculture (Engineering Technology)

Degree Name

Master of Science (M.S.)

College

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Department

Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering

Abstract

Uncrewed aerial application systems (UAAS) are increasingly used for agricultural spraying, but spray deposition uniformity and effective swath width can vary between platforms. This study evaluated spray-pattern deposition and effective swath width for two commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) UAAS platforms during manual and autonomous flight operations. Manual, single-pass testing was used to assess preliminary performance and spray characteristics for both UAAS. Further autonomous multi-pass and single-pass evaluations were conducted to assess deposition uniformity and in-swath variability for both UAAS utilizing two methods of evaluation: Operation Self-regulating Application & Flight Efficiency (S.A.F.E.) pattern testing for manual flight evaluation and the Swath Gobbler system for autonomous flight evaluations. Pattern evaluations from manual, single-pass flights demonstrated highly variable, non-uniform spray pattern distributions for both UAAS. Multi-pass autonomous flight evaluation showed no differences across the 6.10 m (20 ft) swath width for UAAS A (P = 0.0618) and UAAS B (p = 0.3021). In contrast, single-pass autonomous flight evaluations showed difference across the 18.29 m (60 ft) evaluated swath width for both UAAS platforms (p < 0.001). These findings emphasize the need for platform-specific swath width calibration before field application.

Sponsorship (Optional)

Mississippi Corn Promotion Board

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