He uses drones to fly the dream of “new farmers”

There are 200 acres of rice fields in Yaolu Village, Xuanqiao Town, Pudong, which is not ordinary. This is the first 5G fully intelligent digital rice planting demonstration area in Shanghai. In other words, there are no farmers here who “face the loess and turn their backs to the sky”. Ren Liwei, the captain of Qingmei Agricultural Machinery, can finish the pesticides in one day. His “sharp weapon” is the unmanned plant protection machine.

“If it’s windy today, we won’t be able to work.” The day of the pesticide application was a good day, the sun was hiding in the clouds, and the weather was cool. As far as the eye can see, there are endless green paddy fields. Ren Liwei held the remote control in his hand. Under his control, the unmanned plant protection machine circled back and forth along the pre-set route and sprayed the pesticide evenly, leaving no dead ends.

The unmanned plant protection drone is one meter in diameter and has six wings. It is the “big man” among drones. It is mainly used for fertilizing and spraying pesticides. It can carry a 30-liter box of pesticides at a time.

“We will decide the number of times of pesticide application according to the pest situation.” Ren Liwei said that he will first plan all the plots and adjust the route parameters according to the shape of the plots. “Some places are square, some are circular, some are arcs, and some are disconnected in the middle. We have to adjust the route according to local conditions.”

The drone can hit more than 1 mu of land in 1 minute, and 5 liters of pesticides are needed for 1 mu of land. A piece of land is about 7 mu. When most of the land is finished, the pesticides are gone, and the drone flies back and accurately landed on takeoff. The anchor point – a red circle is drawn on the ground, and the drone can “see” it. The drone trip took only two or three minutes.

“Using drones to hit pesticides is fast, efficient, and saves labor. In the past, pesticides were carried out manually. It took two to three hours to hit a piece of land, while the drone only took ten minutes.” During the speech, Ren Liwei changed a piece Batteries, filled with another box of pesticides. One battery can be used for 10 minutes, 10 minutes to fully charge, 4 batteries take turns. Charging uses a mobile gasoline generator, which is very suitable for fields without power.

The drone is about to take off again. First, let the air out of the duct. “There are pedestrians or obstacles around the aircraft.” pesticide.

Smart rice fields use “black technologies” such as “5G + edge computing + AI” to breed rice in the new era. With the blessing of 5G and professional agricultural technology algorithms from national laboratories, these 200 acres of rice are cared for 24 hours a day.

When to irrigate? Want to fertilize? Are there any pests? All this information can be controlled by agricultural experts and farmers without leaving home through 5G, artificial intelligence AI algorithms and edge computing platforms.

The 5G module on the pole uploads high-definition video, pictures, and data such as temperature, humidity, and solar radiation value to the edge computing platform in real time. The artificial intelligence algorithm uses these data to accurately interpret the physiological ecology, drought, etc. during the rice growth process. Information on nutrition, pests and diseases, etc., to conduct real-time assessment of water, fertilizer, disease and other stress hazards of rice, through model analysis, to judge the occurrence intensity and development trend of pests and diseases, as well as the moisture and nitrogen conditions of rice in each farmland, and to control future pests and diseases The plan will carry out intelligent decision analysis, select the best irrigation and fertilization plan, and then let Liwei fly drones for plant protection.

Ren Liwei from Yunnan is a mechanical and electrical major. He used to do repairs and maintenance at Baosteel, and has only been in contact with drones for more than a year. Before working in agriculture, he worked in factories outside the country, and he could wander around when he was alone. Later, he just needed a reason to stabilize him-he entered the palace of marriage with his beloved. So, he and his parents came to Qingmei greenhouse to grow vegetables.

In the past, Qingmei used a professional plant protection company to fertilize and use pesticides. More than a year ago, Qingmei purchased an unmanned plant protection machine and asked Ren Liwei, who was “professional”, if he was interested in taking charge of the 200 acres of smart paddy fields. Ren Liwei readily accepted the order.

“I think smart agriculture will definitely have a future, so I want to try it.” Last year, through study and training, Ren Liwei passed the drone operation certificate and officially took the job with the certificate.

“We have added another T40 unmanned plant protection drone this time. The technology is much more advanced than the T30 in all aspects. It can automatically avoid obstacles. The technology is more and more developed, and the drones are also being updated.” 200 acres of rice fields, unmanned It only takes three or four hours for the machine to finish the pesticide.

“The early rice in the smart paddy field can be harvested next month. More than 20 varieties have been planted this year, and the quality and taste are different.” In June this year, the smart paddy field used an unmanned rice transplanter to transplant the rice. The arrangement is more uniform and neat, and it can be operated at night with infrared sensing equipment. After that, unmanned tractors and crawler-type unmanned harvesters will arrive at the base one after another, and the operation of unmanned agricultural machinery will be fully adopted. The whole process of plowing, planting, management and harvesting of rice planting will be unmanned and will soon become a reality.

“Shanghai’s agriculture is developing rapidly, and digital technology has become a key factor in enabling the rapid development of agriculture, bringing more development opportunities to our ‘new farmers’. That’s why he likes Shanghai.