CASE STUDY

• DJI T40 drone
• Aerial Ag Australia, Stewarton, Victoria.
• Contract spreading and spraying via drone
• Payload of 50kg of granules or 40L of liquid 

Based at Stewarton in north-east Victoria, Adam has been working hard to obtain his certification and licensing requirements with the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) to operate his DJI T40 drone.

Adam's business, Aerial Ag Australia, offers spreading and spraying services via drone and he hopes to add mapping soon.

"I am still working through a few final licensing requirements but pretty much a ready to go with the drone for on-property spreading and spraying," he said.

"The initial focus is spraying and spreading but I will be looking at a smaller drone to do mapping with."

Adam said the imaging drone will likely be another DJI model to keep consistency through software and data.

The T40 is a large-capacity drone with four arms and eight propellers. It is capable of lifting 50kg of granulated product or 40 litres of liquid. There is a different hopper tank for solid or liquid products.

Adam said the battery life can be a limiting factor, with about 10 minutes of flight time when the drone is loaded to capacity.

For spreading, the drone has a spinner disc with vanes, similar to a conventional linkage spreader and for liquids, rotating disc types are used which combine with the downforce of the rotors to help apply the chemical correctly.

Adam said for spraying, with a height of 3m from the ground, the swath width is about 8-10m.

"It's ideal for steep or inaccessible country," Adam said.

The drone is controlled by a handheld Android remote which has a HDMI port so it can be viewed on a larger screen or laptop.

In the paddock, GPS guidance is used and Adam can preset geofence boundaries and flight paths.

There is an extensive pre-flight check list that is a requirement for a drone of the T40's size along with the strict licensing requirements.

"The pre-flight check list includes things like the presence of dogs and livestock and you also require a radio operator's licence as you need to be in contact with air traffic communications every time the drone is in flight."