Chapter 1

1. Introduction

We all know that our country Philippines has many fields that can be farmed by our farmers. Farmers manually plant and harvest the crops since long time ago. As years go by, technology has helped people in agriculture that makes their works done faster. To help the farmers to lessen their time and energy consumed every plant and harvest operation, the solution is unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone and also referred by several other names according to the proponent, an aircraft without a human pilot aboard. The flight of UAVs may be controlled either autonomously by on board computers or by the remote control of a pilot on the ground or in another vehicle. If precision technology has driven the farming revolution of recent years, monitoring crops from the sky will drive the next. With a drone or UAV you can capture highly accurate images of your fields, covering up to hundreds of hectares or acres in a single flight without the cost and hassle of manned services. At a far greater resolution than satellite imagery provides, even when there is cloud cover. By using image processing software you can then transform these shots into one large 'orthomosaic' image. This map is the key to boosting yields, cutting costs, and driving your business forwards. It highlights exactly which areas of crop need closer examination - meaning less time spent scouting, and more time treating the plants that need it.

1. Statement of the Problem

1. General Problem

How to design, develop and implement a dronethat can give assistance to the farmers in their planting and caring of their crops.

1. Specific Problem

1. How to design, develop and implement a module that can help to monitor their crops?

Farmers always monitor their crops by walking in the field to check its conditions but not all of crops can be monitored by walking.

1. How to design, develop and implement a module that can help the farmers to keep away the animal pests?

Insects are not only the pests in their farm, there are also animals that are eating the crops.

1. How to design, develop and implement a module that can spray a fertilizer or pesticide on their tall crops that hard to reach by farmer?

Farmers that do not have a farm tractor spraya fertilizer or pesticide using a backpack sprayer. By using this some taller crops or trees are hard to reach because of the backpack sprayer’s limited range.

1. How to design, develop and implement a module that can help a farmer in seed planting?

Farmers that have no seed planting machine use their hands. This would result to a longer time to finish planting in a large field.

1. Current State of the Technology

1. Global Positioning System

"GPS or Global Positioning System is a network of orbiting satellites that send precise details of their position in space back to earth. The signals are obtained by GPS receivers, such as navigation devices and are used to calculate the exact position, speed and time of the vehicles’ location."[MIOG2011]

1. Microcontroller

"A single chip that contains the processor (the CPU), non-volatile memory for the program (ROM or flash), volatile memory for input and output (RAM), a clock and an I/O control unit. Available in numerous sizes and architectures, and also called a "computer on a chip”." [PCMA1996]