(Chinese Version)

In the past month, DJI, also known as Dajiang, has released three products consecutively, including Mavic Pro, Phantom4 Pro and Inspir 2 globally. By adopting real-time obstacle avoidance and intelligent shooting technology in these new products, DJI not only consolidates its position in the UAV hardware market, but also ensures that its products are increasingly favored by aerial photographers.

However, besides being a UAV hardware company and an aerial photographing solution provider, DJI is also an agricultural plant protection UAV solution provider, an identity less known by the public. The other days, DJI released in low profile an agricultural plant protection drone in Xinjiang called MG-1S. This new product will become a good helper for farmers.

What are agricultural plant protection drones used for?

For sure, agriculture is the national economic lifeline in China. Plant protection, as an important part of agricultural and forestry production, is mainly about the prevention and control of disease, insects and other forms of harm. In this case, agricultural plant protection drones are mainly multi-rotor drones used to spray pesticides on agricultural and forestry plants, seeds as well as perform other types of plant protection operations.

The work principle of this type of drone is very similar to that of the Phantom series drones we usually see. However, since this type of drones often need to carry pesticides and work for long period of time, they are several times bigger in size than consumer-level drones. For example, MG-1S’s wheelbase can reach 1,520mm, while Phantom 4 Pro's wheelbase is only 350mm.

Based on the previous version, released last year, DJI upgrades the flight control system, environment detection system and spray system in the latest version MG-1S.

1. Flight control system: DJI adopts its most advanced A3 flight control system in MG-1S. It is said that this is a set of solution specifically designed for agricultural usage and can keep the drones stable when they are spraying liquid pesticides. In addition, the “redundant” dual barometer and dual compass allow the flight control system to switch to another set of sensors in times of malfunctioning.

2. Environment detection system: MG-1S is equipped with a high-precision millimeter-wave radar on the front side, the rear side as well as on the bottom. The radar on the front and rear side can be pre-detect the terrain, while the radar on the bottom can measure the height accurately. Through uninterrupted scanning, MG-1S can the detect terrain changes on the way forward in advance, and thus adjust the flight height in time in accordance with the terrain and crop height. As a result, MG-1S can achieve imitation flight and ensure that pesticides are sprayed evenly on crops.

3. Spray system: MG-1S is equipped with two customized pumps that can control two pairs of nozzles on the front and rear side. These pumps allow users to select among three different spray modes: front single spray, rear single spray and double spray, according to different operational needs,

There are more drones than drone operators

The operating process of agricultural plant protection drones is very fixed. Basically, this types of drones only need to conduct low-height flight on agricultural farms. However, this doesn't mean that the operation is also simple. Still, the operators need to master a series of spraying and other skills. Therefore, agricultural plant protection drones are mainly operated by professional UAV teams, which also gives birth to a new occupation: Plant Protection Team.

In a Plant Protection Team, only operators who have received special training and got the certificate can go on to operate drones. As a matter of fact, DJI even established a UAV Training Center called “Huifei” (which literally means “being able to fly” in Chinese) this June to provide necessary professional training and cultivate skilled UAV operators.

After passing the examination, qualified trainees will receive two certificates verified by two associations, namely, the "Unmanned Aerial Vehicle System Operation Certificate" co-issued by the General Aviation Branch of China Aviation Association and China Adult Education Association, as well as the "Certificate of Qualified Student" issued by Hui Fei UAV Training Center.

Up to now, the training center has trained a total of more than 600 professional drone operators and around 120 teachers, most of whom used to be drone operators. Still, it’s much more quickly to promote drones to the public than train professional drone operators. Therefore, while the scale of the drone market is rapidly growing, drone operators have become a scarce resource.

The promising agricultural plant protection drone market

According to official statistics, since its release, DJI has sold in total 2,500 MG-1, the first version of DJI’s agricultural plant protection drone. Compared with sales volume of DJI’s consumer-level drones, MG-1’s sales volume is like a drop in the bucket. Still, it’s already remarkable in this less-known market.

Statistics show that the cumulative operating area of these 2,500 agriculture drones reached more than 10 million mu (around 1.64 million acres) in the past year, while China's total arable land area is about 2.025 billion mu (around 333.59 million acres), based on "China Land and Resources Bulletin 2015"’s data. Even if there are no DJI’s agriculture drones only cover less than one percent of China’s total area of arable land. It is obvious that the penetration rate of drones is still very limited in agriculture.

Although DJI is the dominant leader in the consumer-level UAV market, no UAV maker has the absolute advantage in the agricultural plant protection drone market. DJI, at most, can only be regarded as a potent competitor in this less-known but promising market.

……………………………

(Like our Facebook page and follow us now on Twitter @tmtpostenglish, on Medium @TMTpost, on Instagram @tmtpost_english and on Apple News@TMTpost)

[The article is published and edited with authorization from the author @TiGeek, please note source and hyperlink when reproduce.]

Translated by Levin Feng (Senior Translator at PAGE TO PAGE), working for TMTpost.