International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering Website: www.ijetae.com (E-ISSN 2250-2459, Scopus Indexed, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 12, Issue 04, April 2022) Manuscript Received: 22 Feb 2022, Received in Revised form: 19 March 2022, Accepted: 01 April 2022 DOI: 10.46338/ijetae0422_10 67 Drone Implementation in Precision Agriculture – A Survey Mohamad Hazwan Mohd Ghazali 1 , Azwati Azmin 2 , Wan Rahiman 3 1,2,3 School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia Engineering Campus, 14300 Nibong Tebal, Penang, Malaysia 3 Cluster of Smart Port and Logistic Technology (COSPALT), Universiti Sains Malaysia Engineering Campus, 14300 Nibong Tebal, Penang, Malaysia Abstract— Drones have been widely applied in the precision agriculture sector in the past few years. Incorporating artificial intelligence (AI), sensors, microcontrollers, and the Internet of Things (IoT) into the drones can help overcome the challenges faced by the farmers, such as livestock monitoring, wide land area, crop spraying, and in-depth crop health analysis. In this paper, several drone applications in precision agriculture are discussed, including the hardware and techniques involved. In addition, commercial agricultural drones available in the market to date are presented. The publications trend regarding drone application in precision agriculture is also included and based on reviewing more than 50 articles, a quadcopter-type drone is the most used drone in this sector, and seed planting is the least explored drone application area. Keywords—camera, crop monitoring, drone, mapping, spraying system I. INTRODUCTION Precision agriculture can be defined as the application of technologies that integrates information systems, smart machinery, sensors, computers, and well-organized management for the purpose of improving the crop performance and environmental quality, under variabilities within the agricultural system [1, 2]. It is one of the most prominent areas to be explored by drones. In Malaysia, agriculture sector contributes about 8% to the national GDP as of third quarter (Q3) 2020 (refer Figure 1) and provides employment for 16% of Malaysia's population [3]. Agriculture in Malaysia can be distinguished into primary commodities, with palm oil and rubber as the main export and agro-food production (paddy, vegetables, fruits, livestock, etc.), which is in conjunction with the national food security agenda. According to [4], it was discovered that 80% of farmers in Kedah, Malaysia practice unsustainable agricultural system due to the pressure of reaching yield target and poor management system. This can also be said to other states in Malaysia. To address these issues, precision agriculture can be implemented as this practice is effective in improving the productivity, management system, saving time, and reducing the usage of harmful chemical substances that might harm the atmosphere and human. Figure 1. Malaysia’s national GDP as of third quarter 2020 Precision agriculture is closely related to the application of drone as the smart machinery to accomplish certain tasks in a more effective, safer, and faster way. Drone is typically equipped with global positioning system (GPS), propellers, brushless motors, flight controller, and electronic speed controller (ESC), and it is controlled by the radio channel transmitter and receiver. What makes drone interesting is that it can be modified according to our own needs by installing some hardware and algorithms on it. It can perform crucial tasks such as in-depth analysis on the plant and soil conditions, 3D mapping of the agriculture land, and pesticides and fertilizer distribution, which is very difficult to be achieved by manual labor, especially for thousands of hectares of land. Compared to the remote sensing using satellites or manned aircrafts, employing drones in precision agriculture provides a higher functionality, more cost-effective, and comes with a better spectral and spatial resolution [5].