title: Use of a terrestrial LIDAR sensor for drift detection in vineyard spraying.
abstract: The use of a scanning Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) system to characterize drift during pesticide application is described. The LIDAR system is compared with an ad hoc test bench used to quantify the amount of spray liquid moving beyond the canopy. Two sprayers were used during the field test; a conventional mist blower at two air flow rates (27,507 and 34,959 m3·h(-1)) equipped with two different nozzle types (conventional and air injection) and a multi row sprayer with individually oriented air outlets. A simple model based on a linear function was used to predict spray deposit using LIDAR measurements and to compare with the deposits measured over the test bench. Results showed differences in the effectiveness of the LIDAR sensor depending on the sprayed droplet size (nozzle type) and air intensity. For conventional mist blower and low air flow rate; the sensor detects a greater number of drift drops obtaining a better correlation (r = 0.91; p < 0.01) than for the case of coarse droplets or high air flow rate. In the case of the multi row sprayer; drift deposition in the test bench was very poor. In general; the use of the LIDAR sensor presents an interesting and easy technique to establish the potential drift of a specific spray situation as an adequate alternative for the evaluation of drift potential.
authors.affiliation: Department of Agri Food Engineering and Biotechnology, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain. emilio.gil@upc.edu
authors.forename: Emilio
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gil
authors.forename: Jordi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Llorens
authors.forename: Jordi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Llop
authors.forename: Xavier
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Fàbregas
authors.forename: Montserrat
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gallart
mesh_terms: D055095:Optics and Photonics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D010575:Pesticides / Q000494:pharmacology*; D013030:Spain; D027843:Vitis / Q000187:drug effects*; D014887:Weather; D014919:Wind
chemical_list: D010575:Pesticides