Before the Course
Participants must complete a 3-hour online preparation course before attending the in-person training.
Day 1 — Spray Fundamentals & Mission Planning
Morning
9:00 AM — Welcome & Introductions
Course introduction and overview of the two-day program. The schedule may be adjusted according to weather conditions to accommodate practical flight training.
9:30 AM — Introduction to Product Application by Drone
Explore the complete Scout–Map–Apply workflow through a demonstration. Review agricultural spraying equipment, its capabilities, and practical operational considerations.
10:45 AM — Regulatory Issues: Aviation & Pesticides
Examine aviation and pesticide application requirements, including applicable certification and authorization processes for agricultural spray drone operations.
12:00–1:00 PM — Lunch Provided
Afternoon
1:00 PM — Spray Quality & Drift
Explore atomization, droplet size, spray distribution, coverage, off-target deposition, and drift. Review the relationship between flight parameters, weather, spray quality, and application effectiveness, including practical demonstrations.
3:15 PM — Flight Planning & Mission Design
Learn to design spraying and spreading missions, establish field boundaries, determine application volumes, calibrate pass width, and configure flight speeds and altitudes using the DJI Agras controller.
3:45 PM — Outdoor Flight Practice
Practice flight manoeuvres using DJI Mini, Mavic, and Matrice-series aircraft, time and weather permitting.
4:30 PM — End of Day 1
Day 2 — Precision Application & Field Operations
Morning
9:00 AM — Multispectral Mapping for Prescriptions
Explore field boundary creation and variable-rate prescription mapping using Pix4Dfields and imagery from Mavic 3 Multispectral or Matrice-series sensors. Review flight planning, data processing, and prescription generation workflows.
10:30 AM — Field & Financial Efficiencies
Examine application efficiency using DJI Agras T50 and T100 examples. Explore refill system design, nurse truck placement, field splitting, downtime reduction, and comparative application costs.
12:00–1:00 PM — Lunch Provided
Afternoon
1:00 PM — Achieving Accuracy
Learn spectral calibration and RTK positioning fundamentals, including radio-based and internet-based RTK systems and their applications in precision mapping and spraying.
1:45 PM — Spray Drone Maintenance
Cover preventive inspections, cleaning, wear components, common repairs, maintenance records, transportation, and winter storage. Practice spray system disassembly and proper propeller replacement procedures.
3:00 PM — Hands-On Practice
Work in teams to design and execute mapping, spraying, and spreading missions. Practice spray and spread width calibration and, weather permitting, conduct water-spraying exercises over a simulated field area.
4:30 PM — Course Concludes
