Grainswest - Tech 2024

Tech 2024 Grains West 16 Ag tech startup Threshold UAV makes use of drone swarms to capture accurate data to create interactive rock maps. Now in development, the company plans to soon launch the service. THE FARMGATE BETTER DATA WITH SWARMS Threshold UAV aims to make farm- ing more efficient with the powerful potential of drone swarm technology. This Alberta-based tech startup plans to deliver on-demand aerial data that is cost effective, in part through its control system that allows multiple drones to be flown simultaneously. CEO Mac Hunik ventured into the agri- cultural technology space when he noticed limitations in research data gathered by single, thermal-sensor-equipped drones. It’s a problem he said also applies to other types of drone imagery. “We’re calling this a time–data collection problem,” he said. “One example is a drone will fly one way down the field to take photos, stopping at the end of the field to turn around, and as it’s doing so, a cloud comes overhead and changes the light conditions on the ground. As the drone flies the line back the other way, the images just captured won’t match up with the images captured from the first line.” This is where drone swarm technology comes in to refine the data-gathering pro- cess. As AI and machine learning become more integrated within drone operation systems, swarm technology will allow comparable imagery to be captured and used as an input. “By creating this high-resolution data, on-demand service, we’re going to provide comparable data that will allow AI to progress faster in farming than it is currently,” said Hunik. To put this technology to work Thresh- old UAV has teamed up with internation- al AI companies and Alberta drone ser- vice providers to help farmers locate and remove rocks from their fields and negate equipment damage. By leveraging drone swarms and machine learning, farmers can efficiently identify, locate and check off the rocks as they are removed. “The farmers we spoke to told us they don’t have access to the same type of labour that they used to because there are fewer kids on farms and the cost of labour has gone up,” said Hunik. Now in the development and testing phase, the system allows a drone service provider to capture imagery of a field and create an interactive rock map the farmer can then use. A swarm of low flying drones is significantly more accurate than a single drone, said Hunik. “The rock map uses GPS services on the device to show the farmer, or picker, the fastest path to pick the rocks and checks them off as you go. You know that the whole job is complete, and you can walk away and call it a night.” Hunik hopes to launch the Threshold rock mapping service soon. In collab- oration with research and educational institutes, the company is now exploring additional aapplications for its drone control technology that include weed mapping, prescription mapping and swarm drone spraying. In July, the Pest Management Regulatory Agency approved drone application of Corteva’s Carlon XRT, a non-agricultural vegetation management product. It is Canada’s first such approval. Photo: Courtesy of Threshold UAV