Automatic Pesticide Spray System Using LiDAR Technology for Oil Palm Plantation Industry

Soh, Meng Yong (2023) Automatic Pesticide Spray System Using LiDAR Technology for Oil Palm Plantation Industry. Final Year Project (Bachelor), Tunku Abdul Rahman University of Management and Technology.

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Abstract

Malaysia's palm oil plantations face issues with manpower shortages and imprecise manual pesticide spraying, leading to increased risks of pest infestations. To address this, an automatic pesticide spray system utilizing LiDAR technology, specifically 1D and 2D sensors, has been developed to detect and spray pesticides on oil palm trees at the right time. Malaysia heavily relies on foreign workers, especially in the oil palm sector, but a policy change in Indonesia may cause a low-cost labour shortage. Therefore, the development of a pesticide spraying system is being explored as a solution to maintain productivity in the oil palm sector. This project is required 2 lidar scanners and other hardware to achieve automated pesticide spraying. The algorithm is also important to be developed to make the system reliable. The overall system design is user-friendly and also well-considered for the maintenance in future. After eliminating human error, the accuracy of spraying can achieve 80%. The system's parameters are fine-tuned during field testing to ensure optimal settings. It should be noted that while LiDAR technology is commonly used in agriculture, it is relatively uncommon in the oil palm field due to the challenge of measuring the location of the spear precisely in young oil palms, making the current system best suited for oil palms that are 1.5 years or older.