Unicore GNSS guides XAG Drones in China

XAG introduces agricultural drones for farmers in China. The XMission drone can reduce costs on fertilizer, pesticides and other treatments. (Photo: XAG/Unicore)

Pesticides, fertilizers and water are the most important means to enhance agricultural crop production.

The prevalent infestation of fall armyworm in China has resulted in reduced yields, threatening food security and the livelihood of smallholders. It’s impractical to conduct manual spraying over farmlands larger than 5 hectares, and this also runs both the risk of wasting large amounts of pesticides and chemical poisoning.

Given the situation, smart agriculture devices such as drones have come in handy for fixing these problems, with minimal environmental impacts. In China, professional farmers and agricultural service providers have already harnessed existing drone technology to conduct appropriate chemical sprays to safeguard the country’s crop production.

The XAG XMission drone has centimeter-level navigation and can operate fully autonomously over complex terrain and easily adapt itself to different spraying conditions for various crop species. Farmers are therefore relieved from much physical effort while no longer risking their health in the battle against fall armyworm.

Equipped with Unicore’s high precision dual-antenna GNSS module (UM482), dual RTK plus GNSS positioning system, real-time centimeter-level flight positioning provides reliable data support in various air tasks. XAG’s drone carries a 4G communication module connected to the XAG Cloud RTK network in order to immediately start missions without setting up portable ground RTK bases.

Unicore UM482. Unicore’s GNSS high precision module (UM482) provides centimeter-level accuracy real-time positioning, with 0.2°, 1-meter baseline course information. UM482 supports single-module dual-antenna signal access and has a dual-RTK engine, enabling high-precision, high-reliability directional heading and dual-RTK real-time positioning, with each RTK engine calculating position independently. This receiver meets the flight needs of different types of UAVs for many different scenarios.

Virus Fighting. XAG’s drones have also joined the fight against the spread of the coronavirus. In Feburary, XAG announced a 5-million-yuan fund for coronavirus response, to be put toward aerial disinfectant sprays to curb the spread of the virus in rural areas. The company’s fleets were used in China’s Shandong province on Jan. 28, where they reportedly disinfected a local community of more than 300,000 square meters in less than 4 hours.