We have seen drones used for recreational, military, and even construction purposes. What many ignore, however, is that they have found impressive application in viticulture, changing decades of traditions and bringing a revolution that professionals of the genre had not seen from the penetration of tractors! Drones are constantly gaining ground in viticulture, changing it for the better. What they offer is many and varied, but they can easily be condensed into three pillars: flexibility, quality, economy.
Until the advent of drones, the only solution winegrowers had when it came to monitoring their vineyards was through low-altitude flights by small aircraft. As you can see, this in itself has several challenges, since a flight plan is required and there are several imponderables that may affect the quality of shots (possible rain, clouds, fire, etc.). All this, on the other hand, does not concern drones in any way since even if something happens at the last minute, the flight can simply be postponed. The value for money of the latter is such that it allows the realization of multiple flights during the season (instead of one, or two at most one aircraft).
The latter has resulted in the data that end up with winegrowers responding much more to reality, since professionals are now called upon to evaluate and not to… Guessing. In addition, drones, thanks to the state-of-the-art technology they incorporate, offer much greater accuracy than shots from aircraft or satellites. To get a picture of the difference we are talking about, when the maximum resolution that a satellite shot can offer is of the order of one meter, the equivalent of a drone reaches 2.5 cm, allowing it to identify pathogens and other needs of a crop, analysing the appearance (color, gloss, etc.) of the leaves.
With the above in mind, it is easy to understand that the use of drones is significantly more economical than that of aircraft or satellites – and even if the cost reaches the same levels, the quality of service enjoyed by winegrowers is classically superior, contributing to the improvement of their production and final product.
Oenolytics’ integrated solutions include the use of drones with hyperspectral cameras. Easy to use, so that non-specialized personnel can handle them, they equip the winegrower with more and more accurate data than a typical multispectral camera, making his life easier and his work more efficient.
