Draft # 3: Product summary and analysis


 The article “Spraying drones could be coming to a farm near you” (2018, Aug 25) introduces the features and uses of the DJI Agras MG-1P, a drone that aims to solve major problems existing in the current agriculture industry. The article states that DJI Agras MG-1P is needed because the global need for food is rising due to increasing population, and drone helps to boost the efficiency of agricultural activities to meet the rising demand. The main use of Agras MG-1P is to spray crops with liquids such as water and pesticide, it replaces human labour and is more efficient. Agras MG-1P is equipped with DJI's “flight-control system” and “high-precision radar”; they enable a smooth and precise flight. The drone has a complex radar system, allowing spraying to be carried out under any lighting and in a dusty environment. When flying, the drone examines the ground below without latency and keeps a fixed distance from the crops to ensure the most favourable amount of liquid is sprayed. Users can decide whether they want to control the drone manually based on the geography of their land. The drone has nozzles installed underneath its motors. The liquid sprayed from the nozzles thus gains enough speed from the wind created by the motors to reach the bottom of the crops. One of the main reasons why Agras MG-1P is more popular than other similar products in the market is that the functions of Agras MG-1P allow the drone to work with high efficiency.

One such function of Agras MG-1P is the flight control system which allows a maximum number of five drones to be controlled at the same time using just one controller. This means that Agras MG-1P has the ability to finish spraying a piece of land five times faster than its competitors, such as Airboard Agro by Airboard. Therefore, Agras MG-1P saves much more time for the farmers, allowing more agricultural activities to be done in one day, making the drone more favoured than its competitors.

  Another function is Agras MG-1P’s positioning system with interference resistance, which prevents the drone from being affected by any electromagnetic interference during a flight. This means that Agras MG-1P can be controlled and fly smoothly even when it is near a high voltage power line. Similarly, according to Airboard's website, Airboard Agro also has a positioning system but it is not interference-resistant, increasing the risk of the drone getting out of control in an environment with electromagnetic interference. Therefore, Agras MG-1P is able to operate under more extreme conditions, making the flight easy and worry-free for the user, thus increasing efficiency.

  Another important function that makes Agras MG-1P stand out from its competitors is its unique operation mode. Like most of the drones for agricultural use, Agras MG-1P has the ability to scan terrains and control its height and speed automatically. However, DJI's website states that Agras MG-1P also supports other operation modes such as manual mode and semi-manual mode. This gives more flexibility to the operations, allowing the users to have more control over the drone. The users can set the most optimal setting for the drone based on the terrain instead of using a robotic and fixed setting, hence increasing the efficiency of the work. As a result, more farmers will prefer Agras MG-1P over other products.

  However, according to statistics on Airboard's website, the battery Agras MG-1P can only last  9 minutes whereas that of Airboard Agro can last 12 minutes. This shows that Agras MG-1P needs to improve its battery capacity in order to secure its dominance in the market. In my opinion, one way to overcome this challenge is to install a solar panel onto the drone, energy from the sun can then to utilised to sustain the drone's flight.

These functions of Agras MG-1P save time for the farmers, guarantee stable flights and provide flexibility for the settings. They make agricultural practices more efficient, which is the main purpose of an agricultural drone.


References

Spraying drones could be coming to a farm near you. (2018, Aug 25), The Nation Thailand. Retrieved from https://www.nationthailand.com/Startup_and_IT/30352935

AirBoard. (n.d.). Retrieved October 02, 2019, from, https://www.airboard.co/agriculture-drone/

DJI. (n.d.). Retrieved October 02, 2019, from,https://www.dji.com/sg/mg-1p


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