BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY

College of Engineering, Architecture, and Fine Arts

ECE//ICE/MEXE Department

Research 1

Assignment No.1

Submitted by:

Mary Allyza R. Estolano

ECE 5101

Submitted to:

Engr. Divina Gracia Ronquillo

August 31, 2016

 Proposed Topic: Implementing the Use of a Thermal Camera Attached Through a Drone
in Pest Detection
Mary Allyza R. Estolano

Food is one essential human need, if not the most significant of those necessities. A
large percentage of the available food for consumption is acquired through farming. This is
specially highlighted in Asian countries since grain/crops are part of their daily meals. Given
these facts, I came up with questions involving agriculture. I focused on one of the largest
problems encountered in farming, pests. I wanted to emphasize the scale of loss encountered in
the presence of these pests given their ability to destroy agricultural products. The question that
I came up with was: Are there ways to prevent the spread of pests?

Through that question, I came up with the idea of designing a system wherein pests are
detected through a thermal camera attached on a drone. This drone is controlled by either a
microcontroller and/or an application where farmers could see the images acquired by the
thermal camera. Pests themselves produce heat that enables the thermal cameras to sense
their location in crops. Through this, the farmers would be aware of the condition of their crops
without scanning the plants one by one manually. It would help them see the condition of their
plants even at a distance. Through this, they would be able to eliminate pests easily and monitor
their growth and prevent their spread in parts that are not infected. Farmers will easily be able to
apply precautionary measures or solutions in infected areas. To look for similarly published
studies and to further improve this topic, I reviewed ten (10) research papers connected to it at
the IEEExplore.com. They are as follows:

A New Wireless Sensor Used in Grain Pest Detection

This research mainly focuses on an innovative way of detecting pests
through a wireless sensor that detects the species and quantity of the grain
pests. It works is such a way that as a pest go through the detection electrodes
of sensors, its capacitance value will change.
This topic differs from the proposed one since the sensors used are
different. It is also one broad study since the specie of the pest passing through
the sensor is also detected unlike the proposed topic which is systemized to
detect only the presence of pests and not determine their kind.
Agriculture Pest Detection Using Video Processing Technique
This technique is specifically applied in greenhouses. It works in such a
way that a video of the plants are recorded. This video is then reviewed to detect
the presence of pests. Through this, the farmers will be able to apply responsive
measures to eliminate pests.
This is different from the proposed topic since the way of recording the
video is through manual recording. Meaning, farmers take videos of plants one
by one and then review them afterwards. Whereas in the topic proposed, the
farmer will be able to see the pest through a PC or even a phone where the
thermal camera in the drone is connected. It could also be recorded for further
reviewing but the video taking itself is done through a drone and not by manually
checking crops.
 Automatic Monitoring Of Pest Insect Traps By Zigbee-Based Wireless Networking
Of Image Sensors
This system provides monitoring on traps disseminated through different
parts in an agricultural site. The system is implemented based on a distributed
imaging device operated wirelessly through a sensor network that is able to
automatically acquire and transmit images of the trapping area to a remote host
station. It also sets an alarm if ever the density of pests in different farm sites
goes over threshold.
Definitely, this system is different from the proposed topic since it
monitors traps where pests are struck. However, I found it still related to the
proposed topic since it uses wireless transmission of gathered data through
images from cameras attached to traps. The proposed topic also uses wireless
transmission of data from the thermal cameras to the main host (PC). The drone
used also responds to command as given by the wireless microcontroller held by
farmers.
Capacitance-Based Wireless Sensor Mote For Snail Pest Detection
In this paper, the process of detecting pests is done through capacitive
sensors installed to monitor the activity of land snails. The sensors wirelessly
communicate with the base or host.
Like the latter paper, this is related to the proposed study since a wireless
transmission of data is involved. The difference between the two is the sensors
used since the proposed topic uses a thermal camera whereas this research
proposes the use of a capacitive camera to detect the presence of pests.
Crop Diseases And Pests Monitoring Based On Remote Sensing: A Survey
This study implies the use of remote sensing to acquire crop information
over relatively large areas quickly. Remote sensing involves the scanning of a
large amount of land by satellite or high-flying aircraft in order to obtain
information about it.
This study is related to the proposed topic since they both use an aircraft
in detecting the presence of pests. The only difference is that this topic is used in
a very large scale of sensing since it involves the use of a satellite whereas the
proposed topic only uses a simple drone where a thermal camera is attached for
detection.
Low Cost Sensor Based Embedded System For Plant Protection And Pest Control
This paper discussed the use of the Raspberry Pi microcontroller in the
inflection index of diseases in plants, specifically in apples. It involves
calculations for the prediction of the occurrence of apple scabs in the apples of
the Himalayan region.
This is similar to the study in such a way that microcontrollers are used
for the detection of the occurrence of pests but is way different in approach since
this one uses the microcontroller for prediction whereas the proposed topic uses
the microcontroller to provide the desired action of the drone throughout the
detection process.
Performance Analysis Of Pest Detection For Agricultural Field Using Clustering
Techniques
 In this research, pests are detected through clustering which is a powerful
technique reached in image segmentation. Its efficiency in pest detection is
analyzed through series of image segmentations.
This research is similar to the proposed one since cameras are used in
both process only that the proposed topic uses temperature as means of
detection while this one detects the presence of pest through leaf discoloration.
Vision-Based Pest Detection And Automatic Spray Of Greenhouse Plant
This method of pest detection is based on binocular stereo to get the
location information of the pest which is used for guiding a robot to spray
pesticides automatically.
It is similar to the proposed topic in terms of the distance for detection but
the means are different. A binocular is used in this process while a thermal
camera attached to a drone is used in the proposed topic.
Wireless Image-Sensor Network Application For Population Monitoring Of
Lepidopterous Insect Pest (Moths) In Fruit Crops
This study focuses on the implementation of a wireless image-sensor
node capable of taking images of plagues that attack fruit crops. Images are
transmitted over a wireless sensor network in order to build the plague population
database and to take appropriate countermeasures in case of infection.
Its similarity to the proposed study is the use of wireless transmission of
data to be able to look for appropriate solutions to problems caused by pests, but
still differs in data acquisition since the proposed topic uses a drone for easier
monitoring at different scales of agricultural sites.
Wireless Sensor Mote For Snail Pest Detection
This process uses photoelectric sensors that involve the use of light for
the detection of pests in crops. It also utilizes a wireless sensor network, but is
still being tested since it is resulting for a need of a specific sensor on every pest
and scenario.
It is similar with the study in terms of wireless data transmission, only that
different types of sensors are used. This study implements a photoelectric sensor
while the proposed one uses a thermal camera for sensing the body temperature
of pests that correspond to their presence in crops.

After reading these researches from the IEEExplore.com, I therefore conclude that there are
a lot of ways to help prevent the presence of pests in agricultural sites. The only differences in
these systems would be their efficiency towards detection and of course the cost of each of
them based on the scale of their application. One improvement that would be possible based on
these researches would be adding sprinklers on the drone, though its weight and quantity must
be monitored since a drone could only hold a limited amount of pesticide considering the weight
of the thermal camera attached to it. This will make pest detection and elimination easier for
farmers since they will not separately inspect the crops and apply pesticides on infected crops.
It would also lessen the time consumed as compared to the manual process.

REFERENCES:
[1] O. Shi-Feng and L. Yan-Hua, A New Wireless Sensor Used in Grain Pest Detection,
IEEE, Control Engineering and Communication Technology (ICCECT), 2012.

[2] M. Wadhai, V. Gohokar, and A. Khaparde, Agriculture Pest Detection Using Video
Processing Technique, IEEE, Information Processing (ICIP), 2015.

[3] P.Tirelli, N. Borghese, F. Pedersini, G. Galassi, and B. Oberti, Automatic Monitoring

Of Pest Insect Traps By Zigbee-Based Wireless Networking Of Image Sensors,
IEEE, Instrumentation and Measurement Technology Conference (I2MTC), 2011.

[4] D. Garcia-Lesta, E. Ferro, V. Brea, P. Lopez, D. Cabello, J. Iglesias, and J. Castillejo

Capacitance-Based Wireless Sensor Mote For Snail Pest Detection, IEEE, Sensors
Applications Symposium (SAS), 2015.

[5] D. Ren, H. Yu, W. Fu, B. Zhang, and Q. Ji, Crop Diseases And Pests Monitoring
Based On Remote Sensing: A Survey, IEEE, World Automation Congress (WAC),
2012.

[6] D. Shivling, S. Sharma, C. Ghanshyam, S. Dogra, P. Mokheria, R. Kaur, and D.

Arora, Low Cost Sensor Based Embedded System For Plant Protection And Pest
Control, IEEE, Soft Computing Techniques and Implementations (ICSCTI), 2015

[7] R. Pratheba, A. Sivasangari, and D. Saraswadv Performance Analysis Of Pest

Detection For Agricultural Field Using Clustering Techniques, IEEE, Circuit, Power
and Computing Technologies (ICCPCT), 2014

[8] Y. Li, C. Xia, and J. Lee, Vision-Based Pest Detection And Automatic Spray Of
Greenhouse Plant, IEEE, ISIE, 2009

[9] M. Gonzalez, J. Schandv, N. Wainstein, L. Barboni A. Gomez, and C. Croce,

Wireless Image-Sensor Network Application For Population Monitoring Of
Lepidopterous Insect Pest (Moths) In Fruit Crops, IEEE, Instrumentation and
Measurement Technology Conference (I2MTC) Proceedings, 2014

[10] E. Ferro, V. Brea, D. Cabello, P. Lopez, J. Iglesias, and J. Castillejo, Wireless

Sensor Mote For Snail Pest Detection, IEEE, SENSORS, 2014