STP: an aerial spray treatment planning system

The Spray Treatment Planner is an intelligent decision support system for productivity and efficiency evaluation in an aerial spray treatment project. It can be used as a tool to plan the schedule for spraying pesticides aerially. STP schedules the spraying operation of selected blocks from selected airports using single or multiple aircraft(s). The scheduling is done to maximize the spray efficiency and spray productivity while minimizing the total time and distance flown. It uses heuristics to obtain a near optimal solution. Aerial spray applicators can use STP to estimate total time required for a treatment operation. Forest managers can use STP to determine an efficient and productive treatment plan.