An Automatic Drone to Survey Orchards using Image Processing and Solar Energy

Our world's population is increasing so fast and statistical predictions have shown that population would exceed 9 billion by the year 2050. To meet the demand, agricultural yields must increase by atleast 30% percent. Efficient harvest estimation can lead to an organized planning of resources and market needs such as crop insurance purposes, packing materials, planning harvest and employees. We propose an automatic drone to count the number of fruits on each tree in an orchard for the agriculturist to forecast his/her harvest. The drone sends quality data to the farmer which allows him/her to evaluate the entire farm graphically which in turn help farmers to intimately know their field and make important decisions in an efficient manner. The images taken through the camera are processed to give an accurate count of fruits. The power required for the drone is obtained using solar energy and by means of wireless charging.