Abstract: Application of drones in agriculture can improve the pesticide efficiency, reduce the usage of the pesticides, which plays an important role in precision agriculture. With the support of national policy on agricultural drones, new policies on lands transfer, the shortage of rural labor and the developing of the drone’s technology, drones in agriculture are in a rapid development stage in China. According to the statistics of Chinese Ministry of Agriculture, up to 2017, the amount of drones in agriculture in China have been reached to 14 thousands and the working area have been reached to 6 millions hectare. At the present stage, drones in agriculture are mainly used for chemical application, others including remote sensing, seeding, fertilization and pollination. Compared with other sprayers, drones have many advantages, such as high safety and working efficiency, water and labor-saving and non-damage to the crops. These advantages are especially suited to the mountainous field and the rice field. The types of agricultural drones are in a wide varieties, which can be divided into single-rotor and multi-rotor from structure and powered by motor or diesel. Among them, the multi-rotor drones powdered by motor account for over 80% of the market for lower price. Among them, most can reach the working efficiency of 3-6 hm2/h with 5-20 L liquid-tank and 4-8 m spraying swath under the flight speed of 3-7 m/s and the flight height under 3 meters, applying for field crops chemical control. Part of them amount the precision application equipments to achieve variable-rate spraying, precision navigation and RTK differential positioning technologies. Despite the rapid development, there are still many problems. The lack of appropriative formulation, non-uniform deposition, unsured drift buffer distance and downwind influence have limited the control efficacy better display. Laws and regulations still need to be perfected. But there’s no doubt that with the improvement of the precision and intelligentialize degree, the precision application technology of drones in agriculture based on remote sensing monitoring will be extend quickly. Meanwhile, drones in agriculture will usher in an era of diversified application.
