South China Agricultural University International Joint Research Center of National Precision Agricultural Aviation Pesticide Spraying Technology is a national research center recognized by the Ministry of Science and Technology. The center mainly focuses on aviation plant protection application of typical domestic grain crops and cash crops, and cooperates with USDA-ARS-AATRU and pesticide application and safety center of University of Queensland and other foreign advanced agricultural aviation application technology research institutions. The center focuses on precision agricultural aviation, jointly carries out innovative research on key technologies and common problems of related technologies and equipment such as remote sensing of agricultural aviation and spray of airborne precision variables, and promotes precision agricultural aviation technology.
The person in charge of the center and the discipline leader is Professor Lan Yubin.
At present, the center has eight agricultural aviation applied technology professional laboratories, including agricultural aviation remote sensing laboratory, agricultural aviation operation platform research laboratory, agricultural aviation spray atomization research laboratory, agricultural aviation testing technology laboratory, agricultural aeronautical pharmacodynamics research laboratory, agricultural aviation sensor development laboratory, agricultural aviation big data laboratory and agricultural aviation technology integration laboratory.
The research team of the center consists of personnel from different disciplines such as agricultural engineering, machinery, electronics, communication, mechanics, computer, plant protection, etc., with over 50 members and more than 60 master and doctoral students.
The research platform of the center also includes International Joint Laboratory of Agricultural Aviation Application Technology and International Joint Laboratory of Agricultural Aviation Applied Technology of Guangdong Province.
Research overview of the center
（1）Scientific Research: It is committed to the development, research and application of precision agricultural aviation, aviation application technology and aviation remote sensing technology, the deposition and distribution law of agricultural UAV aviation application droplets, the acquisition and analysis of agricultural information of low altitude remote sensing of agricultural UAV, the intelligent control system of agricultural UAV, the key components of precision application of agricultural UAV, the control technology and control equipment, and the performance test level of agricultural UAV and research of key technologies such as the performance detection platform of agricultural UAV. At present, the center has presided over more than 20 agricultural aviation research projects, including 2016 pilot project high efficiency application technology and intelligent equipment of ground and aviation of the national key R&D plan pilot project comprehensive technology research and development of chemical fertilizer and pesticide reduction and application efficiency, the National 863 project, the National Natural Science Foundation Project and the major special projects of Guangdong Province. With a total research expenditure of 140 million yuan, more than 100 relevant research papers have been published, including more than 60 SCI/EI papers, and more than 30 national invention patents have been applied for.
（2）The Cooperation of Enterprises, Universities and Scientific Institutes: Since November 2014, the research center has signed cooperation agreements with Anyang Quanfeng Biological Technology Co, Ltd., Guangzhou Jifei Technology Firm, Beidahuang General Aviation Co., Shandong Ruida, Shenzhen Gaoke Xinnong, Xinjiang Tianshan Yuren Aviation Plant Protection Technology Co.
Substantial cooperation has been carried out, including technology development and joint spraying experiments, and cooperative experiments and technology research and development have been carried out jointly in more than a dozen provinces and autonomous regions in China, including aerial remote sensing and drug application by manned aircraft/unmanned aircraft and Beidou satellite navigation.
（3）International cooperation:
International Technology Center of Precision Agricultural Aviation Application was founded in November 2014. In 2015 the team signed a cooperation agreement with the USDA ARS and the University of Queensland for five years respectively so that we could conduct cooperation with other countries on personnel training, joint testing of aerial drug application, agricultural aviation research and development of key technologies and equipment, etc. In September 2015 and November 2015, theInternational Laboratory of Agricultural Aviation Pesticide Spraying Technology of the Department of Science and Technology of Guangdong Province and the International Laboratory of Agricultural Aviation Application Technology of the Department of Education of Guangdong Province were approved respectively, and in November 2016, the National Center for International Collaboration Research on Precision Agricultural Aviation Pesticide Spraying Technology of the Ministry of Science and Technology was approved, providing a platform for future international exchanges and cooperation.
Academic exchange: The 4th and 5th International Academic Conference on Precision Agricultural Aviation (Guangzhou) was successfully held in November 2014 and 2016; the Technical Workshop on Aviation Pesticide Spraying for crops in northern China(Anyang) was co-organized in May 2015; the 6th Asian Fine Agricultural Conference-Precision Agricultural Aviation Conference (Guangzhou) was hosted in November 2015; the 7th International Symposium on Precision Agricultural and Aviation Pesticide Spraying Technology (Nanjing) was co-hosted in November 2015; the 2016 World Precision Agricultural Aviation Conference (Beijing) was co-hosted in April 2016.
Conditions of the center
The center covers an area of about 1500 square meters and research service space covers about 7000 square meters. It has imaging hyperspectral/multispectral instrument, differential GPS instrument, Hexingtong Beidou development board, Davis 6152 automatic meteorological station and other related instruments and equipment, as well as professional spectral determination, portable field plant physiological and biochemical testing and analysis, indoor agronomic physiological and biochemical parameters testing and analysis. The original value of the fixed assets of the center is about 30 million yuan, of which 60 sets of equipment has reached the worth of over 100,000 yuan, and the research equipment of agricultural aviation technology is at an advanced level in China.
In addition, the Wind Tunnel Laboratory for Agricultural Aviation is expected to be completed in April 2017, covering an area of about 4,500 square meters. The wind tunnel is designed and built according to the latest international ISO standard ISO22856-2012, which is a composite wind tunnel with both high-speed and low-speed functions, and will be the first high-low-speed composite wind tunnel dedicated to agricultural aviation in China. When completed, it will also be one of the most advanced wind tunnels in agricultural engineering in the world.
