PERTANIKA JOURNAL OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Workforce shortages, growing input prices, and shortcomings in pesticide usage have caused increasing challenges to the rising production of rice in Southeast Asia. Traditional knapsack and mist-blower spraying techniques are laborious, present dangers to workers, and lead to decreased field capacity with irregular pesticide deposition. As Unmanned Aerial Vehicles provide enhanced operating efficiency and accuracy (UAVs), it is now recognised as an acceptable choice. Nevertheless, UAV spraying possesses distinct aerodynamic challenges, which include rotor-induced downwash airflow, droplet drift, and irregular deposition patterns. Such challenges are not well-addressed by the present testing approaches. The present wind tunnel facilities and computational models were mainly developed for aircraft that are manned at high altitude. Henceforth, this article stresses producing a testing facility that can be operated indoors, particularly intended to assess the performance of UAVs spraying within typical and replicable settings. The facility allows for meticulous monitoring of downwash airflow, droplet formation, and deposition distribution, which offer valuable insights into spray patterns affected by UAV design, payload, flight speed, and nozzle configurations. To ensure that the experiments are repeatable, standard operating procedures were created. Earlier tests showed that the facility can recreate real-like conditions for UAV spraying and allows for systematic adjustments of varied settings. The testing setup signifies a new benchmark procedure for studying UAV pesticide application. This facility not only presents a way to make spraying safer and more effective, but also supports ecologically sustainable practices in rice agriculture.