Understanding, quantifying, and benchmarking the drift profile of pesticide applications from UAS is an emerging need in the industry. In the fall of 2021 Stone Environmental in partnership with Andrew Hewitt, PhD. of the University of Queensland, Australia, and Bill Reynolds of Leading Edge Aerial Technologies, performed a drift trial to measure the downwind deposition profile of a UAS using a tracer dye. In anticipation of future studies requiring GLP standards we performed this study to approximate the requirements of a GLP study. A PV35X UAS, piloted by Bill Reynolds, made six applications with various combinations of TTI 11004 and XR 11003 nozzles, a boom height of 1.5 and 3 m, and a compact and wide boom configuration. Deposition samples were collected using four different media. Mylar card deposition samples were processed using a fluorometer to measure drift deposition. Horizontal Kromekote cards were used to measure drift deposition as a comparison methodology. Vertically mounted nylon strings and rotary impingers mounted with Kromekote cards were used to measure downwind flux. This presentation will compare the drift profiles for the various variable combinations and will discuss the merits and challenges for each sample collection media. This presentation will also compare the results of the UAS application to ground boom applications and traditional aerial applications.

Comparison of drift deposition from a UAS application using tracer dye with multiple downwind sampling methodologies

Fall 2022 abstracts, posters, and presentations will launch in mid-September.

ACS Fall 2022

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.