How to Develop Agriculture Drone Software?

Challenges with agriculture and farming have become a piece of daily news. The industry is struggling to meet the increasing demands of a growing global population.

And do you know that with a projected population of 9.7 billion by 2050, the need for agricultural products is expected to rise by nearly 50%? But the demand alone is not the problem. The situation is coupled with limited cultivable land and climate change impacts.

All hope is not lost with marvels of technology. Innovative solutions can help maximize productivity and overcome supply chain obstacles. One such solution is agriculture drone software development. Whether you want to ease mapping, land surveying, or irrigation, it can do all.

Yes, drone technology is complex. But harnessing the full potential of these unmanned aerial vehicles can become a cakewalk with custom software.

So if you think building customized agriculture drone software is daunting, it’s time to keep your worries aside because we’ve got your back! In this blog, we will explore the pivotal role of building such software in agricultural operations by focusing on associated opportunities and features. We will also cover the process of agriculture drone software development so that you can prepare for action beforehand. That said, let’s dive in!

Opportunities In Drone Software Development for Agriculture

Benefits of Building Customized Agriculture Drone Software

While off-the-shelf solutions are convenient, customization can bring more advantages to businesses. To point out a few, these are the benefits of custom agriculture drone solutions.  

Tailored to Specific Business Needs

Customization offers room for tailoring. You can fit your app’s infrastructure and features with your unique business requirements.

Not just that, but you will also have the leverage of making changes after deployment. Want to tweak your app to match your specific workflows and data management systems? Count on custom agriculture drone software. Moreover, off-the-shelf solutions can be slow and inadequate. Such issues will not arise when you trust custom solutions.

Comprehensive Feature Set

While off-the-shelf solutions often lack certain capabilities, custom enterprise software development is all about creativity. So it’s better to rely on custom agriculture drone software to make your business stand out. Moreover, you can ensure it’s profitable by saving some advanced features for users who’d like to pay for those.

Offer Dedicated Technical Support

When seeking custom solutions, you’ll have the entire team offering instant and continuous technical support. This wouldn’t be the case with off-the-shelf solutions.

So, say no to hassles for your team. Experience regular code reviews and maintenance on the go with custom agriculture drone software.

Full Business Automation

Automation can save you from many hassles. Indeed you’d need to seek services from an expert AI development company. No, that’s not costly. But a one-time investment can save you from multiple expenses that will occur later.

But when you work with readymade software for agriculture data analysis, you’ll have to bear with most of the tasks yourself. Besides, there’s scope for error and productivity decline with manual data assessments. That’s why choosing custom agriculture drone software is better. It saves you time, errors, and productivity lags.

Opportunity for MVP Testing

An MVP is like pilot testing. It allows for testing software in the market to gather user feedback. It’s one of the best approaches to reducing risks and expanding software’s bandwidth for refinement.

Naturally, you do not have the option to launch MVP with off-the-shelf solutions. Thus, it’s another reason why you should opt for custom solutions.

Top Features of Agriculture Drone Software

With custom-made software, you can scale features as per your liking. But we’ve got some top features that can make you shine in the agriculture industry. These are:

Crop Health Monitoring

Allow farmers to assess crop health using your drone monitoring software. For this, you can get your software powered with multi-spectral imagery analysis. Ensure that the output of crop health monitoring includes necessary details like:

• Plant stress levels 
• Leaf area indexing 
• Disease detection 
• Nutrient deficiency 
• Weed presence, etc.

Plant Count and Height Estimation

Offer excellent agriculture drone software by leveraging drone imagery capabilities. What’s that? Well, it can help farming teams accurately assess the number of plants in a field and their height. Such a feature will eliminate their need to wander in the fields. Plus, the invaluable information through drones will aid crop management and yield prediction.

Mapping and Surveying

Add tools to survey and map agricultural lands like:

• 3D field surveying 
• Mapping elevations 
• Identifying holes 
• Determining suitable water drainage points, etc.

When users have access to these details through your agriculture drone software, it will become easy for them to optimize land management and help maintain irrigation systems. All the necessary information will be just a tap away for them. As a result, they will take timely action and boost their output.

Precision Spraying

It’s a pretty popular feature when it comes to drone technology. So, having precision farming as a straightforward feature becomes somewhat obvious when you plan to develop agriculture drone software.

All you have to do is ensure your app has GPS and advanced sensor integration. With them, your users can target precise spraying of pesticides and fertilizer. Moreover, the targeted spraying will save them from wastage and environmental impacts.

Biomass Estimation

With this feature of your agriculture drone software, you can unlock a whole new level of crop assessment and planning.

Biomass measures the plant’s overall weight and density, directly correlating with its productivity. So when farmers estimate biomass, they can gauge the health and vigor of their crops. With this information, they can identify areas that need extra attention or adjust their cultivation practices accordingly.

Thermal/IR Imaging

Want farmers to see what lies beyond human sight? With Thermal/IR Imaging, your agriculture drone software becomes a visionary hero, perceiving the invisible. It detects hotspots and measures temperatures, exploring and scanning the fields.

Your software can become a loyal sidekick for farmers, spotting trouble before it escalates. The feature can send alerts for leaks, guides in adjusting irrigation, and uncovers signs of diseases. It’s a vigilant guardian that keeps an eye on crops as well. Overall, thermal imaging can help users cultivate a thriving harvest and bring extraordinary insight into agriculture.

NDVI Analysis

NDVI or Normalized Difference Vegetation Index analysis is like a personal crop health tracker. The feature works by scrutinizing the changes in reflected light from crops. It measures the difference between near-infrared and visible light. Assessing this, it provides valuable insights into their condition. So it’s like having a plant whisperer that can decode the subtle signals of plant health.

With NDVI Analysis integrated into your agriculture drone software, you empower farmers with the knowledge to make informed decisions. They can identify areas with low vegetation density and signs of stress. The details will then allow farmers to take proactive measures. Ultimately, they’ll be able to grow healthier and more productive crops.

Livestock Monitoring

Drone imagery can track and monitor animal movement easily. So when you add the feature of livestock monitoring in your agriculture drone software, it will be a huge benefit for people involved in livestock management. And to make this work, you can offer GPS integration or dashboards that:

• Tracks livestock behavior 
• Displays potential issues 
• Give suggestions for herd management, etc

Data Visualization and Analytics

Data is key for farmers to plan their moves with land and crops. So make this data intuitive enough for easy navigation. Add dashboards that help farmers track and grasp information. All you need to do is opt for digital transformation services. Such services ensure your platform covers necessary details and trends. And providing this information can play a key role in keeping users hooked to your platform.

Agriculture Drone Software Development: Key Steps

Before we get started with the development process, we would like to give you a pro tip. And that’s about partnering with a vendor. So before kicking off your idea into action, ensure you have experienced and reliable software professionals who help you crack down the process with ease.

Step 1: Define Your Goals

Clearly articulate your objectives and what you aim to achieve with the software. Identify the specific problems you want to address. Most importantly, finalize the features you want to add to your platform.

Step 2: Research and Identify Technology Partners

Conduct thorough research to find technology partners who can provide the best-in-class agriculture drone software development. Look for companies with a strong track record, relevant expertise, and a deep understanding of the agricultural industry.

You can cut down the chase by choosing Matellio. Our team ticks all the boxes of requirements mentioned above.

Step 3: Requirements Gathering

Collaborate with your chosen technology partner to gather and document detailed software requirements. Gather their and other stakeholders’ perspectives on the following:

• Key features 
• Data integration needs 
• User interface preferences 
• Other specific customization requirements

Step 4: Design and Prototyping

Work with an expert development team to create a visual design and user experience. Ensure the design aligns with your brand’s vision and end-user needs.

In this process, rely on prototyping. It will streamline the testing of your agriculture drone software’s design. Plus, it will help you refine functionalities and the interface before you begin full-scale development.

Step 5: Development and Testing

Once you finalize the design, get started with the development phase.

When you partner with experts like Matellio, the software is built according to the defined requirements. Here, you have all the space to get your desired features and functionalities. Additionally, you get expert advice on following the best practices and industry trends. For instance, when you harness AI’s power and IoT development services, you can create outstanding agriculture solutions. Refer to the below-given table to get an idea about what technologies you can opt for when you reach this step.

After the development comes testing; remember to ensure rigorous testing as it secures stability, proper performance, and security.

Step 6: Deployment and Training

Once development and testing are complete, it’s time to deploy your agriculture drone software to the target environment. But before that, consider starting with an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) deployment.

MVP allows you to introduce a scaled-down version of your software. It helps gather valuable user feedback and assess software performance in the real world.

You can also hold training sessions to familiarize users with the software’s features and functionality. It clears the air if there is any confusion. With this approach, you can iterate and refine your software based on user insights. As a result, you can deliver a more robust and user-friendly solution.

Step 7: Ongoing Support and Maintenance

You cannot escape hacking and bugs 100%. But what you can do is maintain your agriculture drone software properly. So focus on continuous support as interoperability and integrations may leave loopholes for technical issues. For this, you have to keep a tap on regular updates. Keep experts a call away to ensure your software is optimized and fits contemporary industry standards.

Choose Matellio for Agriculture Drone Software Development

Ready to revolutionize your farming operations with drones? Choose Matellio to blend the power of drone technology with software development.

Our team has the command to deal with complex technologies, including drones. So, if you have a unique idea and need custom solutions to convert your vision into reality, we’re here to serve! With our expertise, you can use optimum tailoring to boost efficiency, productivity, and profitability.

What’s more? Our team of skilled developers understands the challenges of the agriculture industry. Therefore, along with your special requests, they can keep all the essential features, like crop monitoring, data analysis, and more, intact. Plus, they can suggest other important services like enterprise solutions, cloud integration services, and more that can help you create highly effective software.

So, say goodbye to traditional and manual agricultural operations. And say hi to harness the full potential of drone technology for your farm. Choose us as your trusted partner and witness the transformation in your agricultural practices.