The Internet of Drones in Precision Agriculture: Challenges, Solutions, and Research Opportunities

Abstract

The Internet of Drones (IoD) is an emerging paradigm generated over the Internet of Things (IoT) framework, where things are replaced with drones. IoD facilitates inter-drone communication and provides a mechanism for automatically controlling the drones from a remote location, even in non-line-of-sight conditions. IoD also consists of the onboard controller for making smart decisions by using artificial intelligence. This article highlights the role of IoD in precision agriculture, which helps in achieving qualitative and quantitative improvement in agricultural products, improving the financial benefits of farmers and exact climate predictions. Next, we describe the different challenges and corresponding solutions that may be encountered while using IoD in precision agriculture. We also depict a taxonomy of these challenges and solutions. Finally, we discuss different research opportunities in IoD-based precision agriculture. © 2018 IEEE.