The operator first flies the perimeter of the area to be sprayed. The software then automatically plots the flight path back and forth across the area. The drone flies itself, stops when it gets to the perimeter, moves over and starts back across. Covers about 25 ft with a 12 ft boom. It holds a four gallon removeable herbicide tank with sensor so it know when to return for tank replacement. The four gallon tank sprays approx an acre. The battery lasts about six minutes under load. The 4 gallon tank empties in about four minutes. The operator has a truck and enclosed trailer. The truck has the bulk chemical tank and a large generator. The generator recharges the batteries. The trailer contains fifteen batteries and fifteen four gal herbicide tanks. All the batteries sit in a rack that is connected to the generator in the back of the truck and recharge while he is driving. He fills about five tanks to start with. When the drone returns when the tank empties, he replaces the battery and herbicide tank with a full one. At the end, the operator assumes manual control and gets all nooks and crannies that were not included in the original mapping. Took a total of two hours including set up and pick up and my 500 questions. Operator said Sprayed a combo of roundup, Arsenal, and triclorpyr.
price will be about $1200 for my 7 acres. Also includes chemical. They have to calculate exact amount of chemical used. Also included two hours to get to my place and two hours back
the primary species were a cladium - sawgrass/rush, and alligator weed - and invasive species. The company I contracted with said I did not need special permitting