From June 29 to July 3, 2025, a delegation led by Researcher Chen Liping, Director of the NERCIEA, including Researcher Zhang Ruirui, Dr. Tang Qing, and Dr. Li Longlong, traveled to Barcelona, Spain to participate in "The 15th European Conference on Precision Agriculture (ECPA 2025)" for international academic exchanges on precision agriculture technologies and equipment.
From June 30 to July 1, the delegation participated technical exchanges in parallel session, including cutting-edge advances in precision agriculture and application technologies and system of agricultural drones, advanced crop and soil sensing technologies, agricultural robotics and navigation control systems. Researcher Chen Liping delivered a presentation titled “Rapid Prediction Model for Spray Drift in Plant Protection UAVs: An Integrated Aerodynamic-Computational Approach”, introducing the center’s research progress in rapid spray drift prediction for plant protection drones and discussed validation methods for spray prediction models with international experts. Researcher Zhang Ruirui presented“UAV-Based Omitted Pre-tassel Detection and Detassel System in hHybrid Maize Seed Production”, showcasing the center’s self-developed drone-based detasseling system for hybrid maize seed production. He addressed key technical challenges such as tassel recognition and detasseling actuator control, while also exchanging insights with global peers on new applications of agricultural drones in China, including seed/fertilizer spreading, crop transport, pollination, and fish/shrimp feeding. Dr. Tang Qing gave a presentation titled“Influence of Nozzle Position on Droplet Deposition Performance in Plant Protection UAVs Spraying”, introducing modeling approach for multi-rotor plant protection UAVs, covering wake dynamics and droplet dispersion. He also discussed technical bottlenecks in spray modeling for Agricultural UAVs. Dr. Li Longlong presented“A Remote Sensing Method for Spray Drift Measurement with Point Clouds Data of Commercial LiDAR”, demonstrating the center’s latest advancements in LiDAR-based monitoring of spray drift, including spatiotemporal evolution analysis and rapid drift quantification. He also exchanged ideas with researchers from the University of Lleida (Spain) on rapid detection techniques for spray drift in orchard air-assisted sprayers.
On July 2, Researcher Chen Liping led the delegation on a visit to the Agropolis Reseach Campus, an experimental base of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC). The team conducted on-site investigations of several precision agriculture and environmental sensing systems, including: multi-sensor fusion crop perception unmanned vehicle developed by Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), Spain, variable-rate air-assisted orchard sprayerdeveloped by UPC, Spain, based on prescription maps, wearable laser scanning system developed by Universitat de Lleida (UDL), Spain, remote temperature and humidity monitoring system by Mobilab AgroTIC, Interra Scan soil nutrient scanner by Cropwise, Veris-3100 vehicle-mounted soil conductivity measurement system by Veris Technologies, USA. During the visit, the team engaged in in-depth discussions with academic and industry experts on performance metrics and practical applications of these technologies. The team also engaged in in-depth discussions with the AgroICT & Precision Agriculture research team from Universitat de Lleida (UDL), including Prof. Jaume Arnó Satorra and Dr. Ouijdan Hajjaj, on intelligent pest and disease monitoring and control systems, spray drift detection technologies, and related topics, with mutual invitations for future exchange visits.
The European Conference on Precision Agriculture (ECPA) is one of the top premier global conferences in precision agriculture, wielding significant influence in the international precision farming community. The 15th ECPA 2025, themed "Precision Agriculture: A Reality for Everyone", was co-organized by the International Society of Precision Agriculture (ISPA), the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), and the Agricultural Machinery Unit. (UMA). The conference arranges 41 technical parallel sessions, covering key areas such as new plant protection technologies, advanced soil/crop remote sensing, UAV/satellite applications in precision agriculture, and precision livestock management. Over 180 oral presentations and 100 poster presentations have been shown. Nearly 400 scholars from 50+ countries across Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Africa, fostering global knowledge exchange.
