At this years Agritechnica exhibition, German company insensiv displayed a tethered UAV hexacopter, that is connected to a vehicle-mounted base station by a cable. According to the company, the tethered concept is advantageous compared to common UAV solutions, since the tethered UAV and its cameras enable real-time applications and actions and do not need data evaluation and generation of prescription maps after flying and scouting crops and fields. Compared to tractor and implement mounted sensors, the PodCopter concept measures a wider area and thus covers a wider part of the crop and field. The tethered UAV concept also allows for longer – or even unlimited – flight times compared to regular battery powered UAV’s.

insensiv is currently gathering reactions from interested parties in agriculture. Athough the agricultural applications are still under development, the estimated price of the PodCopter UAV concept is targeted at €30,000. From the current series, the PodCopter is also used for other applications, 8 units are still available.

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