DJI Launches Mavic 3 Multispectral Agriculture Drone

• The DJI Mavic 3 Multispectral is a compact, portable solution for precision agriculture;

• It combines an RGB camera with a multispectral camera to scan and analyse crop growth with total clarity;

• Multispectral camera has four 5MP sensors, to scan in the Green, Red, Red Edge, and Near Infrared wavelengths; 

• The RGB camera is 20MP, 4/3 CMOS, and has a mechanical shutter;

• Mavic 3M has a total flight time of 43 minutes.

DJI has unveiled the Mavic 3 Multispectral, designed for precision agriculture, environmental monitoring, and land management.

The drone has a newly-upgraded imaging system with one 20MP RGB camera and four 5MP multispectral cameras. This enables applications such as high-precision aerial surveying, crop growth monitoring, and natural resource surveys. 

The Mavic 3M includes an RTK module that achieves centimetre-level positioning.

The Mavic 3 Multispectral is a highly-portable drone, thanks to its foldable design and 951g weight.

It has 43 minutes of flight time and can complete the surveying and mapping operations of an area as vast as 2 square kilometers in a single flight.

Mavic 3M: The Camera

The Mavic 3 Multispectral features a two-in-one camera system to view and collect a wide array of information that users can turn into results on the field.

An RGB camera is equipped with a 4/3-inch CMOS and 20MP image sensor and mechanical shutter with a maximum speed of 1/2000. It manages high-speed continuous filming at the fastest interval of 0.7 seconds and can quickly collect image information, greatly improving the efficiency of operations over the fields.

In addition to the RGB camera, a four-lens multispectral camera provides more accurate information, helping users gain a deeper understanding of crop conditions by sensing details that the human eye cannot detect.

Each of the four multispectral cameras of can capture 5 million pixels and scan for the following wavelengths:

• Green (G): 560nm ± 16nm

• Red (R): 650 nm ± 20 nm

• Red edge (RE): 730 nm ± 20 nm

• Near-infrared (NIR) 860 nm ± 26 nm

In fact, the Mavic 3M is the smallest 4-band multispectral camera in the world. 

By combining these two cameras, Mavic 3M realises applications such as high-precision aerial surveys, crop growth monitoring, and natural resource surveys.

DJI Mavic 3 Multispectral: Sunlight Sensor For More Consistent Data 

When assessing agricultural data over time, changes in the weather from day to day can interfere with the clarity of your NDVI results.

The Mavic 3M has a built-in Incident Light Sensor on the back of its airframe that works to mitigate this. 

It takes solar irradiance readings that can be used to calibrate and normalise your multispectral data in post-processing.

By adjusting for sunlight levels, you get more accurate NDVI results and better data, no matter the weather or season.

RTK Module For Centimetre-Level Positioning

Mavic 3M includes an RTK module that achieves centimeter-level positioning.

The drone, its camera, and the RTK module are synchronised at the microsecond level to accurately obtain the position information of the imaging center of each camera.

This allows Mavic 3M to perform high-precision aerial surveying without the use of ground control points. And with a battery life of up to 43 minutes, Mavic 3M can complete the surveying and mapping operations of an area as vast as 2 square kilometers in a single flight.

O3 Enterprise Video Transmission And Safety Features 

Mavic 3M is equipped with O3 Enterprise video transmission, which integrates two channels of transmitting signals and four channels of receiving signals, and supports an ultra-long transmission distance of 8km (CE).

For added safety, Mavic 3M is equipped with omnidirectional obstacle sensing to detect obstacles in all directions and help avoid them accurately.

The drone can also conduct terrain-follow aerial surveying, which can be easily performed in steep-slope landscapes.

Mavic 3 Multispectral: Applications

Conduct multiple applications with the Mavic 3M. These include:

Orchard Mapping

Mavic 3M allows terrain-follow aerial surveying of orchards, even on sloped landscapes. Together with DJI Terra or DJI SmartFarm Platform, reconstruct high-resolution orchard maps, automatically identify the number of trees, distinguish trees from other obstacles or objects, and generate three-dimensional operation routes for agricultural drones, making operations safer and more efficient. 

Guide Variable Rate Applications

Mavic 3M is used to obtain multi-spectral images of crops.

DJI Terra or the DJI SmartFarm Platform can then generate NDVI and other vegetation indices maps, capturing differences in crop potential and generating prescription maps that allow agricultural drones to execute variable-rate application.

This ultimately allows users to reduce costs, increase yield, and protect the environment.

Intelligent Field Scouting

The Mavic 3M can carry out automatic field scouting.

The field scout images can be uploaded to the DJI SmartFarm Platform in real time through a 4G network.

It can find abnormalities, such as emergence deficiencies, weed pressure, and crop lodging in a timely manner.

It can also conduct intelligent analyses, such as cotton seedling identification and rice production testing, using AI identification for real-time sharing of crop growth information, guidance of agronomic activities, and easy management of 70 hectares of farmland by one person. 

DJI SmartFarm Platform

The Mavic 3M comes with one year Shield Protection (Basic); a three-month, one device DJI Terra Full licence; and one year access to the DJI SmartFarm Platform.

The DJI SmartFarm Platform can generate NDVI vegetation index to provide the data for more efficient and localised crop treatment.

The DJI SmartFarm Platform will be supported in Q2 of 2023. 

Automatic field scouting can detect crop abnormalities and perform intelligent analyses that allow a single person to manage 70 hectares of land.