Application of Drone Remote Sensing Technology in Agricultural Pest Monitoring and Its Challenges

¹ School of Geography, Yunnan Normal University, Kunming 650500, China; School of Resources, Environment and Chemistry, Chuxiong Normal University, Chuxiong 675000, China,

² School of Resources, Environment and Chemistry, Chuxiong Normal University, Chuxiong 675000, China,

JERA 2025 , 9(4), 14–23; https://doi.org/10.26689/jera.v9i4.11433

© 2025 by the Authors. Licensee Whioce Publishing, Singapore. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )

Abstract

With the increasing global population and mounting pressures on agricultural production, precise pest monitoring has become a critical factor in ensuring food security. Traditional monitoring methods, often inefficient, struggle to meet the demands of modern agriculture. Drone remote sensing technology, leveraging its high efficiency and flexibility, demonstrates significant potential in pest monitoring. Equipped with multispectral, hyperspectral, and thermal infrared sensors, drones can rapidly cover large agricultural fields, capturing high-resolution imagery and data to detect spectral variations in crops. This enables effective differentiation between healthy and infested plants, facilitating early pest identification and targeted control. This paper systematically reviews the current applications of drone remote sensing technology in pest monitoring by examining different sensor types and their use in monitoring major crop pests and diseases. It also discusses existing challenges, aiming to provide insights and references for future research.

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