Single-Neuron PID UAV Variable Fertilizer Application Control System Based on a Weighted Coefficient Learning Correction

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The paper “Single neuron PID UAV variable fertilizer application control 2 system based on a weighted coefficient learning correction” is a very well written and well organized. This is an interesting article dealing and the results are very finely articulated in this manuscript. However, there are some doubts which should be incorporated before considering this article for publication.

1. Firstly, the abstract should be clear and crisp, it should be refined to precisely illustrate what authors have done in this paper within 200 words.

2. Secondly, the readers should be convinced by the previous literature to understand the clear thinking/consideration that why the proposed approach can reach more convinced results. This contribution of the authors should be highlighted in the revision.

3. In addition, authors also should provide more sufficient critical literature to indicate the drawbacks of existed approaches, then, well define the main stream of research direction, how did those previous studies perform? Employ which methodologies? Which problem still requires to be solved? Why is the proposed approach suitable to be used to solve the critical problem?

4. The results of the manuscript are very well presented in this article, however, there are interesting leads that the study provides for further explorations so authors should highlight more specific direction for future research in conclusion section.

The author can cite few of the application oriented article published in good journals like presented below for the improvement of manuscript. 

10.1016/j.comcom.2019.09.009

 

 

 

Author Response

 "Please see the attachment."

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

The paper presented shows very interesting research in an expanding field of application in agriculture and of scientific interest. The authors studied how a control system can control the spreading of fertilizer using UAVs to fit a previously elaborated prescription map that allows real-time, zoned adjustment of the spreading. While this is very interesting research, some minor editing should be done to improve the presentation and the research itself.

In the introduction paragraph, from line 62 to 82 there is no regulatory reference on aerial fertilizer spreading by UAV. I think it may be useful to mention to get a more complete picture of the experimentation, considering that for example in Europe aerial spreading is forbidden to date.

Line 95: Please check references 26 and 27. Thank you

In the Materials and Methods section, paragraph 2.1, it would be good to include a summary table of the experimental plan for easier reading.

Line 193: reference is made to flight altitudes between 1m and 6m that do not coincide with those mentioned and used in the following paragraphs (1-3m), please check and correct. Thank you

In the same paragraph, reference is made to flight speed but not how it affects the spreading, which should be done since speed affects some spreading parameters such as drag.

Figure 3: It is not clear in the caption what number 12 "upper computer" is. It is not clear if number 13 is an RTK antenna, please correct to make the caption clearer. Thank you

In subsection 2.2.2 some formulas are presented, please correct how the factors and parameters of these were presented. Thank you

In subsection 2.2.2 some formulas are presented, please correct how the factors and parameters of these were presented. Thank you.

In the same paragraph, a neural network was introduced whose characteristics, how it was constructed, how it was trained, etc. is not specified. Please introduce more details. Thank you.

The whole section lacks citations that would support the choice made about control algorithms.

Line 361: please correct "in the room" to "indoor" or "on the bench" or "in laboratory." Thank you.

Lines 440 to 448: As mentioned before, reference is made to flight altitudes that do not coincide with what is written in the materials and methods. Also, citations supporting the choice made should be included.

Table 4: the flight height 2 is not mentioned in the text. Please correct. Thank you.
Lines 530 - 543: The different delays of the control algorithms for varying the speed of the spreading disk are mentioned. However, the fact that the tests were conducted indoors without a wireless transmission as is the case in the field was not considered. Wireless transmission technically has some lag that should be considered. If, however, both tests were conducted with wireless transmissions, it should be specified in the text for clarity. Thank you.

Table 6: Correct in "Control Method" column NPID with INPID. Thank you.

Table 7: It is not clear what "null" means in the test factors columns. Please clarify in the text or table caption. Thank you.

The conclusion paragraph refers to the fact that the DC motor used performs well with a specific control algorithm. However, this result was obtained with that specific DC motor; it is not certain, and should be proven, that the same results are obtainable with another type of motor. Also, as mentioned in the previous comments, while mentioning different flight speeds in materials and methods, it is not specified how these may affect the spreading.

Author Response

“please see attachment”

Author Response File: Author Response.docx