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From BBC News | Technology | World Edition:
The first flights have been conducted of an autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to monitor UK farmland.
The robot plane flew over fields in England and Wales to map the nitrogen levels in soil, to determine whether fertiliser applications were needed.
The UAV missions were part of a joint research project between tech firm Qinetiq and Aberystwyth University.
Pilotless vehicles are likely to become an increasingly common sight if the airspace can be freed up.
"You don't need to put pilots in a vehicle where you are only collecting data, providing you can do it safely," said Jonathan Webber, the programme leader of Qinetiq UAV Services.
"That's going to drive savings in weight, which will drive savings in fuel costs. So where you see normal routine data-gathering operations by manned aviation today, I would see that gradually being transferred over to UAVs in the next 20 years."
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Re: Robot Plane Sweeps Over UK Fields
