Author ORCID Identifier:

https://orcid.org/0009-0006-3491-0768

Date of Graduation

7-2026

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering (MSME)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

Mechanical Engineering

Advisor/Mentor

Majumdar, Neelskshi

Committee Member

Koparan, Cengiz

Second Committee Member

Jensen, David

Keywords

Aerospace Systems; Agent-Based Modeling; Discrete Event Simulation; Precision Agriculture

Abstract

The application of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in civilian sectors, particularly for precision agriculture and targeted aerial spraying, has rapidly evolved from passive monitoring to advanced, autonomous, multi-agent coordination. While deploying UAV swarms offers a promising solution to the payload and battery endurance limitations of single drone operations, realizing field-scale coverage introduces significant logistical and safety challenges. To evaluate the trajectory and viability of swarms, this study synthesizes bibliometric trends, operational simulation, and safety reporting analysis. First, because physical testing of complex swarms poses financial and safety risks, we developed an agent-based and discrete event simulation to evaluate autonomous spraying operations. The simulation reveals that while increasing swarm size can reduce overall Time of Completion (ToC) by up to 94%, it introduces operational trade-offs, notably congestion at ground support stations and increased individual drone downtime. Furthermore, as these systems integrate into civil airspace, operational risks must be mitigated. An analysis of civilian UAV incidents using the NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) database identifies human error and hardware/software failures as the primary factors for system failures. Ultimately, while intelligent UAV swarms possess transformative potential for precision agriculture, achieving true autonomy requires a careful balance of optimized swarm sizing, robust ground infrastructure, improved safety mitigations, and updated global aviation regulations to overcome current hardware constraints and operational bottlenecks.

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