Drone Spray & Coverage & Sorties
Sprays cotton
Enter swath, speed, flight time, field area, spray rate and tank size to get area per battery, sorties, total spray volumeand tank refills — so you plan the batteries, mix and flights before takeoff.
Plan a drone spray mission
Next: charge enough packs for 6 sorties and pre-mix 100 L (10 tank fills) so swap-outs are quick — keep a spare battery set on a fast charger to fly continuously.
Real coverage drops with turning, climbs, wind drift and battery derating in heat; quoted swath is effective swath, not nozzle spread. Always fly within local drone-spray regulations and label droplet-size guidance.
Drone spray — key facts
- Area/battery
- swath × speed × flight time
- Sorties
- field area ÷ area per battery
- Total spray
- area × spray rate
- Tank refills
- total spray ÷ tank size
- Low rate
- often 10–25 L/ha
- Flies
- low volume, high speed
- Spares
- keep the drone in the air
- Privacy
- Runs in your browser; nothing uploaded
A small tank and a fast flier need a tight plan
Agriculture drones flip the old logic of spraying: they fly fast, spray a concentrated low volume, and carry only a few litres at a time. That means the day is built around two clocks — how much ground a battery covers before it lands, and how often the little tank runs dry. Get those out of step and the drone sits idle. Plan them together and a small machine treats large fields surprisingly quickly.
This tool turns swath, speed, flight time, area, rate and tank size into the area covered per battery, the number of sorties, the total spray to mix and the tank refills needed. Use it to pack the right number of spare batteries, mix the right volume, and keep the ground crew ahead of the drone. Pair it with the Sprayer Calibration, Spray & Tank Mix and Spray Drift Buffer tools for a complete application plan.
Pack the batteries
Know the sorties before you leave the shed.
Mix the right volume
Total spray and refills from area and rate.
Cut idle time
Sync battery swaps with tank refills.
Stay low-volume
Apply the label's concentrated drone rate.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does a drone spray calculator work?+
It links the drone's coverage to your field. Area covered per battery = swath width × ground speed × flight time per charge. Sorties = field area ÷ area per battery. Total spray = field area × the application rate, and tank refills = total spray ÷ tank size. From a handful of specs you get a complete spray plan: how far one charge goes, how many flights, and how much liquid to mix.
What is the area covered per battery?+
It's the effective ground the drone treats on a single charge: swath × speed × flight time. A 4 m swath at 5 m/s for 10 minutes covers 4 × 5 × 600 = 12,000 m², about 1.2 ha. Real coverage is a little lower because of turns, overlap, refill stops and reduced speed at headlands, so treat it as the optimistic ceiling.
How many sorties will my field need?+
Sorties (battery flights) = field area ÷ area covered per battery, rounded up. If each charge covers 1.2 ha and the field is 6 ha, that's 5 sorties. Sorties matter because the drone lands between them to swap batteries, so they set the rhythm of the day — and how many spare batteries you should carry.
Why do agri-drones spray at low volume?+
Drones fly fast and carry only a small tank, so they use concentrated, low-volume spraying — often 10–25 L/ha versus hundreds for a boom sprayer. Fine atomised droplets and rotor downwash drive the spray into the canopy. Always follow the product label's drone or ULV rate; the low total volume is by design, not under-dosing.
How much total spray do I mix?+
Total spray volume = field area × application rate. At a 20 L/ha low rate, a 6 ha field needs 120 L of made-up spray. Mix to the label concentration, account for what stays in lines and the tank, and split it across tank loads. This tool gives the total and the number of refills for the tank size you enter.
How many tank refills are there?+
Tank refills = total spray volume ÷ tank size, rounded up. A 120 L job with a 16 L tank is about 8 fills. Because a small tank may empty before a battery dies (or vice versa), plan refills and battery swaps together so the ground crew keeps the drone in the air with minimal idle time.
How many spare batteries should I carry?+
Enough to keep the drone flying while used packs recharge. With fast chargers you might cycle three to four batteries continuously; without, carry more. A rough rule: have enough charged packs to cover the time it takes the first one to recharge. The sortie count tells you how many charge cycles the whole field will take.
What affects real coverage and accuracy?+
Wind, payload weight, battery health and temperature, terrain, obstacle avoidance and overlap all cut into the textbook figures. Heavier loads and headwinds slow the drone and drain batteries faster, and safety buffers reduce sprayable area. Use the calculator to plan, then refine from your own logged flight times and field results.
Are the figures precise?+
They're solid planning figures based on swath, speed, flight time, rate and tank size. Actual results vary with the drone model, conditions and operator. Always follow the label rate, respect drift buffers and local rules for drone spraying, and verify coverage on the ground — treat the outputs as a flight plan to steer by, not a guarantee.