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Drone Spraying Solution for Agriculture - Indeema’s Case Study

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Short Overview

FarmDroneTech (name changed due to NDA) specializes in advanced drone technology for agricultural crop protection. Designed and manufactured in Israel, the company’s solutions offer growers a precise and efficient way to manage their fields, optimizing crop care with cutting-edge aerial application systems.

Project Details

  • Industry: Agriculture, Consumer IoT
  • Services: IoT Development, IoT Consulting Services, Tech Advisory, R&D Services, MVP Development
  • Lifetime: 2024 - Ongoing
  • Client's Location: Israel

Project background

The client approached Indeema for technical advisory support related to embedded development with specific Espressif MCUs. To help determine whether the desired data transmission bitrate was possible using an ESP32-PICO with a custom pinout, our team built a firmware prototype designed specifically for their setup.

What was the customer's request?

  • The client requested the implementation of a QSPI to Wi-Fi bridge with a minimum bitrate of 40 Mb/sec.
What was the customer's request?

What did the client already have?

  • The client had an idea for a new version of an agricultural drone that would include a data link module with Wi-Fi capabilities onboard.
What did the client already have?

Solution we delivered

Where did we start?

The client needed an MCU application that could boot quickly and support over-the-air (OTA) updates, including a factory reset option. While they initially considered using the Oryx network stack, Indeema recommended going with the native ESP-IDF stack instead, as it accelerated initial development and was easier to maintain in the long run.

  • Requirements phase

    The team first examined the low-level SPI driver within ESP-IDF to assess whether the client’s bitrate requirements could be met. Once confirmed, we created a Functional Requirements Document, detailing all functionalities for the bridge implementation. To support the client’s team in working with the new tech stack, we also prepared a comprehensive System Design Document, enabling their engineers to set up similar systems independently in the future.

  • Prototyping

    We began by implementing the bootloader and the bridge (main application). Once the application achieved the required data bitrate in the tests with high-speed logic analyzer, we added the client functionality to enable two-way data transmission between the bridge and the client. To test the firmware prototype, the team developed a hardware setup simulating client-bridge interaction. This setup was successfully demonstrated to the client.

Where did we start?

Our Development Process

  • Firmware/Embedded Development

    The development process began with gathering requirements and conducting R&D to validate the technical approach. Indeema then developed the bridge firmware and successfully demonstrated a working prototype. Following a change request, the team also implemented the client-side firmware, demonstrating practical feasibility. Final technical documentation was delivered, and Indeema supported the client’s engineers with setting up and integrating both the bridge and client components.

  • DevOps and Cloud Development

    The project required setting up a dedicated server to support the firmware download process. From a CI/CD perspective, a repository was created in GitLab, and appropriate access permissions were granted to the customer’s team to enable collaboration and streamline integration workflows.

  • Maintenance

    As part of ongoing maintenance, the firmware for the bridge was continuously refined to improve performance and resource efficiency. Efforts were made to optimize the overall memory footprint, including both RAM and flash usage, to ensure reliable operation under constrained resources typical of ESP32 or similar SoC-based designs. Redundant or unused code paths were eliminated, and buffer sizes were fine-tuned to balance performance with memory availability. Pin utilisation was reviewed and optimised to make the best use of available GPIOs, with considerations for future scalability and hardware revisions.

The Team Involved In The Project

Embedded Developer

1

Technical Lead

1

DevOps

1

Project Manager

1

Project Challenges And Our Suggestions

  • Achieving High-Speed QSPI-to-Wi-Fi Data Transfer

    One of the main challenges was achieving the required QSPI-to-Wi-Fi bitrate, as the Wi-Fi speed posed significant limitations. To overcome this, the team carefully engineered the dataflow process, considering packet size and custom QSPI configuration, to operate at its maximum possible speed from both SPI and Wi-Fi standpoint. This adjustment allowed us to meet the client's performance expectations and deliver the desired data transmission rate.

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Impact

With Indeema’s hands-on support and technical expertise, the client was able to confidently move forward with their concept for a new drone data link module. We helped validate their chosen approach by reaching the target data transmission speed and delivering a reliable, well-documented firmware prototype. As a result, their team is now better equipped to continue development and bring the solution to life.

Before And After Cooperation With Indeema

Before:

  • The client’s team had limited experience with the ESP-IDF platform

  • There were doubts about achieving the required QSPI to Wi-Fi transfer speeds

After:

  • Through hands-on support, technical guidance, and a well-documented working firmware prototype, the client’s team gained confidence in using the native ESP-IDF framework and ESP32 SoCs

  • The target QSPI performance was successfully reached, both at the embedded level and in end-to-end QSPI to Wi-Fi data transfer

Technical Highlights

Technologies

C

C++

Python

Hardware interfaces (SPI, QSPI, UART)

Wi-Fi network related (Soft AP, UDP)

NGINX

High-speed data logging

Silicons

ESP32 Pico

ESP32-C6

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