The article presents analysis of the current situation and development trends of the international UAVs cargo market. It is shown that the UAVs market has made a transition from a stage of studying technologies to commercial operation and implementation of finished products. Nowadays it is at the stage of rapid growth. However, a global market for cargo UAVs and commercial services on their basis for transporting bulky goods is still at the early stage of commercial development. At the same time, the trend for the development of cargo UAVs with the large carrying capacity corresponds to the analysis results of the global air cargo market.

The transport and technological cycles of unmanned aerial vehicles used in various options for the implementation of agricultural technologies in smart farming are discussed. The analysis of UAV function was carried out, starting with regular and detailed aerial photography and ending with the spraying of chemicals and spraying fields. It is shown that the digitalization of UAV transport and technological cycles based on GERT-network models makes it possible to provide effective information and analytical support for decision-making processes in logistics monitoring and flow control systems in agricultural production. An analysis of the fundamental principles of GERT-network modeling led to the conclusion that this method is applicable for solving a number of systemic problems in optimizing UAV transport and technological cycles in precision farming, including their planning, modeling and development, as well as quality control of their implementation.

The conceptual basis for digitalization of the specifications of transport and technological cycles of agricultural UAVs used in performing agrotechnical operations in smart agriculture is presented in the article. The basic properties of specifications have been studied. Methods for analyzing the main properties of specifications are considered and the relationship between specifications and the main stages of the life cycle of transport and technological cycles of UAVs is established. Based on GERT-oriented conceptual specification tools, a method for organizing conceptual specification tools based on GERT-like nodal logic is proposed in the article. Formalization of the GERT-network specification of transport and technological cycles of agricultural UAVs has been completed. The proposed approach to creating specifications for transport and technological cycles of UAVs in smart agriculture makes it possible to ensure full compliance of the specifications with the basic requirements for accuracy, clarity and completeness of description.

The article presents an approach that provides a comprehensive analysis of the cost-effectiveness of the implementation of transport and technological cycles in the swarm use of agricultural UAVs. A generalized “effect-cost” assessment is presented for ensuring the transport process within the framework of acceptable implementations of the transporttechnological cycle. It is shown that for swarm applications of UAVs in precision agriculture, cost-benefit analysis is also directly related to the microprocessor performance of the UAV swarm. The cost-effectiveness model proposed in the work is based on a previously obtained solution to the problem of optimal performance of a UAV swarm used for spraying crops. The results of improving the cost function are presented using a model example that illustrates the proposed approach. It is noted that the presented problem statement helps developers clearly identify alternatives and formulate additional questions that need to be answered to make a decision.