A Review of Wireless Sensor Technologies and Applications in Agriculture and Food Industry: State of the Art and Current Trends

The aim of the present paper is to review the technical and scientific state of the art of wireless sensor technologies and standards for wireless communications in the Agri-Food sector. These technologies are very promising in several fields such as environmental monitoring, precision agriculture, cold chain control or traceability. The paper focuses on WSN (Wireless Sensor Networks) and RFID (Radio Frequency Identification), presenting the different systems available, recent developments and examples of applications, including ZigBee based WSN and passive, semi-passive and active RFID. Future trends of wireless communications in agriculture and food industry are also discussed

Lora technology and its Iot integration in agriculture: a bibliometric analysis

Introducción: El presente artículo es producto de la revisión “Tecnología LoRa y su integración IoT en la agricultura”, desarrollada en la facultad tecnológica de la Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas realizada durante 2019 y 2020. Problema: En la actualidad la agricultura enfrenta desafíos y problemas como el calentamiento global, la escasez de agua y la demanda alimentaria. A causa de dichas dificultades se han venido desarrollando tecnología que facilitan el monitoreo de cultivos y granjas. Objetivo: Resaltar las principales y más importantes características en común entre los artículos revisados, identificar las principales revistas que realizan publicaciones durante los años comprendidos entre 2015 y 2020. Metodología: A partir de esto, se realizó una revisión sistemática en las bases de datos científicas en áreas clave de la agricultura, teniendo en cuenta los artículos publicados entre los años 2015 a 2020. Resultados: Los resultados arrojaron 150 artículos de los cuales sólo 50 cumplieron los criterios de inclusión, Se excluyeron artículos de revisiones, metanálisis y publicaciones en idiomas diferentes al español e inglés. Conclusión: En esta investigación se discute y se analiza los dispositivos más usados dentro de la investigación, módulos LoRa, localizaciones exitosos y beneficios a nivel costos de la implementación de estos sistemas. Originalidad: Mediante la metodología de revisión sistemática y herramientas bibliométricas como bibliometrix R permitieron identificar la información más relevante y los autores más citados. Limitaciones: Existen muy pocos estudios a nivel local que involucran o implementen estas tecnologías.Introduction: This article is the product of the review "LoRa Technology and its IoT integration in agriculture", developed in the technological faculty of the Francisco José de Caldas District University carried out during 2019 and 2020. Problem: Agriculture: now faces dsnophysis and problems such as global warming, water scarcity and food demand. Because of these difficulties, technology has been developed to facilitate the monitoring of crops and farms. Objective: Tohighlight the main and most important characteristics in common amongthe revised articles,identify the main journals that publish during the years between 2015 and 2020. Methodology: From this, a systematic review was carried out in scientific databases in key areas of agriculture,taking into account the articles published between 2015 and 2020. Results: The results yielded 150 articles of which only 50 met the inclusion criteria, Articles of revisions, meta-analysis and publications in languages other than Spanish and English were excluded. Conclusion: This researchis discussed and analyzed the most used devices within research, LoRa modules, successful locations and benefits at the cost level of the implementation of these systems. Originality: Through the systematic review methodology and bibliometric tools such as bibliometrix R they allowed to identify the most relevant information and the most cited authors. Limitations: Existen very few studies at the local level that involve or implement these technologies

Opportunities and Challenges of Vegetable Marketing in Kilte-Awlaelo Woreda

The study was conducted in selected major vegetable producing Tabias of Klite- Awlaelo woreda namely Genfel, Mesanu, A/ksanded, and Aynalem. The study aims at assessing the major constraints and opportunities to improve vegetable production and marketing. The data collection was conducted in October 2007. A survey was conducted using structured interview schedule to collect primary data from 162 vegetables producers and 30 officials of the woreda and cooperatives. Different types of vegetables are grown in the study area under irrigated conditions. The most commonly grown vegetables in terms of the number of growers are potato, cabbage, onion, carrot and tomato. Onion, potato and tomato which are the major vegetables cultivated in the woreda were considered for the study. House holds uses family labour for land preparation, planting, cultivation, weeding, irrigation, fertilizer application, pesticides application, harvesting and transporting of the products to the market. Farmers in the study area used organic manure to improve the production of vegetables. Vegetables are produced in some specific locations in the eastern part of Tigray and supplied to the local markets. The major markets identified for collection and distribution of large quantities of vegetables are at Wukro and Mekelle. The market actors namely producers, collectors, brokers, transporters, traders, and consumers play different roles along the market chain. Most producers in the study area are intending to expand vegetable production. The most commonly mentioned opportunities are related to market demand, proximity to the market, better price, irrigation facility and government support. The constraints of vegetable production viewed from the farmers’ perspective are: institutional factors, natural factors and transportation related factors. Inadequate farmer skills and knowledge of production, product management and attack of pests and diseases are the most common constraints of vegetable production. In cash crop production, households decide which cash crop(s) to grow and at which market(s) to sell their crop harvests. Different market outlets that households may consider are selling at the farm-gate, selling at a local market or selling at a central market. Chi-square model was used to examine the interaction between crop and market outlet choices in the study area. The result shows the existence of statistical evidence that market outlet choice and quantity produced with respect to Potato, Onion and Tomato are associated. Vegetable production is increasing from time to time in the woreda. The output and productivity of vegetables, is affected by the different factors. Therefore multiple regression analysis was used to identify the factors which influence the productivity of vegetable products in the study area. The results show that availability of extension services, oxen, labour and fertilizer utilization positively influenced vegetable production. But it is influenced negatively by the cultivated size of land. The production cost of onion, potato and tomato was 73.8 birr, 58.4 birr, and 57.7birr per quintal respectively. This cost excludes the marketing cost such as transportation cost, loading and unloading, and other costs. During the survey time, the profit of onion per ha was far better when compared to the others. The price of vegetables in the study area is unstable. When compared to onion and potato, the price of tomatoes was found more unstable (the variation in prices around mean was 32 %). Farmers in the study area use donkey, car and local carts to transport their produces to the market. They used ordinary rooms for storage of their produces with ground/soil floor and with no shelves. Farmers are not aware about the price of their agricultural commodities before they arrive at market. As the result of this, farmers get lower price for the agricultural commodities. Multipurpose cooperatives do not significantly support the vegetable growers in the study area. The study points out to the need of effective interventions of multipurpose cooperatives to support and train the vegetable growers. Sound policies favouring vegetable cultivators and related rural agro-based industries are necessary conditions for rural poverty reduction, and for coping with domestic competition in the home market. Therefore government with the support of official donors and the multilateral institutions should help technically and financially the vegetable growers to increase productivity, to diversify production, to add value through processing, to provide the farmers a greater share of the final value of products through improved marketing, and to achieve environmental sustainability. Providing access to credit for the vegetable cultivators, improving marketing infrastructure especially improved storage and transportation facilities, providing technical guidance and training opportunities in processing and post-harvest technologies, supply of improved and quality seed material for increased production , extension efforts for plant protection, ensuring the availability of market information and adopting a group and participatory approach for vegetable production and marketing are the areas which need immediate attention

Naval Reserve support to information Operations Warfighting

Since the mid-1990s, the Fleet Information Warfare Center (FIWC) has led the Navy's Information Operations (IO) support to the Fleet. Within the FIWC manning structure, there are in total 36 officer and 84 enlisted Naval Reserve billets that are manned to approximately 75 percent and located in Norfolk and San Diego Naval Reserve Centers. These Naval Reserve Force personnel could provide support to FIWC far and above what they are now contributing specifically in the areas of Computer Network Operations, Psychological Operations, Military Deception and Civil Affairs. Historically personnel conducting IO were primarily reservists and civilians in uniform with regular military officers being by far the minority. The Naval Reserve Force has the personnel to provide skilled IO operators but the lack of an effective manning document and training plans is hindering their opportunity to enhance FIWC's capabilities in lull spectrum IO. This research investigates the skill requirements of personnel in IO to verify that the Naval Reserve Force has the talent base for IO support and the feasibility of their expanded use in IO.http://archive.org/details/navalreservesupp109451098

Edge IoT Driven Framework for Experimental Investigation and Computational Modeling of Integrated Food, Energy, and Water System

As the global population soars from today’s 7.3 billion to an estimated 10 billion by 2050, the demand for Food, Energy, and Water (FEW) resources is expected to more than double. Such a sharp increase in demand for FEW resources will undoubtedly be one of the biggest global challenges. The management of food, energy, water for smart, sustainable cities involves a multi-scale problem. The interactions of these three dynamic infrastructures require a robust mathematical framework for analysis. Two critical solutions for this challenge are focused on technology innovation on systems that integrate food-energy-water and computational models that can quantify the FEW nexus. Information Communication Technology (ICT) and the Internet of Things (IoT) technologies are innovations that will play critical roles in addressing the FEW nexus stress in an integrated way. The use of sensors and IoT devices will be essential in moving us to a path of more productivity and sustainability. Recent advancements in IoT, Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN), and ICT are one lever that can address some of the environmental, economic, and technical challenges and opportunities in this sector. This dissertation focuses on quantifying and modeling the nexus by proposing a Leontief input-output model unique to food-energy-water interacting systems. It investigates linkage and interdependency as demand for resource changes based on quantifiable data. The interdependence of FEW components was measured by their direct and indirect linkage magnitude for each interaction. This work contributes to the critical domain required to develop a unique integrated interdependency model of a FEW system shying away from the piece-meal approach. The physical prototype for the integrated FEW system is a smart urban farm that is optimized and built for the experimental portion of this dissertation. The prototype is equipped with an automated smart irrigation system that uses real-time data from wireless sensor networks to schedule irrigation. These wireless sensor nodes are allocated for monitoring soil moisture, temperature, solar radiation, humidity utilizing sensors embedded in the root area of the crops and around the testbed. The system consistently collected data from the three critical sources; energy, water, and food. From this physical model, the data collected was structured into three categories. Food data consists of: physical plant growth, yield productivity, and leaf measurement. Soil and environment parameters include; soil moisture and temperature, ambient temperature, solar radiation. Weather data consists of rainfall, wind direction, and speed. Energy data include voltage, current, watts from both generation and consumption end. Water data include flow rate. The system provides off-grid clean PV energy for all energy demands of farming purposes, such as irrigation and devices in the wireless sensor networks. Future reliability of the off-grid power system is addressed by investigating the state of charge, state of health, and aging mechanism of the backup battery units. The reliability assessment of the lead-acid battery is evaluated using Weibull parametric distribution analysis model to estimate the service life of the battery under different operating parameters and temperatures. Machine learning algorithms are implemented on sensor data acquired from the experimental and physical models to predict crop yield. Further correlation analysis and variable interaction effects on crop yield are investigated