Assessment of the Accuracy of a Multi-Beam LED Scanner Sensor for Measuring Olive Canopies

MDPI. CC BYCanopy characterization has become important when trying to optimize any kind of agricultural operation in high-growing crops, such as olive. Many sensors and techniques have reported satisfactory results in these approaches and in this work a 2D laser scanner was explored for measuring canopy trees in real-time conditions. The sensor was tested in both laboratory and field conditions to check its accuracy, its cone width, and its ability to characterize olive canopies in situ. The sensor was mounted on a mast and tested in laboratory conditions to check: (i) its accuracy at different measurement distances; (ii) its measurement cone width with different reflectivity targets; and (iii) the influence of the target’s density on its accuracy. The field tests involved both isolated and hedgerow orchards, in which the measurements were taken manually and with the sensor. The canopy volume was estimated with a methodology consisting of revolving or extruding the canopy contour. The sensor showed high accuracy in the laboratory test, except for the measurements performed at 1.0 m distance, with 60 mm error (6%). Otherwise, error remained below 20 mm (1% relative error). The cone width depended on the target reflectivity. The accuracy decreased with the target density

First attempts to obtain a reference drift curve for traditional olive grove's plantations following ISO 22866

The current standard for the field measurements of spray drift (ISO 22866) is the only official standard for drift measurements in field conditions for all type of crops, including bushes and trees. A series of field trials following all the requirements established in the standard were arranged in a traditional olive grove in Córdoba (south of Spain). The aims of the study were to evaluate the applicability of the current standard procedure to the particular conditions of traditional olive trees plantations, to evaluate the critical requirements for performing the tests and to obtain a specific drift curve for such as important and specific crop as olive trees in traditional plantations, considering the enormous area covered by this type of crop all around the world.The authors thank the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of the Spanish Government for their economic support through the pre-commercial procurement Mecaolivar project, financed with FEDER funds, and the AgVANCE project (AGL2013-48297-C2-1-R). The first author acknowledges the support of the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and SportPostprint (updated version

Reducing spray drift by adapting the spraying equipment to the canopy shape in olive orchards with isolated trees

The lack of specificity of the spraying equipment commonly used in olive orchards is a remarkable problem, for not allowing farmers to apply adjusted pesticide doses to their trees, making necessary to spray very high liquid volumes that increase the environmental pollution risk. In this context, three prototypes were specially developed to increase the application efficiency in olive orchards with isolated trees, which represent 98% of the olive harvested area in Spain.Postprint (published version

Development of a Telemetry and Yield-Mapping System of Olive Harvester

Sensors, communication systems and geo-reference units are required to achieve an optimized management of agricultural inputs with respect to the economic and environmental aspects of olive groves. In this study, three commercial olive harvesters were tracked during two harvesting seasons in Spain and Chile using remote and autonomous equipment that was developed to determine their time efficiency and effective based on canopy shaking for fruit detachment. These harvesters work in intensive/high-density (HD) and super-high-density (SHD) olive orchards. A GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) and GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) device was installed to track these harvesters. The GNSS receiver did not affect the driver’s work schedule. Time elements methodology was adapted to the remote data acquisition system. The effective field capacity and field efficiency were investigated. In addition, the field shape, row length, angle between headland alley and row, and row alley width were measured to determinate the optimum orchard design parameters value. The SHD olive harvester showed significant lower effective field capacity values when alley width was less than 4 m. In addition, a yield monitor was developed and installed on a traditional olive harvester to obtain a yield map from the harvested area. The hedge straddle harvester stood out for its highly effective field capacity; nevertheless, a higher field efficiency was provided by a non-integral lateral canopy shaker. All of the measured orchard parameters have influenced machinery yields, whether effective field capacity or field efficiency. A saving of 40% in effective field capacity was achieved with a reduction from 4 m or higher to 3.5 m in alley width for SHD olive harvester. A yield map was plotted using data that were acquired by a yield monitor, reflecting the yield gradient in spite of the larger differences between tree yield

Patrones de desprendimiento de cítricos y respuesta del árbol bajo recolección mecanizada con sistemas sacudidores de copa

La recolección mecanizada es una importante alternativa para afrontar los problemas de disponibilidad de mano de obra, los costes de producción y mejorar la rentabilidad de la explotación. La viabilidad de la recolección mecanizada está marcada por la calidad de la fruta y la eficiencia su derribo y para ello es necesaria una adaptación entre máquina y árbol. El objetivo del trabajo es la determinación del patrón de abscisión de naranja dulce con sistema sacudidor de copa en comparación con otros sistemas de desprendimiento y, al mismo tiempo, establecer recomendaciones para alcanzar un elevado porcentaje de derribo. Se ensayaron 4 parcelas de naranja variedad ‘Valencia’ durante las campañas 2017/2018, empleando un sacudidor de copa Oxbo-3210. El patrón de desprendimiento según el tipo de recolección fue determinado junto el análisis de la vibración en la copa del árbol. La frecuencia de rotura tipo AZ-C predominó en caída natural (89,0%) y la recolección manual (79,5%) y se fue igualando con AZ-A en el sacudidor de copa (58,8%). La zona de contacto con las varas mostró un valor medio de ARMS de 2,3 veces mayor que la zona sin contacto, además de un 85% de desprendimiento frente a un 27%. Se definió que la forma de seto ancho debe ser adaptado para facilitar el acceso de las varas y que la máquina debe ajustarse entre el valor ARMS y el tiempo mayor de 300 ms-2 para lograr un desprendimiento del 100%

Theoretical and physical models as tools for the study of factory sound fields

SIGLELD:D47912/83 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Towards an optimized method of olive tree crown volume measurement

Accurate crown characterization of large isolated olive trees is vital for adjusting spray doses in three-dimensional crop agriculture. Among the many methodologies available, laser sensors have proved to be the most reliable and accurate. However, their operation is time consuming and requires specialist knowledge and so a simpler crown characterization method is required. To this end, three methods were evaluated and compared with LiDAR measurements to determine their accuracy: Vertical Crown Projected Area method (VCPA), Ellipsoid Volume method (VE) and Tree Silhouette Volume method (VTS). Trials were performed in three different kinds of olive tree plantations: intensive, adapted one-trunked traditional and traditional. In total, 55 trees were characterized. Results show that all three methods are appropriate to estimate the crown volume, reaching high coefficients of determination: R2 = 0.783, 0.843 and 0.824 for VCPA, VE and VTS, respectively. However, discrepancies arise when evaluating tree plantations separately, especially for traditional trees. Here, correlations between LiDAR volume and other parameters showed that the Mean Vector calculated for VCPA method showed the highest correlation for traditional trees, thus its use in traditional plantations is highly recommended

Towards an Optimized Method of Olive Tree Crown Volume Measurement

Accurate crown characterization of large isolated olive trees is vital for adjusting spray doses in three-dimensional crop agriculture. Among the many methodologies available, laser sensors have proved to be the most reliable and accurate. However, their operation is time consuming and requires specialist knowledge and so a simpler crown characterization method is required. To this end, three methods were evaluated and compared with LiDAR measurements to determine their accuracy: Vertical Crown Projected Area method (VCPA), Ellipsoid Volume method (V E ) and Tree Silhouette Volume method (V TS ). Trials were performed in three different kinds of olive tree plantations: intensive, adapted one-trunked traditional and traditional. In total, 55 trees were characterized. Results show that all three methods are appropriate to estimate the crown volume, reaching high coefficients of determination: R 2 = 0.783, 0.843 and 0.824 for VCPA, V E and V TS , respectively. However, discrepancies arise when evaluating tree plantations separately, especially for traditional trees. Here, correlations between LiDAR volume and other parameters showed that the Mean Vector calculated for VCPA method showed the highest correlation for traditional trees, thus its use in traditional plantations is highly recommended