INTELLIGENT MONITORING OF DISEASED PLANTS USING DRONES

Plant diseases are one of the grand challenges that face the agriculture sector world-wide. In the United States, crop diseases cause losses of one-third of crop production annually. Despite the importance, crop disease diagnosis is challenging for limited-resources farmers if performed through optical observation of plant leaves’ symptoms. Therefore, there is an urgent need for markedly improved detection, monitoring, and prediction of crop diseases to reduce crop agriculture losses. Advanced imaging technologies can detect such changes, and can, therefore, be used as noninvasive crop monitoring methods. Furthermore, novel methods of treatment precision application are required. Both sensing and actuation technologies can be mounted on equipment moving through fields (e.g., irrigation equipment), on (un)manned driving vehicles, and on small drones

ADVANTAGES ON THE USE OF INDUSTRY 4.0 IN THE FIELD OF AGRICULTURE

Recently, studies show that the world is at the beginning of a new era of the industrial revolution, representing the fourth industrial revolution known as Industry 4.0. This will have an impact on research, technologies, manufacturing processes and people by connecting many products to the Internet, the presence of sensors, the expansion of wireless communications, the development of industrial robots and intelligent machines, the analysis of real-time data in order to transform how the research is conducted. The present paper presents the advantages of implementing Industry 4.0 in the field of agriculture

RESEARCHES ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN EXPERIMENTAL MODEL OF WET SATURATED STEAM DISTILLATION EQUIPMENT

Distillation is a conventional method of extracting volatile oils from medicinal and aromatic plants. This is defined as a process of separating the components of a mixture that is based on the difference between the vaporization temperatures of the constituents, respectively water and oil when distilling medicinal plants. Distillation can be performed in three ways: distillation with water, by boiling the mixture of plants and water, condensation of resulting vapours and separation of oil, distillation with water and steam, in which the steam obtained by evaporating a quantity of water passes through the plant batch; steam distillation under pressure provided by an external generator, a process named in the literature and steam entrainment. The steam distillation process is applicable to many medicinal and aromatic plants that grow in our country. The extraction of volatile oils through this process depends on the different characteristics of the plants but also on the main parameters of the process, pressure and temperature, which are different

INFLUENCE ON QUALITY AND ENERGY INDICES FOR A REVERSIBLE PLOW EQUIPPED WITH ELECTRIC VIBRATORS

The qualitative indices of the tillage as well as the exploitation energy indices represent two relevant factors in the exploitation of the agricultural equipments, these being the main barometer of the quality of the used equipment. The paper presents a comparative study of qualitative work indices, respectively energy indices, performed on two reversible plows with three troops, one used in the classical system and one optimized by implementing electrical systems for generating vibrations, located on each of the three active troops during operatio

HEAVY DISC HARROW TESTING WITH INTEGRATED TRANSPORT TRAIN FOR TRACTORS OF 80 - 100 HP

Heavy-disc harrow with integrated GDG-2.7M transport train is intended for carrying out the work of harrowing stubble on medium and heavy light soils located on lands with a maximum slope of 22 °, as well as for discussing bulky and dry plows, in the framework for the preparation of the germinating bed for sowing. Depending on the specificity of the work performed and the working conditions (plowing quality, humidity and soil type), the GDG-2.7M heavy disc harrow can also be used in aggregate with other ground grinding machines (soiled or adjustable harrows, staples or rollers). The paper presents the test methodology of the GDG-2.7M disc harrow

RESEARCHES ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN EXPERIMENTAL MODEL OF FISH POND FOR INTENSIVE FISH FARMING IN POLYCULTURE SYSTEM

In Romania, the fisheries and aquaculture sectors face several challenges. These mainly involve increasing competitiveness for the production and processing sectors. Polyculture is the breeding of several species of fish in the same space (pond, lakes, etc.). It has advantages: better capitalization of trophic potential, diversified assortment for consumers, increased production with the same human and financial effort and disadvantages: competition between species, the need for additional labour in harvest fishing, additional warehouses for parking fish. Polyculture is recommended in lakes, ponds and some ponds for extensive, semi-intensive and sometimes intensive production

CONSIDERATIONS CONCERNING THE AUTOMATION OF PROTECTED SPACES

In the last period there is an intensification of the researches oriented towards the automation of the specific activities of the horticultural production in protected spaces. The greenhouses offer a shelter in which a microclimate suitable for plants is maintained, which is obtained by regulating / adjusting the heat and the amount of light coming from the sun, by means of actuation systems (actuators-technical devices that generate an action to reach a specific objective). The paper presents a brief communication on the main drive systems used in greenhouses: ventilation and cooling systems; heating systems; irrigation systems, whose drive systems are mainly composed of electrical devices, especially electric motors or pump