University Spin-off Creation by Spanish Researchers in Agricultural Engineering

This paper describes how a team of university professors and graduate students created a technology-based company (spin-off) to as a means to deliver their research findings to the agricultural sector. The spin-off company was based on the use of new methodologies, equipment, instrumentation and sensors initially developed for various research projects. Successful field tests and positive feedback from farmers initially prompted the development of the spin-off. The spin-off progress has been observed and recorded from the idea phase through the company start-up until the second round of financing (October 2007 to January 2010). Since limited time scales are commonly found in agriculture, the spin-off company provided a way to deliver timely research results to the agricultural community. Although university research results may eventually end up in the agricultural sector, in many cases this process requires a lot of bureaucracy and time. Spin-off companies can be flexible tools to transfer this knowledge and technology to the agricultural sector, as well as providing direct career opportunities for graduate students and PhD students

Comparison of positional accuracy between RTK and RTX GNSS gased on the autonomous agricultural vehicles under field conditions

Currently, many systems (machine vision, high resolution remote sensing, global positioning systems, and odometry techniques) have been integrated into agricultural e quipment to increase the efficiency, productivity, and safety of the individual in all field activities. This study focused upon assessing a satellite-based localization solution used in straight path guidance of an autonomou s vehicle developed for ag ricultural applica tions. The autonom ous agricultural vehicle was designed and constructed under RHEA (Robot fleets for highly effective agriculture and forestry management) project and is part of a three-unit fleet of similar vehicles. Static tests showed that 99% of all positions are placed within a circle with a 2.9 cm radius centered at the geo-position usi ng real-time satellite corrections (RTX). Dynamic tests between rows demonstrated a mean (N=610) of the standard deviation for real-time base station corrections (RTK) of 1.43 cm and for real-time satellite corrections (RTX) of 2.55 cm. These re sults demonstrate that the tractor was able to track each straight line with high degree of accuracy. The integration of a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) with sensors (e.g., inertial sensor, altimeters, odomet ers, etc.) within the vehicle showed th e potential of autonomous tractors for expanding agricultural applications utilizing this technology.European Union FP7/2007-201

Detecting greenhouse gas emission of mechanized operations in sport green spaces using Precision Agriculture techniques

VII Congreso Agroingeniería 2013. Madrid. 26-29 de agosto de 2013Desde el punto de vista de los insumos y las condiciones en las que se realizan los trabajos, el mantenimiento del césped en los espacios verdes deportivos muestra muchas similitudes con una explotación agrícola. Por tanto, en este sentido se pueden aplicar herramientas y metodologías de Agricultura de Precisión que permitan una reducción de los costes de producción del césped y un menor impacto ambiental (Pedersen et al., 2007). El objetivo de este trabajo se ha centrado en la monitorización y análisis de la información obtenida por sensores instalados en la maquinaria para la estimación de las emisiones directas de gases de efecto invernadero. En una primera aproximación se ha monitorizado un equipo de precisión para el segado del césped, utilizado 3-4 veces a la semana, y enviando información de distancia recorrida, velocidad, activación del rotor de corte, etc. en tiempo real y de forma remota mediante un módem GPRS (Agüera et al., 2009). Esto ha permitido conocer que durante la operación realizada en el green se emiten unos 8kg de CO2 y 3.38 kg de CO2 en los desplazamientos, esto no es más que una pequeña muestra de las posibilidades de esta metodología. Estos primeros resultados obtenidos demuestran que el uso de técnicas de Agricultura de Precisión, como los sistemas GNSS, sensores, instrumentación junto con los sistemas Ag SIG mejoran la eficiencia en la gestión de los espacios verdes deportivos y disminuyen su impacto en el medio ambiente.Sport green grass has many similarities to agriculture crops. Both seek to minimize cost by reducing inputs water, fertilizer, herbicide, mechanical operations, etc. Thus, precision agriculture methodologies can be applied to reduce production cost and lessen the environmental impact of grass production (Pedersen et al., 2007). This work involves real-time monitoring and analysis of data from sensors installed on agricultural machinery for the estimation of greenhouse gas emissions. Our approach was to monitor precision grass cutting equipment, used 3- 4 times weekly, and sending continues data of location, speed, cutting rotor start up, etc. using a GPRS modem (Agüera et al., 2009). This has allowed knowing that during the operation performed on the green about 8 kg of CO2 and 3.38 kg of CO2 on the go were emitted. This is just a small sample of the possibilities of this methodology. These results showed that the use of Precision Agriculture techniques using GNSS systems, sensors and instrumentation systems with Ag GIS, improved efficiency in the management of sport green spaces and lowered their impact upon the environment

Design of a Soil Cutting Resistance Sensor for Application in Site-Specific Tillage

One objective of precision agriculture is to provide accurate information about soil and crop properties to optimize the management of agricultural inputs to meet site-specific needs. This paper describes the development of a sensor equipped with RTK-GPS technology that continuously and efficiently measures soil cutting resistance at various depths while traversing the field. Laboratory and preliminary field tests verified the accuracy of this prototype soil strength sensor. The data obtained using a hand-operated soil cone penetrometer was used to evaluate this field soil compaction depth profile sensor. To date, this sensor has only been tested in one field under one gravimetric water content condition. This field test revealed that the relationships between the soil strength profile sensor (SSPS) cutting force and soil cone index values are assumed to be quadratic for the various depths considered: 0–10, 10–20 and 20–30 cm (r2 = 0.58, 0.45 and 0.54, respectively). Soil resistance contour maps illustrated its practical value. The developed sensor provides accurate, timely and affordable information on soil properties to optimize resources and improve agricultural economyMinistry of Science and Innovation RTA2006-00058-C03-0

Development and assessment of a prototype as an innovative method for teaching agricultural machinery

An educational variable‐rate application (VRA) sprayer was developed and laboratory tested at the University of Seville (Spain). It was designed and built during 2009 by the undergraduate engineering students in a Precision Agriculture course and used as a teaching model in an Agricultural Machinery course during 2010. The first stage involved mounting all the instrumentation, sensors, and the hydraulic system on a metal platform. The second stage involved mounting a DGPS receiver, flowmeter, automated application control system, and all necessary electrical connections to the platform. Preliminary calibration tests of the equipment at a constant speed of 0.375 m s‐1 (1.35 km h‐1) showed good performance for pressure (kPa) and application rate (L ha‐1) (R2 = 0.998, p < 0.001). To evaluate the teaching method based on the prototype, a short‐answer assessment test was conducted consisting of ten multiple‐choice questions, each with one possible correct answer. Data were analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA). The factors were the teaching method (TM), repeated course (R), and attended theory (AT). In addition, the effect of a covariate (number of times a student repeated the course) in the factors was controlled with an analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). The effect of teaching method was significant for the score on the VRA sprayer questions (SPS) variable and the score on the conventional sprayer questions (SCS) variable (p < 0.001 for both). The average success for students using the prototype sprayer was 86%, compared to 60% for those using a conventional sprayer. The total cost of the VRA prototype sprayer was 40% less than the cost of retrofitting a conventional sprayer with precision agriculture equipment. Since the students were engaged in their own learning, they maintained a high level of enthusiasm throughout the course when utilizing the VRA prototype sprayer. It has proved to be a complementary and beneficial alternative for improving the students' education in the Agricultural Machinery course

Safety functional requirements for “Robot Fleets for Highly effective Agriculture and Forestry Management”

This paper summarizes the steps to be followed in order to achieve a safety verified design of RHEA robots units. It provides a detailed description of current international standards as well as scientific literature related to safety analysis and fault detection and isolation. A large committee of partners has been involved in this paper, which may be considered as a technical committee for the revision of the progress of safety development throughout the progress of RHEA project. Partners related to agricultural machinery, automation, and application development declare the interest of providing a stable framework for bringing the safety verification level required to be able to commercial unmanned vehicles such as those described in the RHEA flee

Apoyo a la toma de decisiones para la mejora de la gestión en explotaciones agroforestales

La agricultura actual se encuentra inmersa en un proceso acelerado de actualización y adaptación a un modelo digital de trabajo que se extiende imparable a lo largo de toda la cadena agroalimentaria. Parte de esta evolución viene marcada por la incorporación de las TIC (tecnologías de la información y la comunicación), y por la disponibilidad de nuevas soluciones de hardware y software que están cambiando la forma de trabajar en el campo mediante la monitorización de las labores agrícolas y el análisis de los datos generados en las explotaciones

Phenotypic Variation and Bistable Switching in Bacteria

Microbial research generally focuses on clonal populations. However, bacterial cells with identical genotypes frequently display different phenotypes under identical conditions. This microbial cell individuality is receiving increasing attention in the literature because of its impact on cellular differentiation, survival under selective conditions, and the interaction of pathogens with their hosts. It is becoming clear that stochasticity in gene expression in conjunction with the architecture of the gene network that underlies the cellular processes can generate phenotypic variation. An important regulatory mechanism is the so-called positive feedback, in which a system reinforces its own response, for instance by stimulating the production of an activator. Bistability is an interesting and relevant phenomenon, in which two distinct subpopulations of cells showing discrete levels of gene expression coexist in a single culture. In this chapter, we address techniques and approaches used to establish phenotypic variation, and relate three well-characterized examples of bistability to the molecular mechanisms that govern these processes, with a focus on positive feedback.

Estudio, desarrollo y aplicación de técnicas de agricultura de precisión en maquinaria agrícola

Precision agriculture applied to machinery is today one of the most important working fields regarding agriculture innovations. These tools are meant to be a propeller of the future of farming, well needed in order to face the challenges of modern society, a global increasing food demand while providing a sustainable management of natural resources. Available technology on this field covers a wide range of possibilities. During the last 10 years, together with the expansion of electronics and digitalization, the offer of products and technics have become quite rich and it generates, in some cases, difficulties to farmers in order to choose the more adequate solution to their production scenarios. For this reason, this doctoral thesis will focus on the study, develop and validation of two of the most important disciplines in precision agriculture: GNSS guidance and site-specific application. Today’s most important and extended technology in precision agriculture is the use of GNSS guidance systems. Those systems allow the vehicle to be driven automatically, by taken control of guidance interface, resulting in important reductions of the overlap between parallel passes. This reduction impacts directly the time invested on the task, but also all the inputs used. However, the maximum precision reached will depend on the GNSS technology used, as a combination of the receiver installed on the vehicle and the external signals used to enhance the calculations. How to evaluate and classify the technology used to improve GNSS positioning and recommendations on the specific use of them in determinate agriculture applications will be the scope of this thesis. A second field of work is focussed in one of the most promising technologies within precision farming, site specific application. This doctoral thesis has developed a procedure to achieve the characterization of soil properties along and across the profile, allowing a variable tillage. This results not only on important saves during the task but also on better and sustainable soil management. Site specific application of herbicide has been as well part of studies, where significant saves on chemicals were achieved thanks to the assessment and development of a combined, chemical and mechanical, weed control implement commanded by a RTK-GNSS system

Evaluación de la precisión de un sistema de ayuda al guiado de tractores por GPS

El principal objetivo perseguido es el de reducir la atención del operario para realizar la conducción, de forma que pueda centrarse en la tarea que está realizando. Aunque se han mejorado las características y confort de la cabina, con el tiempo, también se han ido incrementando la velocidad y anchura de trabajo y la potencia de la maquinaria. Por lo tanto, sigue siendo interesante desarrollar sistemas de guiado que realicen esta actividad con la precisión de un conductor experimentado, pero con la ventaja de no fatigarse después de horas de trabajo. Dentro de los sistemas que utilizan la tecnología DGPS, encontramos dos grandes grupos: • Sistemas de guiado automático de vehículos, que reducen al mínimo la intervención del operario en el control de la dirección, pero que tienen el inconveniente de apoyarse en otros sistemas complementarios para aumentar la precisión, con el consecuente incremento del coste. • Sistemas de ayuda al guiado, formados generalmente por la combinación de receptores DGPS de bajo coste y sistemas de barra de luce