Sensors: New Challenges in Spain

The main goal of this special issue was to explore sensor technology and its applications in Spain. It is well-known that a reciprocal interrelation exists between sensor technology and the demand for solutions to different problems. Indeed, when a new sensor is developed, it offers a solution to a problem, but also if a problem requires a solution perhaps new sensors or technologies based on existing sensors could be developed. [...

Advances in Sensors Applied to Agriculture and Forestry

In agriculture and forestry, the need to increase production and the simultaneous efforts to minimize the environmental impact of agricultural production processes and save costs find in sensor systems the best allied tool. The use of sensors helps exploit all available resources appropriately and to apply hazardous products moderately. When nutrients in the soil, humidity, solar radiation, density of weeds and a broad set of factors and data affecting the production are known, this situation improves and the use of chemical products such as fertilizers, herbicides and other pollutants can be reduced considerably. Part of this knowledge allows also monitoring photosynthetic parameters of high relevance for photosynthesis. Most of the associated activities fall within the scope of what it is called Precision Agriculture, an emerging area receiving special attention in recent years. [...

State-of-the-Art Sensors Technology in Spain 2015: Volume 1

This book provides a comprehensive overview of state-of-the-art sensors technology in specific leading areas. Industrial researchers, engineers and professionals can find information on the most advanced technologies and developments, together with data processing. Further research covers specific devices and technologies that capture and distribute data to be processed by applying dedicated techniques or procedures, which is where sensors play the most important role. The book provides insights and solutions for different problems covering a broad spectrum of possibilities, thanks to a set of applications and solutions based on sensory technologies. Topics include: • Signal analysis for spectral power • 3D precise measurements • Electromagnetic propagation • Drugs detection • e-health environments based on social sensor networks • Robots in wireless environments, navigation, teleoperation, object grasping, demining • Wireless sensor networks • Industrial IoT • Insights in smart cities • Voice recognition • FPGA interfaces • Flight mill device for measurements on insects • Optical systems: UV, LEDs, lasers, fiber optics • Machine vision • Power dissipation • Liquid level in fuel tanks • Parabolic solar tracker • Force sensors • Control for a twin roto

Mapping Wide Row Crops with Video Sequences Acquired from a Tractor Moving at Treatment Speed

This paper presents a mapping method for wide row crop fields. The resulting map shows the crop rows and weeds present in the inter-row spacing. Because field videos are acquired with a camera mounted on top of an agricultural vehicle, a method for image sequence stabilization was needed and consequently designed and developed. The proposed stabilization method uses the centers of some crop rows in the image sequence as features to be tracked, which compensates for the lateral movement (sway) of the camera and leaves the pitch unchanged. A region of interest is selected using the tracked features, and an inverse perspective technique transforms the selected region into a bird’s-eye view that is centered on the image and that enables map generation. The algorithm developed has been tested on several video sequences of different fields recorded at different times and under different lighting conditions, with good initial results. Indeed, lateral displacements of up to 66% of the inter-row spacing were suppressed through the stabilization process, and crop rows in the resulting maps appear straight

Sensors and Technologies in Spain: State-of-the-Art

The aim of this special issue was to provide a comprehensive view on the state-of-the-art sensor technology in Spain. Different problems cause the appearance and development of new sensor technologies and vice versa, the emergence of new sensors facilitates the solution of existing real problems. [...

Sensors for Fluid Leak Detection

Fluid leak detection represents a problem that has attracted the interest of researchers, but not exclusively because in industries and services leaks are frequently common. Indeed, in water or gas supplies, chemical or thermal plants, sea-lines or cooling/heating systems leakage rates can cause important economic losses and sometimes, what it is more relevant, environmental pollution with human, animal or plant lives at risk. This last issue has led to increased national and international regulations with different degrees of severity regarding environmental conservation.[...

Pesos de Hamming generalizados y números de Betti

Los pesos de Hamming generalizados de un código C son un conjunto de parámetros del código, que generalizan su distancia mínima. Dada una matroide M, podemos definir también sus pesos generalizados. En caso de que M sea la matroide asociada a una matriz de control H del código C, los pesos de la matroide coinciden con los pesos de Hamming del código. El objetivo de este trabajo es, siguiendo [JV13], demostrar la relación que existe entre los pesos generalizados de una matroide M, y los números de Betti Ngraduados del anillo de Stanley-Reisner asociado al complejo simplicial Δ de conjuntos independientes de M. Dichos números de Betti pueden calcularse a través de la resolución graduada minimal del anillo de Stanley-Reisner del complejo.Generalized Hamming weights of a code C are a set of parameters that generalize its minimum distance. One may also define generalized weights for any matroid M. If M is the matroid associated to a parity check matrix of the code, both definitions coincide. The set of independent sets of a matroid is a simplicial complex, Δ. The aim of this project is, using [JV13] as main reference, to show the relation between the N-graded Betti numbers of the Stanley-Reisner ring of the simplicial complex Δ and the generalized weights of a matroid M. Such Betti numbers can be computed with the graded minimal resolution of the Stanley-Reisner ring associated to Δ.Departamento de Algebra, Geometría y TopologíaGrado en Matemática

Real-time image processing for crop/weed discrimination in maize fields

This paper presents a computer vision system that successfully discriminates between weed patches and crop rows under uncontrolled lighting in real-time. The system consists of two independent subsystems, a fast image processing delivering results in real-time (Fast Image Processing, FIP), and a slower and more accurate processing (Robust Crop Row Detection, RCRD) that is used to correct the first subsystem's mistakes. This combination produces a system that achieves very good results under a wide variety of conditions. Tested on several maize videos taken of different fields and during different years, the system successfully detects an average of 95% of weeds and 80% of crops under different illumination, soil humidity and weed/crop growth conditions. Moreover, the system has been shown to produce acceptable results even under very difficult conditions, such as in the presence of dramatic sowing errors or abrupt camera movements. The computer vision system has been developed for integration into a treatment system because the ideal setup for any weed sprayer system would include a tool that could provide information on the weeds and crops present at each point in real-time, while the tractor mounting the spraying bar is movin