46 research outputs found
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Crop Monitoring Using Sentinel-2 and UAV Multispectral Imagery: A Comparison Case Study in Northeastern Germany
Monitoring within-field crop variability at fine spatial and temporal resolution can assist farmers in making reliable decisions during their agricultural management; however, it traditionally involves a labor-intensive and time-consuming pointwise manual process. To the best of our knowledge, few studies conducted a comparison of Sentinel-2 with UAV data for crop monitoring in the context of precision agriculture. Therefore, prospects of crop monitoring for characterizing biophysical plant parameters and leaf nitrogen of wheat and barley crops were evaluated from a more practical viewpoint closer to agricultural routines. Multispectral UAV and Sentinel-2 imagery was collected over three dates in the season and compared with reference data collected at 20 sample points for plant leaf nitrogen (N), maximum plant height, mean plant height, leaf area index (LAI), and fresh biomass. Higher correlations of UAV data to the agronomic parameters were found on average than with Sentinel-2 data with a percentage increase of 6.3% for wheat and 22.2% for barley. In this regard, VIs calculated from spectral bands in the visible part performed worse for Sentinel-2 than for the UAV data. In addition, large-scale patterns, formed by the influence of an old riverbed on plant growth, were recognizable even in the Sentinel-2 imagery despite its much lower spatial resolution. Interestingly, also smaller features, such as the tramlines from controlled traffic farming (CTF), had an influence on the Sentinel-2 data and showed a systematic pattern that affected even semivariogram calculation. In conclusion, Sentinel-2 imagery is able to capture the same large-scale pattern as can be derived from the higher detailed UAV imagery; however, it is at the same time influenced by management-driven features such as tramlines, which cannot be accurately georeferenced. In consequence, agronomic parameters were better correlated with UAV than with Sentinel-2 data. Crop growers as well as data providers from remote sensing services may take advantage of this knowledge and we recommend the use of UAV data as it gives additional information about management-driven features. For future perspective, we would advise fusing UAV with Sentinel-2 imagery taken early in the season as it can integrate the effect of agricultural management in the subsequent absence of high spatial resolution data to help improve crop monitoring for the farmer and to reduce costs
Robotic Harvesting of Fruiting Vegetables: A Simulation Approach in V-REP, ROS and MATLAB
In modern agriculture, there is a high demand to move from tedious manual harvesting to a continuously automated operation. This chapter reports on designing a simulation and control platform in V-REP, ROS, and MATLAB for experimenting with sensors and manipulators in robotic harvesting of sweet pepper. The objective was to provide a completely simulated environment for improvement of visual servoing task through easy testing and debugging of control algorithms with zero damage risk to the real robot and to the actual equipment. A simulated workspace, including an exact replica of different robot manipulators, sensing mechanisms, and sweet pepper plant, and fruit system was created in V-REP. Image moment method visual servoing with eye-in-hand configuration was implemented in MATLAB, and was tested on four robotic platforms including Fanuc LR Mate 200iD, NOVABOT, multiple linear actuators, and multiple SCARA arms. Data from simulation experiments were used as inputs of the control algorithm in MATLAB, whose outputs were sent back to the simulated workspace and to the actual robots. ROS was used for exchanging data between the simulated environment and the real workspace via its publish-and-subscribe architecture. Results provided a framework for experimenting with different sensing and acting scenarios, and verified the performance functionality of the simulator
Evaluating system of rice intensification using a modified transplanter: A smart farming solution toward sustainability of paddy fields in Malaysia
This paper presents the study reports on evaluating a new transplanting operation by taking into accounts the interactions between soil, plant, and machine in line with the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) practices. The objective was to modify planting claw (kuku-kambing) of a paddy transplanter in compliance with SRI guidelines to determine the best planting spacing (S), seed rate (G) and planting pattern that results in a maximum number of seedling, tillers per hill, and yield. Two separate experiments were carried out in two different paddy fields, one to determine the best planting spacing (S=4 levels: s1=0.16 m×0.3 m, s2= 0.18 m×0.3 m, s3=0.21 m×0.3 m, and s4=0.24 m×0.3 m) for a specific planting pattern (row mat or scattered planting pattern), and the other to determine the best combination of spacing with seed rate treatments (G=2 levels: g1=75 g/tray, and g2= 240 g/tray). Main SRI management practices such as soil characteristics of the sites, planting depth, missing hill, hill population, the number of seedling per hill, and yield components were evaluated. Results of two-way analysis of variance with three replications showed that spacing, planting pattern and seed rate affected the number of one-seedling in all experiment. It was also observed that the increase in spacing resulted in more tillers and more panicle per plant, however hill population and sterility ratio increased with the decrease in spacing. While the maximum number of panicles were resulted from scattered planting at s4=0.24 m×0.3 m spacing with the seed rate of g1=75 g/tray, the maximum number of one seedling were observed at s4=0.16 m×0.3 m. The highest and lowest yields were obtained from 75 g seeds per tray scattered and 70 g seeds per tray scattered treatment respectively. For all treatments, the result clearly indicates an increase in yield with an increase in spacing.DFG, 414044773, Open Access Publizieren 2019 - 2020 / Technische Universität Berli
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Review of research progress on soil moisture sensor technology
Soil moisture is directly related to the amount of irrigation in agriculture and influences the yield of crops. Accordingly, a soil moisture sensor is an important tool for measuring soil moisture content. In this study, the previous research conducted in recent 2-3 decades on soil moisture sensors was reviewed and the principles of commonly used soil moisture sensor and their various applications were summarized. Furthermore, the advantages, disadvantages, and influencing factors of various measurement methods employed were compared and analyzed. The improvements were presented by several scholars have established the major applications and performance levels of soil moisture sensors, thereby setting the course for future development. These studies indicated that soil moisture sensors in the future should be developed to achieve high-precision, low-cost, non-destructive, automated, and highly integrated systems. Also, it was indicated that future studies should involve the development of specialized sensors for different applications and scenarios. This review research aimed to provide a certain reference for application departments and scientific researchers in the process of selecting soil moisture sensor products and measuring soil moisture
Adaptive Management Framework for Evaluating and Adjusting Microclimate Parameters in Tropical Greenhouse Crop Production Systems
High operational costs of greenhouse production in hot and humid climate condition due to the initial investments on structure, equipment, and energy necessitate practicing advanced techniques for more efficient use of available resources. This chapter describes design and concepts of an adaptive management framework for evaluating and adjusting optimality degrees and comfort ratios of microclimate parameters, as well as predicting the expected yield in greenhouse cultivation of tomato. A systematic approach is presented for automatic data collection and processing with the objective to produce knowledge‐based information in achieving optimum microclimate for high‐quality and high‐yield tomato. Applications of relevant computer models are demonstrated through case‐study examples for use in an iterative way to simulate and compare different scenarios. The presented framework can contribute to future studies for providing best management decisions such as site selection, optimum growing season, scheduling efficiencies, energy management with different climate control systems, and risk assessments associated with each task
Machine Learning for Determining Interactions between Air Pollutants and Environmental Parameters in Three Cities of Iran
Air pollution, as one of the most significant environmental challenges, has adversely affected the global economy, human health, and ecosystems. Consequently, comprehensive research is being conducted to provide solutions to air quality management. Recently, it has been demonstrated that environmental parameters, including temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, air pressure, and vegetation, interact with air pollutants, such as particulate matter (PM), NO2, SO2, O3, and CO, contributing to frameworks for forecasting air quality. The objective of the present study is to explore these interactions in three Iranian metropolises of Tehran, Tabriz, and Shiraz from 2015 to 2019 and develop a machine learning-based model to predict daily air pollution. Three distinct assessment criteria were used to assess the proposed XGBoost model, including R squared (R2), Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE), and Mean Absolute Error (MAE). Preliminary results showed that although air pollutants were significantly associated with meteorological factors and vegetation, the formulated model had low accuracy in predicting (R2PM2.5 = 0.36, R2PM10 = 0.27, R2NO2 = 0.46, R2SO2 = 0.41, R2O3 = 0.52, and R2CO = 0.38). Accordingly, future studies should consider more variables, including emission data from manufactories and traffic, as well as sunlight and wind direction. It is also suggested that strategies be applied to minimize the lack of observational data by considering second-and third-order interactions between parameters, increasing the number of simultaneous air pollution and meteorological monitoring stations, as well as hybrid machine learning models based on proximal and satellite data
Temperature and Humidity Control for the Next Generation Greenhouses: Overview of Desiccant and Evaporative Cooling Systems
Temperature and humidity control are crucial in next generation greenhouses. Plants require optimum temperature/humidity and vapor pressure deficit conditions inside the greenhouse for optimum yield. In this regard, an air-conditioning system could provide the required conditions in harsh climatic regions. In this study, the authors have summarized their published work on different desiccant and evaporative cooling options for greenhouse air-conditioning. The direct, indirect, and Maisotsenko cycle evaporative cooling systems, and multi-stage evaporative cooling systems have been summarized in this study. Different desiccant materials i.e., silica-gels, activated carbons (powder and fiber), polymer sorbents, and metal organic frameworks have also been summarized in this study along with different desiccant air-conditioning options. However, different high-performance zeolites and molecular sieves are extensively studied in literature. The authors conclude that solar operated desiccant based evaporative cooling systems could be an alternate option for next generation greenhouse air-conditioning
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Pollution Characteristics of Particulate Matter (PM2.5 and PM10) and Constituent Carbonaceous Aerosols in a South Asian Future Megacity
The future megacity of Faisalabad is of prime interest when considering environmental health because of its bulky population and abundant industrial and anthropogenic sources of coarse particles (PM10) and fine airborne particulate matter (PM2.5). The current study was aimed to investigate the concentration level of PM2.5 and PM10, also the characterization of carbonaceous aerosols including organic carbon (OC), elemental carbon (EC) and total carbon (TC) in PM2.5 and PM10 samples collected from five different sectors (residential, health, commercial, industrial, and vehicular zone). The data presented here are the first of their kind in this sprawling city having industries and agricultural activities side by side. Results of the study revealed that the mass concentration of PM2.5 and PM10 is at an elevated level throughout Faisalabad, with ambient PM2.5 and PM10 points that constantly exceeded the 24-h standards of US-EPA, and National Environment Quality Standards (NEQS) which poses harmful effects on the quality of air and health. The total carbon concentration varied between 21.33 and 206.84 μg/m3, and 26.08 and 211.15 μg/m3 with an average of 119.16 ± 64.91 μg/m3 and 124.71 ± 64.38 μg/m3 for PM2.5 in summer and winter seasons, respectively. For PM10, the concentration of TC varied from 34.52 to 289.21 μg/m3 with an average of 181.50 ± 87.38 μg/m3 (for summer season) and it ranged between 44.04 and 300.02 μg/m3 with an average of 191.04 ± 87.98 μg/m3 (winter season), respectively. No significant difference between particulate concentration and weather parameters was observed. Similarly, results of air quality index (AQI) and pollution index (PI) stated that the air quality of Faisalabad ranges from poor to severely pollute. In terms of AQI, moderate pollution was recorded on sampling sites in the following order; Ittehad Welfare Dispensary > Saleemi Chowk > Kashmir Road > Pepsi Factory, while at Nazria Pakistan Square and Allied Hospital, higher AQI values were recorded. The analysis and results presented in this study can be used by policy-makers to apply rigorous strategies that decrease air pollution and the associated health effects in Faisalabad