USability of Environmentally sound and Reliable techniques in Precision Agriculture
Project information
USability of Environmentally sound and Reliable techniques in Precision AgricultureCall: ICT and Automation for a Greener Agriculture
Id: 14308
Acronym: USER-PA
Consortium:
No | Partner | Contact | Country | Total 1000€ | Funded 1000€ | Funder |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 Coord. | The Volcani Center Gilat Research Center Agricultural Research Organization | Victor Alchanatis | Israel | 128.0 | 98.0 | Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development |
2 | Group Leader Sensor Development and Application Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering | Manuela Zude | Germany | 159.0 | 129.0 | Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture |
3 | Mechanical Engineering Department Faculty of Engineering Agricultural Engineering Adnan Menderes University | Ismail BOGREKCI | Turkey | 93.0 | 93.0 | Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey |
4 | Case Postale 1148 Route de Duillier 50 University of Applied Sciences: Western Switzerland | Dominique Fleury | Switzerland | 100.0 | 100.0 | Federal Office for Agriculture - Bundesamt für Landwirtschaft |
5 | Laboratory of Machines and Automation Division of Agricultural Structures and Agricultural Machinery Department of Natural Resources Management and Agricultural Engineering Agricultural University of Athens | Spyros Fountas | Greece | 119.0 | 107.0 | Managing Authority of the Rural Development Plan Ministry of Rural Development & Food |
6 | Harper Adams University College | Simon Blackmore | United Kingdom | 102.8 | 102.8 | Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs |
7 | Milan Dipartimento di Fisica Politecnico di Milano | Alessandro Torricelli | Italy | 33.0 | 15.0 | Ministry of Agriculture Food, Forestry & Tourism Policies |
8 | Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen Faculty of Life Sciences University of Copenhagen | Soren Marcus Pedersen | Denmark | 118.0 | 103.0 | Danish Agency for Science and Higher Education Ministry of Higher Education and Science |
9 | Group Laser Sensors Business Area Diode Lasers Ferdinand-Braun-Institut, Leibniz Institut f | Bernd Sumpf | Germany | 129.0 | 129.0 | Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture |
The main objective of USER-PA is to develop and demonstrate an integrated and reliable Precision Agriculture solution for orchards and vineyards considering spatial information on irrigation and harvest management.
USER-PA proposes a conceptual framework, an innovative technical architecture, and the enabling technologies that will allow to integrate canopy and fruit sensors with mobile and static data acquisition systems, and farm management information systems, targeting a system that will serve farmers.
The USER-PA project implements a technological architecture for precision agriculture (precision fruticulture and viticulture). Plant data is acquired from crown and fruit sensors that run by means of autonomous platforms and are connected by wireless sensor networks (WSNs). The acquisition of information is done in a spatially resolved farm management information system (FMIS). Economic evaluation was integrated into the project from the beginning. The expected outcome of an integrated system that incorporates a number of sensing techniques and a web-based FMIS that enables farmers to manage their crop was achieved with demonstration of the canopy–fruit sensor and FMIS. USER-PA showed the potential of providing farmers with quantitative information to decide upon optimal harvest timing and irrigation, while fruit quality and production remained effective. Partners’ comprehensive collaboration during field campaigns acted as a project interworkshop and led to integration and assimilation of sensor data into the FMIS. The robot prototype developed by the USER-PA project is the only autonomous tractor in the UK that meets all current health and safety standards and complies with the new ISO standards. The website developed can take data from the tractor into the cloud in real time (http://pafmis.com/).
The system will integrate sensing methods, along with an appropriate platform that carries the sensors and gathers the data, and a system that analyses and presents the information prior to irrigation and harvesting during the growth season to the farmer.