Digital farming is the practice of modern technologies such as sensors,robotics,and data analysis for shifting from tedious operations to continuously automated processes.This paper reviews some of the latest achievem...Digital farming is the practice of modern technologies such as sensors,robotics,and data analysis for shifting from tedious operations to continuously automated processes.This paper reviews some of the latest achievements in agricultural robotics,specifically those that are used for autonomous weed control,field scouting,and harvesting.Object identification,task planning algorithms,digitalization and optimization of sensors are highlighted as some of the facing challenges in the context of digital farming.The concepts of multi-robots,human-robot collaboration,and environment reconstruction from aerial images and ground-based sensors for the creation of virtual farms were highlighted as some of the gateways of digital farming.It was shown that one of the trends and research focuses in agricultural field robotics is towards building a swarm of small scale robots and drones that collaborate together to optimize farming inputs and reveal denied or concealed information.For the case of robotic harvesting,an autonomous framework with several simple axis manipulators can be faster and more efficient than the currently adapted professional expensive manipulators.While robots are becoming the inseparable parts of the modern farms,our conclusion is that it is not realistic to expect an entirely automated farming system in the future.展开更多
Greenhouse cultivation has evolved from simple covered rows of open-fields crops to highly sophisticated controlled environment agriculture(CEA)facilities that projected the image of plant factories for urban agricult...Greenhouse cultivation has evolved from simple covered rows of open-fields crops to highly sophisticated controlled environment agriculture(CEA)facilities that projected the image of plant factories for urban agriculture.The advances and improvements in CEA have promoted the scientific solutions for the efficient production of plants in populated cities and multi-story buildings.Successful deployment of CEA for urban agriculture requires many components and subsystems,as well as the understanding of the external influencing factors that should be systematically considered and integrated.This review is an attempt to highlight some of the most recent advances in greenhouse technology and CEA in order to raise the awareness for technology transfer and adaptation,which is necessary for a successful transition to urban agriculture.This study reviewed several aspects of a high-tech CEA system including improvements in the frame and covering materials,environment perception and data sharing,and advanced microclimate control and energy optimization models.This research highlighted urban agriculture and its derivatives,including vertical farming,rooftop greenhouses and plant factories which are the extensions of CEA and have emerged as a response to the growing population,environmental degradation,and urbanization that are threatening food security.Finally,several opportunities and challenges have been identified in implementing the integrated CEA and vertical farming for urban agriculture.展开更多
The need to mechanize major field operations that are labor intensive in oil palm industry of Malaysia has led to the study on agricultural machine automation.In general,study was on machine automation to reduce the n...The need to mechanize major field operations that are labor intensive in oil palm industry of Malaysia has led to the study on agricultural machine automation.In general,study was on machine automation to reduce the number of workers required for harvesting as well as to provide comfortable ergonomic for the operator of oil palm harvester.The objective of the study was to perform interfacing between the oil palm tree and hardware(harvester)as well as to compare the harvesting efficiency between the mechanical and automated manipulator.Kinematic analysis was calculated based on the D-H configuration for the position and orientation of harvester arm using high resolution webcam and ultrasonic sensor to obtain 3D coordinates required by the D-H notations.PIC Circuit Board(PCB)design and fabrication as well as testing and implementation of concept of camera vision operation system for FFB harvester with fully developing a Graphical User Interface(GUI)was conducted to assist the automation of the harvester manipulator.The automation of 5DOF manipulator harvester operation proves to be faster than the manually operated mechanical harvester with an approximation of 60 percent significant decrease in speed of the manipulator with 70 percent of accuracy.展开更多
Labisia pumila(Kacip fatimah)is a popular medicinal plant in Malaysia.The constituents of this plant have been reported to possess anticancer,antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.The growth and production of L...Labisia pumila(Kacip fatimah)is a popular medicinal plant in Malaysia.The constituents of this plant have been reported to possess anticancer,antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.The growth and production of L.pumila is greatly influenced by the plant water status.Current techniques to measure plant water status are generally based on the plant soil moisture,which apparently did not indicate the real water content inside the plant.There are other techniques to measure directly on the plant such as based on leaf water potential(LWP)and relative water content(RWC).However,these techniques are destructive and time consuming.In this study,four levels of evapotranspiration replacement(ER)treatment which were 100%ER,75%ER,50%ER and 25%ER was applied to 30 polybags of L.pumila plants.The plant water status was measured using an impedance spectroscopy technique.A pair of electrocardiogram(ECG)electrode connected to an impedance analyzer board was used to measure the impedance value of the leaf samples noninvasively.Plant water status parameters such as LWP,RWC,volumetric moisture content(VMC),and leaf thickness were measured using standard methods.The results show that after 20 weeks of treatment,25%ER had the highest impedance value ranged from 0.10 MX to 0.15 MX at the frequency of 70–100 kHz.The resistance of 100%ER at 20 weeks of treatment increased from 0.70 kX to 1.23 kX as the reactance decreased from 0.51 kX to 0.28 kX.Comparatively,the resistance of 25%ER increased from 1 kX to 1.10 kX as the reactance decreased from 0.88 kX to 0.83 kX.The polynomial regression of impedance measurements with plant water status parameters(VMC,leaf thickness,LWP and RWC)shows that LWP and RWC had the highest R2(0.78,0.73).The results show that impedance measurement technique is auspicious to evaluate plant water status.展开更多
文摘Digital farming is the practice of modern technologies such as sensors,robotics,and data analysis for shifting from tedious operations to continuously automated processes.This paper reviews some of the latest achievements in agricultural robotics,specifically those that are used for autonomous weed control,field scouting,and harvesting.Object identification,task planning algorithms,digitalization and optimization of sensors are highlighted as some of the facing challenges in the context of digital farming.The concepts of multi-robots,human-robot collaboration,and environment reconstruction from aerial images and ground-based sensors for the creation of virtual farms were highlighted as some of the gateways of digital farming.It was shown that one of the trends and research focuses in agricultural field robotics is towards building a swarm of small scale robots and drones that collaborate together to optimize farming inputs and reveal denied or concealed information.For the case of robotic harvesting,an autonomous framework with several simple axis manipulators can be faster and more efficient than the currently adapted professional expensive manipulators.While robots are becoming the inseparable parts of the modern farms,our conclusion is that it is not realistic to expect an entirely automated farming system in the future.
文摘Greenhouse cultivation has evolved from simple covered rows of open-fields crops to highly sophisticated controlled environment agriculture(CEA)facilities that projected the image of plant factories for urban agriculture.The advances and improvements in CEA have promoted the scientific solutions for the efficient production of plants in populated cities and multi-story buildings.Successful deployment of CEA for urban agriculture requires many components and subsystems,as well as the understanding of the external influencing factors that should be systematically considered and integrated.This review is an attempt to highlight some of the most recent advances in greenhouse technology and CEA in order to raise the awareness for technology transfer and adaptation,which is necessary for a successful transition to urban agriculture.This study reviewed several aspects of a high-tech CEA system including improvements in the frame and covering materials,environment perception and data sharing,and advanced microclimate control and energy optimization models.This research highlighted urban agriculture and its derivatives,including vertical farming,rooftop greenhouses and plant factories which are the extensions of CEA and have emerged as a response to the growing population,environmental degradation,and urbanization that are threatening food security.Finally,several opportunities and challenges have been identified in implementing the integrated CEA and vertical farming for urban agriculture.
文摘The need to mechanize major field operations that are labor intensive in oil palm industry of Malaysia has led to the study on agricultural machine automation.In general,study was on machine automation to reduce the number of workers required for harvesting as well as to provide comfortable ergonomic for the operator of oil palm harvester.The objective of the study was to perform interfacing between the oil palm tree and hardware(harvester)as well as to compare the harvesting efficiency between the mechanical and automated manipulator.Kinematic analysis was calculated based on the D-H configuration for the position and orientation of harvester arm using high resolution webcam and ultrasonic sensor to obtain 3D coordinates required by the D-H notations.PIC Circuit Board(PCB)design and fabrication as well as testing and implementation of concept of camera vision operation system for FFB harvester with fully developing a Graphical User Interface(GUI)was conducted to assist the automation of the harvester manipulator.The automation of 5DOF manipulator harvester operation proves to be faster than the manually operated mechanical harvester with an approximation of 60 percent significant decrease in speed of the manipulator with 70 percent of accuracy.
基金The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the Ministry of Education Malaysia and Universiti Putra Malaysia with the UPM Research Grant Scheme(Project Code:GP-IPS/2013/9399814)The authors would also like to acknowledge Mrs.Nadirah Roslan who was involved in data collection process.
文摘Labisia pumila(Kacip fatimah)is a popular medicinal plant in Malaysia.The constituents of this plant have been reported to possess anticancer,antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.The growth and production of L.pumila is greatly influenced by the plant water status.Current techniques to measure plant water status are generally based on the plant soil moisture,which apparently did not indicate the real water content inside the plant.There are other techniques to measure directly on the plant such as based on leaf water potential(LWP)and relative water content(RWC).However,these techniques are destructive and time consuming.In this study,four levels of evapotranspiration replacement(ER)treatment which were 100%ER,75%ER,50%ER and 25%ER was applied to 30 polybags of L.pumila plants.The plant water status was measured using an impedance spectroscopy technique.A pair of electrocardiogram(ECG)electrode connected to an impedance analyzer board was used to measure the impedance value of the leaf samples noninvasively.Plant water status parameters such as LWP,RWC,volumetric moisture content(VMC),and leaf thickness were measured using standard methods.The results show that after 20 weeks of treatment,25%ER had the highest impedance value ranged from 0.10 MX to 0.15 MX at the frequency of 70–100 kHz.The resistance of 100%ER at 20 weeks of treatment increased from 0.70 kX to 1.23 kX as the reactance decreased from 0.51 kX to 0.28 kX.Comparatively,the resistance of 25%ER increased from 1 kX to 1.10 kX as the reactance decreased from 0.88 kX to 0.83 kX.The polynomial regression of impedance measurements with plant water status parameters(VMC,leaf thickness,LWP and RWC)shows that LWP and RWC had the highest R2(0.78,0.73).The results show that impedance measurement technique is auspicious to evaluate plant water status.
