Sensors In Agriculture

Sensing Approaches for Precision Agriculture aims to bring together the ‘state of the art’ of the most popular sensing techniques and the current state of research on the application of sensors in Precision Agriculture (PA). Sensing is of great value in PA because it provides cheap and immediate data for management. This book gives a broad overview of sensing in PA and a coherent introduction for new professionals and research scientists. Readers are introduced to the potential applications of a range of different sensors, how they should be used properly and their limitations for use in PA. Chapters on specific topics and case studies provide depth and enable implementation of the methods by users. A general introduction about sensing techniques in PA is followed by Chapters 2–9 on the most important specific techniques in sensing and Chapters 10–13 include mini-case studies, each showing cutting-edge applications for different sensing methods. Finally, there is an Epilogue on how we expect sensors and analysis to develop.

Novel technologies are playing an important role in the development of crop and livestock farming and have the potential to be the key drivers of sustainable intensification of agricultural systems. In particular, new sensors are now available with reduced dimensions, reduced costs, and increased performances, which can be implemented and integrated in production systems, providing more data and eventually an increase in information. It is of great importance to support the digital transformation, precision agriculture, and smart farming, and to eventually allow a revolution in the way food is produced. In order to exploit these results, authoritative studies from the research world are still needed to support the development and implementation of new solutions and best practices. This Special Issue is aimed at bringing together recent developments related to novel sensors and their proved or potential applications in agriculture.

Agriculture requires technical solutions for increasing production while lessening environmental impact by reducing the application of agro-chemicals and increasing the use of environmentally friendly management practices. A benefit of this is the reduction of production costs. Sensor technologies produce tools to achieve the abovementioned goals. The explosive technological advances and developments in recent years have enormously facilitated the attainment of these objectives, removing many barriers for their implementation, including the reservations expressed by farmers. Precision agriculture and ‘smart farming’ are emerging areas where sensor-based technologies play an important role. Farmers, researchers, and technical manufacturers are joining their efforts to find efficient solutions, improvements in production, and reductions in costs. This book brings together recent research and developments concerning novel sensors and their applications in agriculture. Sensors in agriculture are based on the requirements of farmers, according to the farming operations that need to be addressed.

Nanosensors for Smart Agriculture covers new breakthroughs in smart agriculture, highlighting new technologies, such as the internet of things, big data and artificial intelligence. In addition, the book provides the many advantages of nanosensors over their micro counterparts, such as lower power consumption, higher sensitivity, lower concentration of analytes, and smaller interaction distances between the object and sensor. Sections provide information on fundamental design concepts and emerging applications of nanosensors in smart agriculture. The book highlights how, when cultivating soil, nanosensors and their wireless networks can be used for soil quality monitoring (moisture/herbicides/organic compound/trace metals monitoring in soil, etc. Other applications cover how smart nanosensors can be used for virus detection and hygiene/pathogen controls in livestocks, their use as active transport tracking devices for smart tracking and tracing, and other various applications, such as (i) nanochips for identity (radio frequency identification), (ii) food inspection, (iii) intelligent food packaging, and (iv) smart storage. This is an important reference source for materials scientists and agricultural engineers who are looking to understand more about how nanosensor technology can be used to create more efficient and sustainable agricultural systems. Outlines the fabrication and fundamental design concepts of nanosensors for agricultural applications Explains how nanosensors are being used throughout the agricultural cycle – from crop growth to food manufacturing Assesses major challenges surrounding the application of nanosensors to agricultural applications in mass scale

Agriculture requires technical solutions for increasing production while lessening environmental impact by reducing the application of agro-chemicals and increasing the use of environmentally friendly management practices. A benefit of this is the reduction of production costs. Sensor technologies produce tools to achieve the abovementioned goals. The explosive technological advances and developments in recent years have enormously facilitated the attainment of these objectives, removing many barriers for their implementation, including the reservations expressed by farmers. Precision agriculture and 'smart farming' are emerging areas where sensor-based technologies play an important role. Farmers, researchers, and technical manufacturers are joining their efforts to find efficient solutions, improvements in production, and reductions in costs. This book brings together recent research and developments concerning novel sensors and their applications in agriculture. Sensors in agriculture are based on the requirements of farmers, according to the farming operations that need to be addressed.

As technology continues to saturate modern society, agriculture has started to adopt digital computing and data-driven innovations. This emergence of “smart” farming has led to various advancements in the field, including autonomous equipment and the collection of climate, livestock, and plant data. As connectivity and data management continue to revolutionize the farming industry, empirical research is a necessity for understanding these technological developments. Artificial Intelligence and IoT-Based Technologies for Sustainable Farming and Smart Agriculture provides emerging research exploring the theoretical and practical aspects of critical technological solutions within the farming industry. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics such as crop monitoring, precision livestock farming, and agronomic data processing, this book is ideally designed for farmers, agriculturalists, product managers, farm holders, manufacturers, equipment suppliers, industrialists, governmental professionals, researchers, academicians, and students seeking current research on technological applications within agriculture and farming.

The book focuses on the different aspects of sensing technology, i.e. high reliability, adaptability, recalibration, information processing, data fusion, validation and integration of novel and high performance sensors specifically aims to monitor agricultural and environmental parameters. This book is dedicated to Sensing systems for Agricultural and Environmental Monitoring offers to variety of users, namely, Master and PhD degree students, researchers, practitioners, especially Agriculture and Environmental engineers. The book will provide an opportunity of a dedicated and a deep approach in order to improve their knowledge in this specific field.

This volume is the first (I) of four under the main themes of Digitizing Agriculture and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). The four volumes cover rapidly developing processes including Sensors (I), Data (II), Decision (III), and Actions (IV). Volumes are related to ‘digital transformation” within agricultural production and provision systems, and in the context of Smart Farming Technology and Knowledge-based Agriculture. Content spans broadly from data mining and visualization to big data analytics and decision making, alongside with the sustainability aspects stemming from the digital transformation of farming. The four volumes comprise the outcome of the 12th EFITA Congress, also incorporating chapters that originated from select presentations of the Congress. The focus in this volume is on different aspects of sensors implementation in agricultural production (e.g., types of sensors, parameters monitoring, network types, connectivity, accuracy, reliability, durability, and needs to be covered) and provides variety of information and knowledge in the subject of sensors design, development, and deployment for monitoring agricultural production parameters. The book consists of four (4) Sections. The first section presents an overview on the state-off-the art in sensing technologies applied in agricultural production while the rest of the sections are dedicated to remote sensing, proximal sensing, and wireless sensor networks applications. Topics include: Emerging sensing technologies Soil reflectance spectroscopy LoRa technologies applications in agriculture Wireless sensor networks deployment and applications Combined remote and proximal sensing solutions Crop phenology monitoring Sensors for geophysical properties Combined sensing technologies with geoinformation systems /div