Noninvasive Techniques for Vine Perception

Abstract

Variable rate technologies (VRT) and sprayers need to be innovated, optimized and adapted in the context of agricultural robotics and precision agriculture. A traditional VRT system only uses information provided by agro data cloud systems to spray a certain amount of product. However, these systems do not get real-time feedback about the real amount of product applied and the real requirements of the plant. This implies product losses and a low volume of product application on the plant (which may cause inadequate plant disease treatment). New systems, sensors, and algorithms should be researched and developed to evaluate the spraying quality in real-time, and give real-time feedback to the spraying process. The purpose of this dissertation is to validate a noninvasive technique for vegetation water content perception and analyze several options for a viable system implementation. A set of experiments were conducted to verify the concept of the proposed method, along with an analysis of the collected data during the tests. A comparison of the different potential approaches for the system implementation was made. A beamforming technique using a phased array of antennas was simulated and developed.