| Project Detail |
A reliable tool for crop estimation
Food security is emerging as a top priority. The United Nations has warned that food security and nutritional status of the most vulnerable population groups are likely to deteriorate. One solution is the use of technology to increase agricultural yield production. Currently, agricultural yield estimation is almost solely done manually and it is therefore inaccurate and limited to small areas. The ERC project EchoYieldEstimation will bring to market a sonar-based crop estimating sensor. This patented device can estimate pepper and tomato yields with 90 % accuracy under laboratory conditions. The project will also test it on other key crops.
With the rapidly growing world population, accelerated climate changes and global migration, nutritional security is a major challenge. This situation calls for fast development and utilisation of agricultural technology that will push agricultural yield production to its full potential.
Yield estimation in agricultural production is thus central for both agricultural planning as well as for successful agroeconomic management. Despite its importance, agricultural yield estimation is currently almost solely done manually without assisting technology and it is therefore inaccurate and limited to small areas.
To meet this challenge, we offer a unique sonar sensing system for large-scale, rapid yield estimation. Our technology, as demonstrated in a recent peer reviewed paper, and in additional preliminary studies has unexampled advantages compared to other sensors. The sonar-based crop estimating sensor has been patented and initial tests show that it is capable of estimating pepper and tomato yields with ~90% accuracy under laboratory conditions. The technology has several advantages over pursued optical based solutions including the ability to penetrate the vegetation and its functionality under all lighting conditions.
In the proposed project, we will expand those tests to additional key vegetables, e.g. cucumbers, and elaborate our approach to make it functional under field conditions, aiming to provide farmers with a reliable tool for crop estimation.
Our team is composed of sonar, agriculture, robotics and business experts, covering all of the needs of the project. We will collaborate with agri-robotics companies and agricultural stake-holders in the EU to fulfil the goals of our PoC project. The project will ultimately lead to the necessary steps for establishing a spin-off company that will exploit this invention and provide a product to the benefit of European and worldwide farmers. |
