A. Ruiz-Canales

Optimal color space selection method for plant/soil segmentation in agriculture

Display Omitted A new training algorithm is proposed for agricultural color classification problems.The proposed method selects the optimal color space and channels for each scenario.Applied to estimate accurately and efficiently the percentage of green cover (PGC).Developed an application called ACPS (Automatic Classification of Plants and Soil). Color analysis techniques in agriculture should be able to deal with non-trivial capture conditions such as shadows, noise, pixel saturation, low lighting, different varieties of crops and intrinsic parameters of the cameras. Previous studies have shown the importance of selecting the optimum color space for each application domain. This paper presents a new probabilistic approach to color processing capable not only to create optimum color models for the plant/soil segmentation, but also to select the most adequate color space for each problem. The system evaluates all the possible alternatives, producing color models in the optimum space and channels. Thereby, the dependences on the kind of crop, camera and capture conditions are avoided, since the method is adapted to the training conditions. The basis of the proposal is the use of non-parametric models for the probability density functions of plant/soil colors. The proposed method has been implemented and validated in a new software tool, called ACPS (Automatic Classification of Plants and Soil), thus proving its practical feasibility. The final purpose of this system is the analysis of the vegetal ground cover, in order to obtain the PGC (percentage of green cover) parameter. The ACPS software has been developed to be used by professionals, researchers, technicians and anyone working in the agricultural area. Furthermore, the models created can be exported to a defined file format which can be used in applications in the cloud, mobile devices and compact controllers that are currently being developed.

SCADA platform combined with a scale model of trickle irrigation system for agricultural engineering education

During the last three decades, Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems are being widely used in agricultural applications and specifically in irrigation management systems, where an intelligent use of the water is required. Taking this objective into account, an educational platform for the design of SCADA applications for irrigation programming combined with a scale model of a trickle irrigation system is described in this article. This platform facilitates the students of Agricultural Engineering to design and simulate different irrigation systems, providing an efficient and low cost tool. Moreover, as the SCADA applications are developed with the LabVIEW graphical programming language, complex mathematical models for irrigation, data sampling, and on‐line programming by Internet are supported. The use of a data acquisition card for collecting data from transducers and for the activation of the actuators makes it possible to apply the implemented platform both to a real irrigation system and to the developed scale model, supplying the students with a more practical application of the learned concepts.

Design and implementation of a low cost photovoltaic soil moisture monitoring station for irrigation scheduling with different frequency domain analysis probe structures

Abstract Frequency Domain Analysis (FDA), as an approach, has been developed for the measurement of soil dielectric constants. As it stands, the standard dielectric of dry soil is much less than the dielectric of soil exposed to water, and the volume of water present significantly affects the propagation of electromagnetic waves. With this in mind, this paper proposes a plan for the design and implementation of two distinct isolated probe structures for the measurement of water contents within the soil at different levels. Accordingly, Probe A is used to determine the water level present in soil at four different depths. Probe A does this by utilizing pairs of parabolic copper sections fixed horizontally and isolated over the outer surface of an access tube. Probe B, on the other hand, makes use of two steel rings buried vertically inside of an access tube, and is used to determine the water contents of soil on two levels. To do so, a fixed frequency square-wave is transmitted to measure the soil capacitance in which the probe sensors are connected to an Arduino microcontroller which also included air humidity, air temperature, and soil temperature sensors. During the experimental assessment of both probes, the results are loaded onto an SD memory card and are then compared with the results of other commercial sensors installed in the same irrigated plot. The soil moisture monitoring station used is powered by a photovoltaic (PV) module of 10 W 12 V and a storage battery of 12 Ah. The experimental monitoring station used to assess the efficiency of both probe designs was set up in a Mediterranean semiarid zone in the Southeast of Spain.

DH V 2.0, A Pocket PC Software to Evaluate Drip Irrigation Lateral Diameters Fed from the Extreme with on-line Emitters in Slope Surfaces

Modernisation in irrigation systems allows farmers to adapt easily to requirements in crop production to contribute to environmental protection and optimize water resources, among others. The majority of the processes in the modernisation of the irrigation systems imply the change of surface irrigation systems to pressure systems. One of the main pressure irrigation systems is drip irrigation (Valiantzas, 2003; Yitayew et al., 1999; Lopez, 1996). High water use efficiency is a feature on drip irrigation systems (Ko et al., 2009; RodriguezDiaz et al., 2004; Yitayew et al., 1999). Precision in water and fertilizers application under adequate design conditions is another advantage of this irrigation system (Bracy et al., 2003; Pedras and Pereira, 2001; Holzapfel et al., 2001). The design of a drip irrigation system calculation implies two phases: agronomic design and hydraulic design. For the agronomic design some specific data are needed (crop water demand, type of soil and data of drip emitters, among others). The hydraulic design is based on several data (characterization of chosen emitter, field topography, etc.). In order to design an irrigation subunit (drip line and sub main pipes), it is necessary to combine the hydraulic calculation (flow, diameters and pressure of drip line and sub main pipes) with the irrigation net distribution plane. Drip line calculation is the first part in the hydraulic design of a drip irrigation system. Drip line calculation is integrated in the hydraulic design of drip irrigation subunits (Yildirim, 2007; Provenzano and Pumo, 2004; Ravikumar et al., 2003; Anyoji and Wu, 1994; Wu, 1992; Wu and Gitlin, 1982). As in the design of drip irrigation system, in drip lines calculation the agronomic and the hydraulic design phases are included. Moreover, in the drip line design some specific agronomic features are used (plant frame, crop water demand...) (Cetin and Uygan, 2008; Narayanan et al., 2002). The number and the distribution of the emitters are the results of the design (Gyasi-Agyei, 2007; Medina, 1997). For the future design of micro-irrigation systems several aspects must be considered. Some of these aspects were established in 2004 by Kang and Liu that presented the challenges to design micro-irrigation systems in the future. Firstly, to develop more perfect methods in order to minimize the total cost of a whole system (e.g. da Silva et al., 2005; Kuo et al., 2000 and Ortega et al., 2004); other aspect is the improvement of present-day methods by