Fu-Ming Lu

A GSM-based Field Monitoring System for Spodoptera litura (Fabricius)*

The hot and humid weather of Taiwan causes a wide spread of pests and a great loss to Taiwans agriculture. In particular, Spodoptera litura (Fabricius) causes huge agricultural disasters in past years. To gather important information related to the outbreak of S. litura, we develop an ecological monitoring system which combines GSM transmission technologies with mechatronics. The proposed system also equips with an MSP430 low-power microcontroller, a solar power supply system, and a trapping tube. All information collected by the system is stored in a specially designed database. The system is then deployed at an outdoor environment to verify its reliability. The test results show that the system is capable of providing effective monitoring information for pest management.

The first order load-balanced algorithm with static fixing scheme for centralized WSN system in outdoor environmental monitoring

The power of nodes in the first layer of a wireless sensor network (WSN) cannot last due to their frequent relay tasks. One possible solution to this disadvantage is to adopt the first order load-balanced algorithm (LBA) to redistribute the loading of the first layer node uniformly. The balanced low-latency convergecast tree (BLLCT) algorithm, a LBA, is generally utilized in route planning in ecological surveillance. Given that the balance between layers does not ensure the balance of the whole WSN, we propose a LBA combining with a static fixing scheme to shift the node groups from the subtree with the largest loading to the one with smaller loading. This procedures repeats until the loading of each subtree is approximately identical. Such a modified LBA successfully overcomes many complicated problems when a WSN is implemented, based on the simulation results using grid and random topologies. In addition, the performance of the static fixing on random node distribution is better than that on the grid node distribution. In this regards, the static fixing is an adequate method to apply to non-uniform loading situations.

The Role of Agricultural Mechanization in the Modernization of Asian Agriculture: Taiwan's Experience

Abstract The demand for mechanization and automation in the agricultural field is a response to the demand for high quality products and sophisticated production techniques in countries with high labor costs. Taiwan started its ten-year mechanization program in 1960 through the introduction of power tillers. Additional measures such as the introduction of field and post-harvest rice drying mechanization, agricultural automation, and precision agriculture were promoted during the past thirty years. Over this period, Taiwan has become a highly mechanized country in rice production. The local small and medium-sized farm machinery industrial sector is characterized by low volume sales of a great variety of farm machinery. Although government policies help to fulfill domestic demand for farm machinery, the local agricultural machinery industry is at a disadvantage as it faces global competition in the new millennium.