Tokihiro Fukatsu

Field Monitoring Using Sensor-Nodes with a Web Server

In order to realize field and environment monitoring over long periods of time, we propose a new method of remote monitoring system that can flexibly and dynamically respond to changes. Field Servers are one of the small monitoring sensor-nodes that are equipped with a Web server to be accessed via the Internet and use wireless LAN to provide a high-speed transmission network differing from traditional sensor-nodes. The monitoring system with Field Servers allows for easy installation, monitoring field information, and remote operation in any field. By mounting the function of a Web server for all modules, we can treat them collectively via the Internet. In order to evaluate the monitoring system, we have managed numerous Field Servers installed in various countries using an agent program. The result of field experiments shows that the system is both safe and effective for remote monitoring applications.

Agent System for Operating Web-Based Sensor Nodes via the Internet

Web-based sensor nodes, which have a Web server for monitoring data and operating devices, could be used for their easy installation, monitoring, and management with small effort on the part of users. To realize a sensor network system with a high scalability, fewer legacy problems, and general versatility, we propose an agent system for operating Web-based sensor nodes via the Internet. In this agent system, we can handle many kinds of sensor nodes flexibly and uniformly with the agent program and the configuration file. By constructing all objects of the agent system based on the Internet, it is possible to enhance the expansion of operation, control, and scale. By making the agent architecture, algorithm, and implementation, we demonstrate the capabilities and reliability of this system as a useful sensor network.

Automated characterization of flowering dynamics in rice using field-acquired time-series RGB images

BackgroundFlowering (spikelet anthesis) is one of the most important phenotypic characteristics of paddy rice, and researchers expend efforts to observe flowering timing. Observing flowering is very time-consuming and labor-intensive, because it is still visually performed by humans. An image-based method that automatically detects the flowering of paddy rice is highly desirable. However, varying illumination, diversity of appearance of the flowering parts of the panicles, shape deformation, partial occlusion, and complex background make the development of such a method challenging.ResultsWe developed a method for detecting flowering panicles of rice in RGB images using scale-invariant feature transform descriptors, bag of visual words, and a machine learning method, support vector machine. Applying the method to time-series images, we estimated the number of flowering panicles and the diurnal peak of flowering on each day. The method accurately detected the flowering parts of panicles during the flowering period and quantified the daily and diurnal flowering pattern.ConclusionsA powerful method for automatically detecting flowering panicles of paddy rice in time-series RGB images taken under natural field conditions is described. The method can automatically count flowering panicles. In application to time-series images, the proposed method can well quantify the daily amount and the diurnal changes of flowering during the flowering period and identify daily peaks of flowering.

Monitoring system for farming operations with wearable devices utilized sensor networks

In order to automatically monitor farmers’ activities, we propose a farm operation monitoring system using “Field Servers” and a wearable device equipped with an RFID reader and motion sensors. Our proposed system helps in recognizing farming operations by analyzing the data from the sensors and detected RFID tags that are attached to various objects such as farming materials, facilities, and machinery. This method can be applied to various situations without changing the conventional system. Moreover, this system provides useful information in real-time and controls specific machines in a coordinated manner on the basis of recognized operation.

A web-based sensor network system with distributed data processing approach via web application

We have proposed a Web-based sensor network constructed of Web-based sensor nodes and a remote management system. The Web-based sensor nodes consist of communication units and measurement devices with Web servers. The management system has intelligent processing and rule-based function to manage them flexibly via the Internet and performs various image analyses easily with Web application services. By distributing the image analyses to Web application services, our proposed system provides versatile and scalable data processing. We demonstrated that it can realize the desired image analyses effectively and perform complicated management by changing its operations depending on the results of analysis.

Field server: multi-functional wireless sensor network node for earth observation

1. Field Server Field Server is a small Web server, which can be installed globally for long term by using wireless LAN and the Internet. Field Server can monitor environmental conditions and ecosystems in real-time by high resolution camera, multiple sensors and LED lighting. Ad-hoc Wi-Fi mesh-network is created by Field Servers, and also Wi-Fi hotspots can be created around Field Servers for ubiquitous networking. Field Servers can be used also as a platform to use network devices and electroequipments in open fields. In Field Server’s case, all devices are connected by Ethernet or Wi-Fi, that is, inside of Field Server is also sensor-network, which can realize layout-free architecture, plug & play, robustness and various designs for Field Servers.

Field Server Projects

A field server is a sensor node which can create a wireless sensor network and simultaneously serve as Wi-Fi hotspots in open fields. Since 2001, we have been working on several Research and Development projects to develop field server technology and its applications. So far, three generations of field servers have been developed and are in use in more than a dozen countries for collaborative research and educational applications such as a global sensor network for Earth observation, food safety/IT-agriculture, advanced sensor technology in fields and image monitoring for urban areas. The field servers have proved to be quite robust for field applications. More work is in progress to develop applications for the field server and resolve issues with power consumption and increasing the communication range for certain applications

Seamless Integration of Sensor Network and Legacy Weather Databases by MetBroker

Nowadays, we can use several meteorological databases through the Internet. They are, however, heterogeneous in access methods, data formats, available items etc., so that clients applications are generally tightly linked to particular databases. This causes inefficiency in developing client applications. To solve this issue, we developed a data broker named MetBroker that provides client applications consistent accesses to such heterogeneous databases, hiding the heterogeneity and virtually integrating distributed databases. The basic idea was to provide a remote wrapper application to each database that translates the heterogeneity to a standardized format. This paper describes the basic functions of MetBroker and seamless integration of legacy weather database with sensor network by MetBroker

Hierarchical Agent System for Web-Based Sensor Network

To achieve a smart sensor network with Web-based sensor nodes such as field servers, we propose a hierarchical agent system that manages sensor nodes autonomously and flexibly, and acts as an intelligent module of the sensor network. Our agent can treat Web applications in addition to sensor nodes and is a Web application itself; thus, it can control other agents hierarchically. This hierarchical structure provides the Web-based sensor network with high scalability and robustness. The leaf node of our agent system, called the field server agent box, is equipped with an agent system, a Web interface, a storage function, and data viewers. It can be used with Web-based sensor nodes at sites where an Internet connection is not available. In this study, we also examine the leaf nodes scalability

Farm Operation Monitoring System with Wearable Sensor Devices Including RFID

To increase agricultural productivity and promote efficient management in modern agriculture, it is important to monitor the field environment, crop conditions, and farming operations instead of simply relying on farmers’ experiences and senses. However, it is difficult to realize such monitoring automatically and precisely, because agricultural fields are widely spaced and have few infrastructures, monitoring targets vary according to crop selection and other variables, and many operations are performed flexibly by manual labor. One approach to monitoring in open fields under harsh conditions is to use a sensor network (Akyildiz et al., 2002; Delin & Jackson, 2000; Kahn et al., 1999) of many sensor nodes comprised of small sensor units with radio data links. In our previous study, we developed a sensor network for agricultural use called a Field Server (Fukatsu & Hirafuji, 2005, Fukatsu et al., 2006, Fukatsu et al., 2009a) that enables effective crop and environment monitoring by equipped sensors and autonomous management. Monitoring with Field Servers facilitates growth diagnosis and risk aversion by cooperating with some agricultural applications such as crop growing simulations, maturity evaluations, and pest occurrence predictions (Duthie, 1997; Iwaya & Yamamoto, 2005; Sugiura & Honjo, 1997; Zhang, et al., 2002). However, it is insufficient for obtaining detailed information about farming operations, because these operations are performed flexibly in every nook and cranny depending on crop and environment conditions. Several approaches have been used to monitor farming operations, including writing notes manually, using agricultural equipment with an automatic recording function, and monitoring operations with information technology (IT)-based tools. Keeping a farming diary is a common method, but it is troublesome to farmers and inefficient to share or use their hand-lettered information. Some facilities and machinery can be appended to have an automatic recording function, but it requires considerable effort and cost to make these improvements. Moreover, it is difficult to obtain information about manual tasks, which are important in small-scale farming to realize precision farming and to perform delicate operations such as fruit picking. Several researchers have developed data-input systems that involve farmers using cellphones or PDAs while working to reduce farmers’ effort of recording their operations (Bange et al., 2004; Otuka & Sugawara, 2003; Szilagyi et al., 2005; Yokoyama, 2005; Zazueta