Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
nodes can equip energy harvesters to collect and store energy from the surrounding
environment, such as solar, wind, hydraulic movements, thermal variations, radio
frequency signals, and vibrations. Recently, miniature energy harvesters have been
commercialized for WSN applications. They can be a driving force to speed up the
automation of worksite management systems.
Agriculture and food production is a traditional industry with a long history of
technology adoption. Many producers have been seeking new technologies to improve
their narrow profit margin. Meanwhile, they are very cautious on adopting them to
avoid potential negative impacts. Hence, to build customers' confidence, real-time
worksite management systems need to perform consistently and reliably. The data col-
lected should be carefully analyzed and show improvements on production manage-
ment toward the increase of profits. Another important aspect is that the real-time
worksite management systems need to be easy to learn, use, and maintain. The sens-
ing and control systems are expected to work in the form of “plug-and-play” to allow
autonomous network establishment, configuration, operation, and maintenance.
13.7 FUTURE TRENDS OF AGRICULTURAL
WORKSITE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
Increased productivity and sustainability in agricultural production systems is the
utmost goal of technology innovation. Real-time worksite management systems tar-
get at establishing close links between field and management centers, or even between
field and customers. The autonomous massive data collection provides detailed infor-
mation about field. Combining with historical data and agronomic knowledge, more
effective management strategy can be made to improve farming operations, environ-
ment conservation, resource allocation, and product traceability. As the demand for
food quality, health benefits, and safety increases, more stringent scrutiny on the
inspection of agricultural and food products have become mandatory. Also being
increasingly demanded is “traceability,” which requires not only rigorous inspec-
tions, but also systematic detection, labeling, and recording of quality and safety
parameters while archiving the entire agricultural production chain. Geo-coded
food can be traced from farms to consumers' tables.
As stated in the Beijing Declaration on Digital Earth 2009, “Digital Earth is
an integral part of other advanced technologies including: earth observation, geo-
information systems, global positioning systems, communication networks, sensor
webs, electromagnetic identifiers, virtual reality, grid computation, etc. It is seen as a
global strategic contributor to scientific and technological developments, and will be
a catalyst in finding solutions to international scientific and societal issues.” Digital
revolution has been affecting all aspects of human life. New electronic technologies
have been making the world more instrumented so that human beings can know
more about it. Networking technologies have been making the world more connected
so that the information can be transferred freely and rapidly. Microprocessor and
computer systems also have been making the world more intelligent so that they
can replace human beings with automation. Agriculture production has been taking
advantage of these new innovations. The technology advances provide opportunities
to enable automation within agricultural machines and between machines to improve
