Speaker Archives - Smart Farming with sensors, drones and satellites

23/09/202123/09/2021

Optical spectroscopy and machine learning enhancing food sorting

a presentation by Anna Pakuła, Warsaw University of Technology, at the 2021 edition of the Smart Farming Conference

Anna Pakuła received the MSc. Eng. degree at Warsaw University of Technology (Poland) in 2004 in Marketing and Management and in 2006 in Photonics Engineering. In 2011 she finished the postgraduate course on Intellectual Property Management (University of Warsaw, Poland) and in 2016 she received PhD at Warsaw University of Technology. The main aim of her doctoral dissertation was to apply novel illumination techniques in optical profilometry.

05/09/202105/09/2021

Digital solutions and technologies for the agro sector: practical use cases

Agriculture 4.0 faces the great challenges arising from the growing need for food in quantity and quality, by maximizing its production in a sustainable way, while allowing a climate change mitigation and improving the use of the natural resources. Thus, digital tools, such as remote and proximity sensing, autonomous equipment / robots and the use of artificial intelligence (AI), are some of the solutions that aim to improve the agro-sector management (soil, water, plant). However, it is still need to promote its accessibility, through the development of affordable and customized solutions, and ultimatley translate the data into useful information for farmers.

30/08/202130/08/2021

Optical fiber sensors for monitoring agricultural drone spraying operations

Spraying is a fundamental agricultural operation, used for the dispersion of both pesticides and fertilisers over trees and crops, directly affecting the volume and quality of agricultural yield; however, spraying is subjected to limitations with respect to safety regulations, water consumption and droplet cloud drift. An emerging agricultural trend is referring to drone spraying operations, offering prominent and unique advantages such as speed of operation, applicability to almost every type of ground and crops, and significant saving in water and pesticides/fertilisers.

06/08/202106/08/2021

Swine diseases field diagnostics toolbox

Gyula Balka: The international trade of live pigs and semen used for artificial insemination, the cross border migration of wild boars as well as contaminated pork products is causing continuous emergence and spread of transboundary diseases. Some of these, like African Swine Fever of Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome are considered to be the most economically devastating diseases of the swine industry. Our project is aiming to provide a tool for the quick and reliable diagnosis of these diseases, which is essential for their control.

29/07/202129/07/2021

How technologies can help the agroecological transition

Vincent Levavasseur will speak at the 2021 edition of the Smart Farming Conference

Interview

What drives you?
My passion is to help farmers to succeed in the agroecological transition using the right tools and the good networks. There are big challenges today in agriculture where agroecology can fully bring responses at the economic, environmental and social levels. Our challenge is to scale up agroecology.

22/07/202122/07/2021

The value of Point Of Care (POC) for egg quality and safety: The case of antibiotics and mycotoxins detection

Rapid, on-site assessment of potential risks that compromise food safety and quality can play a key role in maintaining the agricultural sector’s sustainability and profitability. POC diagnostics and tests have proven indispensable tools for screening. Considering that eggs are a cheap and excellent source of protein, the volume of eggs produced in EU and the industry’s profitability, investments on new technologies that reassure food safety from “farm to fork” are justified. Early detection of antibiotics and mycotoxins, in view of their impact on health, is crucial for the successful implementation of the “farm to fork” approach.

22/07/202122/07/2021

H2020 project GRACED: A novel, ultra-compact plasmo-photonic bimodal multiplexing sensor platform for food quality monitoring

An ultra-compact multiplexing sensor platform based on a novel plasmo-photonic bimodal interferometric sensor, combined with low cost on-chip light generation will be presented. The sensor will be capable of simultaneously and quickly detecting different analytes of interest and will be part of a holistic, modular solution that exploits unique engineering designs, IoT concepts and advanced data analytics, for the early detection of contaminations in the fruit and vegetables (F&V) value chains.

15/07/202122/07/2021

Photonic devices and monitoring techniques for the wine industry

The use of oak barrels for wine ageing is a widespread technique due to the ideal physical and structural properties of oak wood. The oak barrel is an active, interactive container that releases aromatic compounds and tannin when wet while allowing oxygen to penetrate and largely determines the characteristics of produced wine. The level of release of characteristics compounds to the enclosed wine decreases for repeated wine fillings and after a number of refills the barrel must be replaced.

06/07/202106/07/2021

Optical spectroscopy and machine learning enhancing food sorting

Optimum Sorting develops and manufactures optical sorting machines for the food processing industry, mainly focusing on the sorting of potato products, candy, vegetables, nuts and dried fruits. Optimum’s sorting machines detect foreign materials in real time at high capacity, using the principles of light reflection, scattering and fluorescence. We will present a selection of results of an Actphast project in which we explored the potential of spectroscopy and the combination with machine learning to improve the detection of difficult defects in certain types of nuts.

05/07/202116/07/2021

Optical fiber sensors for the assessment of oak barrels used in wine aging

Maria Konstantaki Aging in oak barrels, gives wine its unique mouthfeel and bouquet character due to the release of tannins and aromatic compounds. The limited availability of oak in conjunction with the demanding barrel fabrication process increases the cost of oak barrels.

Furthermore, oak barrels have a limited lifespan of use and after a number of repeated usage in wine aging they must be replaced. Currently the assessment of the condition of an oak barrel is empirical and thus subjective. A quantitate assessment method would limit cost and improve wine quality and productivity.