Ref.: LIFEWATCH-2019-06-AGAPA-04
Agriculture, forestry, fishing and rural life are examples of human activities that endanger biodiversity and the provision of ecosystem services, which are a necessity for life on Earth, as well as for the sustainability of the human species. This project is focused on monitoring the impact of agricultural and fishing systems on biodiversity and ecosystems. Given the influence that activities have humans in the natural environment and the importance of the agri-food and fishing sector in Andalusia as in the EU in general, the results of this project will promote a change in trend in the relationship between the managers of the territory and the physical environment.
The SmartFood project will directly contribute to three of the great social challenges identified in the Spanish Science and Technology Strategy:
Food quality and security, productive and sustainable agriculture, sustainability of natural resources, marine and maritime research
Climate change and resource and raw material efficiency
Digital economy and society
Entity responsible for the Work Package
Participating entities
Scope of action
Network for monitoring agricultural systems, although fishing systems can also be monitored and are part of food systems. One of the case studies that will be developed within SmartFood is related to the fishing sector.
The general objective of this action is the deployment of a network of remote and close sensors to monitor agricultural systems, as well as to establish standardized protocols for the deployment of sensor networks and data integration. This should be the basis for the establishment of Virtual Research Environments (VRE) for the study of the impact of agricultural practices on biodiversity and ecosystem services.
These actions aim to carry out an integration of information from different sources. Starting with the deployment of ground sensors for monitoring attributes associated with ecosystem services related to agriculture, forestry, livestock, and fishing, which will be later complemented and integrated into a complex stratified data collection system.
In this layered data collection system, information from the ground sensor network will be integrated with information collected from flights with stratospheric balloons capturing images in the range of 1000 to 20000 m in height, as well as images from a nanosatellite equipped with a hyperspectral camera, and images from satellites already in orbit.
The launch of stratospheric balloons will allow the capture of images at different altitudes, in the range of 1,000 to 20,000 m. These images taken by the stratospheric balloon will complement the information provided by other remote sensors regarding biodiversity and the assessment of ecosystem services provided by the agricultural, forestry, livestock, and fishing sectors. In this case, after a preliminary evaluation and discussion among the research team members, it has been decided to carry out two stratospheric balloon flights on two different dates, corresponding to different seasons.
This will allow assessing differences in crop phenology and development, as well as their relationship with climatic variables, application of phytosanitary treatments, soil preparation/maintenance tasks, etc.
The first flight will provide a first approach to the type of information that can be acquired through these flights regarding crop phenology and development. The treatment of this information will allow selecting the most appropriate indicators to assess ecosystem services linked to agricultural activity in the area in question.
The launch of stratospheric balloons will allow the capture of images at different altitudes, in the range of 1,000 to 20,000 m. These images taken by the stratospheric balloon will complement the information provided by other remote sensors regarding biodiversity and the assessment of ecosystem services provided by the agricultural, forestry, livestock, and fishing sectors. In this case, after a preliminary evaluation and discussion among the research team members, it has been decided to carry out two stratospheric balloon flights on two different dates, corresponding to different seasons.
This will allow assessing differences in crop phenology and development, as well as their relationship with climatic variables, application of phytosanitary treatments, soil preparation/maintenance tasks, etc.
Sensor deployment not only focuses on the selection of the terminal measuring device but also encompasses communications and data processing and transmission.
It has also been necessary to include training actions related to IoT structure, cloud, and APIs, proprietary and non-proprietary IoT platforms, communication protocols, data analysis, and cybersecurity. All these efforts have concluded in the design and selection of a typical structure based on sensors, nodes, Gateway, and Internet platform; having selected LORAWAN as the specification for the low-power, wide-area network and FIWARE as an open data platform for the global deployment of Internet applications.
6U nanosatellite for earth observation that will carry a multispectral camera with 5m resolutions and an IoT communication module. The forecast is that it will pass through the target area (Andalusia) every two days, taking images that are downloaded when passing through the ground station, the main one is expected to be located at KSAT Svalbard, Norway.
The nanosatellite information will complement the information provided by other remote sensors regarding biodiversity and ecosystem services provided by agriculture and fishing, and will help establish protocols for the development of these nanosatellites and associated utilities.
Develop a scalable autonomous multimodule land vehicle with the ability to perform agricultural tasks without human intervention.
Adapt the vehicle to carry out agricultural operations in herbaceous crops, orchards, and olive groves whose operation depends on biodiversity parameters.
Reduce the latency time of autonomous machines.
Distinguish an autonomous vehicle from a self-guided one.
For the realization of this WP, it has been necessary for both the UCO personnel to work and the procurement of the supplies detailed below:
Two prototypes of autonomous vehicles are currently being manufactured, one modular with high horsepower, mainly designed for use in fruit crops and olive groves, its design contemplates the irregular nature of the terrain in which these crops usually develop, and another modular of smaller dimensions, initially designed for use in arable crops, its configuration is completely different.
We are currently awaiting the delivery of supplies for the subsequent construction of the two vehicles by the University of Córdoba, the completion of this milestone is scheduled for March 2023.
Development of intelligence for an irrigation machine, a commercial PIVOT module already installed and operational, which is located in the Rabanales experimental plot. This irrigation machine is a commercial PIVOT, equipped with a corner.
This irrigation machine allows adapting the applied water sheet (volume of water per unit area) according to the control in its speed of advance. This possibility gives the opportunity to create management models that adjust the speed of advance, and thus, the applied irrigation dose, based on crop phenology and status, or the heterogeneity in the texture and composition of the soil where the crop and associated microorganisms develop, among others.
Work has also been done on the selection of sensors to be included in the irrigation machine, including pressure sensors and RGB cameras, for which a set of technical specifications has been defined for the preparation of the corresponding specifications for their tender.
We are currently awaiting the delivery of the supplies defined above for installation in the irrigation machine, with delivery and installation scheduled for March 2023.
These devices will allow taking real-time images of the crop cover and status, which will be the basis that conditions the response of the models developed for the adaptation of the irrigation sheet to be applied, to the strict needs of the crop.
The installation of pressure sensors allows knowing the distribution of pressures along the machine, a key factor for its correct operation, as well as for evaluating uniformity in irrigation or the existence of possible losses or problems in the network.
Systems that can contribute to the objectives of improving the impact of agriculture and fishing on biodiversity and ecosystem services.
The main objective of this work package is to develop a data and application ecosystem that facilitates the monitoring and control of the impact of agriculture, forestry, livestock, and fishing on biodiversity and their role in the provision of ecosystem services. In this sense, the project contemplates the generation of simulators, demonstrators, serious games, and digital twins. Both developments are being carried out by personnel from the University of Córdoba and the University of Málaga, without the need for external contracts.
Development of a digital twin in the case of a farm and simulations to assess the impact on life cycles, biodiversity, and ecosystem services.
A digital twin is a complex system that dynamically represents an object or equipment in real life, reflecting its states and behavior throughout its life cycle. Digital twins allow monitoring, analyzing, and simulating the current and future state of the system it represents, using data integration, artificial intelligence, and self-learning. Digital twins can be fed by information not evident to the human eye, coming from sensors. In addition, the analysis of historical data and the possibility of carrying out simulations open up a range of possibilities.
The SmartFood project contemplates the development of a digital twin for the previously detailed irrigation machine.
This irrigation machine, to which, as defined previously, a network of sensors and cameras will be provided, will be represented virtually by a twin that allows representing its behavior and operation. To carry out the representation of the irrigation machine in a virtual environment, digital models are being developed that contemplate the geometry of the physical structure of the machine, as well as hydraulic models that allow reproducing the distribution of flows, pressures, or losses of load, among others, that occur during the operation of the irrigation machine.
The final objective of building a digital twin will be to carry out simulations faithful to the real behavior of the machine, as well as the response of the crop, in terms of development and final performance.
A system of three "Serious Games" that will enable virtual collaborative environments for researchers and end users to seek different solutions to a common challenge on biodiversity.
Serious games are games designed for educational purposes, especially effective for learning specific skills, being used in the educational, scientific, medical, urban planning, engineering, and political sectors, mainly. Gamification is one of the most emerging digitalization strategies with high potential for implementation in all sectors, particularly in agriculture, forestry, and fisheries. The SmartFood project proposes the integration of serious games into open access virtual laboratories for the scientific community.
The goal is to create virtual collaboration environments for researchers and end-users to seek solutions to the common challenge of biodiversity and ecosystem services protection.
One of them is designed as an educational tool for silvicultural training, based on virtual exercises for tree selection. This game involves a georeferenced survey of all elements in the plot represented in the serious game, as well as the description in dimensional terms (size), taxonomic terms (species), ecological terms (microhabitats linked to structural elements of the tree), economic terms (value of the direct products it could provide: wood, pinecone, cork...), and sociological terms (aesthetic value, shade, etc.). The developing tool acts as a training and demonstration field for various options of utilization and silvicultural treatment that could be applied to the forest stand.
The general objective is to design and deploy case studies to test, adapt, and adjust the scientific and technological infrastructure acquired and developed for the management of fishing operations and for monitoring the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and its impact on biodiversity and ecosystem services.
Coastal biological communities are highly vulnerable to environmental conditions and are subject to various anthropogenic pressures, including fishing exploitation and exposure to sources of pollution. It is important to improve their management and governance, including better risk prediction systems.
Development of environmental indicator models for quantifying their impact on biodiversity, ecosystem services, climate change, and the efficient management of natural resources.
Contribute to the adoption of new rules and regulations by the European Commission and member states, allowing, with the support of new technologies, better minimization and elimination of physical controls.
Development of more reliable, secure, efficient, agile, and cost-effective measurement techniques with an automated verification system based on Earth observation data analysis.
Contribute to the development of better environmental aid regimes.
Develop cases that allow the evaluation of technologies and procedures (operability, connectivity, technical and economic viability, among others) to scale solutions to EU regions and countries.
Development of co-design and co-implementation strategies, initially considering at least two end-users: farmers and their associations, and regulatory and paying bodies, at both country and regional levels. This aspect will allow widespread acceptance of new practices.
Integration of data, many of them in real-time.
Monitoring can also be a tool to improve decision-making systems for farmers, the entire food chain, public institutions, and to enhance trust between administrations and stakeholders. Particularly, it can improve society's perception of the role of agriculture in creating a healthier planet.
The concept of ecosystem services is widely used to highlight the interdependencies between agricultural and environmental systems. The ability of ecosystems to provide ecosystem services is directly linked to biodiversity. Biodiversity can be considered in terms of genetic diversity, species diversity, or ecosystem diversity. Designing new indicators for sustainability and biodiversity to quantify ecosystem services raises questions about the role of research in measuring and predicting economic, social, and political decision-making.
The SmartFood project aims to develop e-services and collaborative virtual research environments related to the study and management of biodiversity and ecosystems. Particularly, concerning the quantification of variables linked to biodiversity, the integration of sensors, as well as the use of satellite images proposed in the project, SmartFood can be a significant support and source of information to build and monitor biodiversity at different levels of spatial and temporal scale.
Monitoring of both the Andalusian coast and various demonstrative estates
The buoys are already delivered
The buoys can be installed on the estates that we already have defined during the months of December or January 2023
The sensors are in the process of being delivered
The overall objective of this work package is the development of a communication, transfer, and internationalization strategy for the project focused on the development and consolidation of the Spanish science system through the Life Watch ERIC consortium. For this purpose, a company has been contracted to develop and support the communication part of the project. Currently, the project SMARTFOOD brand image and corporate identity manual have been developed. Additionally, work is underway on the design of a website and the creation of accounts on major social networks.
The goal is to create participatory, interactive, and collaborative spaces. This is especially relevant in the generation and use of knowledge. VREs are a new approach that requires a highly collaborative system, systemic vision, knowledge, information and data, connectivity, as well as tools that allow high interoperability and a combinatorial attitude with different and very diverse research approaches, although it is necessary to recognize that these VREs sometimes end up conditioning research methodologies. The project will develop the necessary scientific and technical infrastructures and teams to incorporate the preservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services in agriculture, forestry, and fishing.
An ecosystem of applications will be implemented to collect data from nearby, remote, and open data sensors. Useful for generating collaborative virtual labs for biodiversity improvement and the provision of ecosystem services.
A platform for massive real-time data collection compatible with different existing protocols.
Massive, real, robust, and real-time data from a network of sensors located in various locations, corresponding to various agricultural and fishing ecosystems.
Massive, real, robust, and real-time data from two autonomous vehicles and a smart irrigation platform working in practical conditions of various agricultural ecosystems.
A simulator to evaluate different strategies for monitoring biodiversity and ecosystem services in different agricultural ecosystems.
A simulator to evaluate different strategies to optimize bivalve mollusk harvesting operations in relation to biodiversity, ecosystem services, and health.
A platform with collaborative games for the design of agricultural ecosystems, as well as procedures to incorporate the results of the contribution of different actors.
Digital twins, powered by real physical data for the evaluation of strategies to improve biodiversity and ecosystem services.
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