Sustainability in the Digital Farming Era: A Cyber-Physical Analysis Approach for Drone Applications in Agriculture 4.0

Naoum Tsolakis (), Dimitrios Bechtsis, Giorgos Vasileiadis, Ioannis Menexes and Dionysis D. Bochtis
Additional contact information
Naoum Tsolakis: Institute for Bio-Economy and Agri-Technology (iBO), Centre for Research and Technology Hellas (CERTH)
Dimitrios Bechtsis: International Hellenic University (IHU)
Giorgos Vasileiadis: Institute for Bio-Economy and Agri-Technology (iBO), Centre for Research and Technology Hellas (CERTH)
Ioannis Menexes: Institute for Bio-Economy and Agri-Technology (iBO), Centre for Research and Technology Hellas (CERTH)
Dionysis D. Bochtis: Institute for Bio-Economy and Agri-Technology (iBO), Centre for Research and Technology Hellas (CERTH)

A chapter in Information and Communication Technologies for Agriculture—Theme IV: Actions, 2021, pp 29-53 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract This research introduces an integrated approach for the ex-ante analysis of technology innovations in agriculture, like unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), to foster the envisaged sustainable transformation in farming operations. The strategic foresight process of global institutions recognizes the beneficial role of “digital twins” in agriculture for ensuring natural resources’ stewardship and farmers’ livelihood. However, farmers often encounter ambiguities in comprehending the operationalization of digital technologies in agricultural fields as the related scientific and experimental evidence myopically focus on the technical specifications of the respective machinery. Indicatively, the adoption of UAVs for informing decisions related to precision irrigation is often overlooked, while the pertinent literature is sparse and dispersed. This research facilitates the adoption of UAVs for freshwater stewardship in farming operations by: (i) identifying and summarizing advantages and disadvantages related to the utilization of UAVs (commonly known as drones) in agriculture; and (ii) examining “digital twins” in agriculture by proposing a cyber-physical analysis approach for UAVs supporting precision irrigation activities. Specifically, this research develops an emulation model that helps interrogate a UAV’s operational aspects with regard to monitoring water stress levels in an orchard and then implements equivalent real-world intelligent aerial systems for the autonomous identification of the water status of plants to inform precision irrigation operations in an agricultural field.

Keywords: Sustainable agriculture; Precision irrigation; Water stewardship; Digital twins; Unmanned aerial vehicles; Emulation modelling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:spochp:978-3-030-84156-0_2

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/9783030841560

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-84156-0_2

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Springer Optimization and Its Applications from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().