AUTOFARM: Automating UAV Technology for Orchards to Focus Agricultural Resource Management

AUTOFARM：果园自动化无人机技术，专注于农业资源管理

• 批准号: 10108599
• 金额: $ 12.05万
• 依托单位: OUTFIELD TECHNOLOGIES LTD
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Launchpad
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2024 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=10108599
• 关键词: AUTOFARM; Automating; UAV; Technology; Orchards

Global food systems are facing ever increasing pressures. A growing population with increasing demand for high nutrition food is being limited by food poverty, resource scarcity, climate risk and environmental concerns. The recent report "The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World" from the UNFAO highlighted the urgent need for data-driven decision making on both a macro- and micro-scale to drive efficiency throughout the food production ecosystem. This is the only way that humanity can balance the economic and environmental costs of food production with the growing risk of food insecurity on both a national and international level. Outfield is already providing the first piece of this data solution to fruit growers internationally, allowing them to understand the state of their orchards/vineyards to increase yields and reduce resource demands. Our world-leading system allows growers to launch off-the-shelf drones to survey their crops and make precise interventions, increasing efficiency and productivity whilst mitigating the effects of ever variable weather. Exciting recent advances in drone technology, combined with upcoming changes in UK drone regulations, mean that for the first time it will be possible for this data to be gathered by Drone In A Box (DIAB) systems - self-flying drones launched automatically from a drone dock stationed permanently on the farm. This not only drastically reduces the labour effort required from growers to survey and assess their crops, but also enables continuous monitoring of the crops throughout the season, increases the sampling resolution, and has the potential to enable intelligent custom sampling in future projects. In this project, Outfield will deploy a DIAB system onto a commercial apple farm in the East of England, the first time this has been done in the UK. We will establish the operational procedures to install and operate this novel system safely, and build a business case for deploying these systems on UK farms. While all drone flights in the project will be strictly supervised, the project will prepare for fully remote operations in the future. Outfield’s existing crop surveying system has shown that high temporal frequency data can be game changing for efficient management of farms, and this project will give UK fruit growers better access to that data. Outfield will be ready to deploy AUTOFARM internationally in 2025 in collaboration with UK-based hardware developer Idroneimages. This has the potential to increase the fruit production of any orchard or vineyard by 10% immediately whilst slashing chemical use and waste in the supply chain. Along with the future potential for the technology, this project can make a huge impact on the global food systems we all rely on.

全球粮食系统正面临着越来越多的压力。粮食贫困，资源稀缺，气候风险和环境问题的限制，人们对高营养食品需求的需求不断增长的人口不断增长。最近的报告“世界上粮食安全和营养状况”的《未来粮食安全和营养状况》强调了迫切需要对宏观和微观规模进行数据驱动的决策，以提高整个粮食生产生态系统的效率。这是人类能够平衡粮食生产的经济和环境成本与国家和国际水平上粮食不安全感的唯一途径。外场已经在国际上为水果种植者提供了该数据解决方案的第一部分，使他们能够了解其果园/葡萄园的状态，以提高产量并减少资源需求。我们的世界领先系统使种植者可以发射现成的无人机来调查其农作物并进行精确的干预措施，提高效率和生产力，同时减轻可变天气的影响。令人兴奋的无人机技术进步，再加上即将发生的英国无人机法规的变化，这意味着，该数据将首次由无人机在盒子（DIAB）系统中收集 - 自动飞行无人机是从无人机码头自动推出的。这不仅大大减少了种植者进行调查和评估农作物所需的劳动力，而且还可以在整个季节中持续监测农作物，增加采样解决方案，并有可能在未来的项目中实现智能的自定义抽样。在这个项目中，外场将把糖尿病系统部署到英格兰东部的一个商业苹果农场，这是英国第一次进行。我们将建立安全安装和操作这一新型系统的操作程序，并建立在英国农场部署这些系统的业务案例。尽管该项目中的所有无人机航班都将受到严格监督，但该项目将来将为将来的完全遥远的操作做准备。 Outfield现有的作物测量系统表明，高临时频率数据可能是为了有效地管理农场的游戏，该项目将使英国水果种植者更好地访问该数据。 Outfield将准备在2025年与英国硬件开发人员IdroneImages合作在国际上部署自动货车。这有可能立即将任何果园或葡萄园的水果产量提高10％，同时削减供应链中的化学用途和废物。除了对技术的未来潜力外，该项目还可以对我们都依靠的全球粮食系统产生巨大影响。