Sensors

Light Conversions in the Greenhouse When working inside a growing system such as a greenhouse or a plant factory system we must have enough knowledge about light management. When we understand light we can make smart decisions to promote the best environmental conditions to promote growth, development and yield in our crops. This article has […]

Carrier Transicold’s TripLINK™ platform for refrigerated container monitoring has been enhanced with capabilities to integrate with vessel-based wireless networks for improved shipboard cargo visibility and operations efficiency.  Carrier Transicold is a part of Carrier Global Corporation, a leading global…

In most ports, terminal automation primarily focuses on container handling while the monitoring of individual containers is done manually. Monitoring is key in keeping the temperature of perishables at the right levels, but it is a very labor-intensive job as the temperature setting and monitoring are…

Spectrum Technologies, Inc., expands their broad product offeringwith the release of the LightScout® Quantum PAR/DLI Light Meter. By using the Quantum PAR/DLI Light Meter, horticulturalists no longer have to guess how much light their plants are receiving. Because the amount of light delivered to plants,…

The outbreak of Covid-19 in the period leading up to Chinese Spring Festival [25 January, 2020] made it nearly impossible to go out and buy fresh fruit or to visit friends and bring fresh fruit as a present. The most festive time of the year lost its flavor. Now that Spring Festival [12 February, 2021]…

Despite the pandemic or perhaps because of it, domestic sales have been very strong this year for Australian automation company GP Graders. "We had a number of sales for blueberry machinery, small tomato machinery and of course cherry machinery," explains Stuart Payne, Director of the company. "A big…

Reliable sensors ensure food safety on a growing food logistics market. Despite major changes to global business and travel movements, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the global food logistics market is growing - and sensors play a vital role to ensure food safety for food on the move. Prior to a bundle of…

This research shows that Recirculating Aquaculture Systems (RAS) are an environmentally friendly alternative to conventional fish production methods and enable fish breeders to significantly reduce the nutrient loads on adjacent water bodies due to production. Therefore, RAS can be seen as an important…

Professional growers nowadays are supplying a large variety of plant species to their clients. A very labor-intensive process and in addition to the extensive audit work, it’s also a very error-prone process leading young plant propagators to expensive and often compromised solutions. That’s why TTA…

Many regions have abolished 2G networks and switched to 4G networks. The coverage of 4G networks is rapidly expanding and is quickly becoming the mainstream frequency in most countries. Improvements in network coverage and the related development of the Internet of Things (IoT) also raise requirements…

Technology beat farmers at growing strawberries in the inaugural Smart Agriculture Competition organized by Pinduoduo, China’s largest agri-focused technology platform, underscoring its potential to raise agricultural productivity and increase food security. The four technology teams, which employed data…

Available in January 2021, ecoation’s next generation of the OKO platform (OKO Tantalus) offers several upgrades including the world-first 8K 360-degree virtual walk with live broadcasting software and cart-independent hardware that allows the platform to be easily installed on existing fleets. These…

Automation and AI are hot in horticulture and US company iUNU is another example why that is. With their cameras, sensors and AI software, the company’s LUNA platform can be the eyes of the grower, being another tool to help growers improve their cultivation or enlarge the acreage they’re controlling.…

Raman leaf-clip sensor would allow rapid diagnosis of nutrition deficiency in plants, enabling farmers to maximize crop yield in a sustainable way.  The portable Raman system was designed in collaboration with local company Technospex Pte Ltd. The leaf-clip Raman sensor consists of a 3D printed clip that is…

A motion precision equipment and automation solution provider,  wanted to build an advanced, vison-based, smart farming solution to analyze the growth of plantations inside a greenhouse. After evaluating the available market options, the client selected LTTS (L&T Technology Services Limited) for this project.…

Hyperspectral imaging may not sound the sexiest of subjects. But this rapidly emerging technology is promising to help the food industry gain ground in a host of areas, from quality assurance, pathogen detection and farm management.

Nowadays, you often can't just walk into a greenhouse or food processing company. First, you have to pass a turnstile or go through a hygiene sluice to get disinfected, and then you can access the company. LETS has added a new product to their hygiene equipment line: a body temperature meter. This…

Large-scale industrial farms and greenhouses could potentially cut water use by up to 25% while racking up energy savings through less irrigation with a novel plant sensor technology built by newly formed Albuquerque startup Microceres LLC. Two researchers from the University of New Mexico’s Biology Department launched the…

FlashLink RTL Prime 3G-2T In-Transit Logger, Model 22367, is the first of its kind. With its unique 15m/50ft external and internal sensor combination, one logger can monitor supply air temperature in real-time, while also recording temperature at the back of the container. Additionally, this unit tracks…

When new technology is introduced to agriculture, it’s not always within reach of smaller growers. But that’s not the case with one new vision system that’s likely to appeal to just this group. AIS Technologies Group based in Windsor, ON has just this year launched its Mobile Vision System (MVS) which is…

Machine-vision-based crop detection is a central issue for digital farming, and crop height is an important factor that should be automatically measured in robot-based cultivations. Three-dimensional (3D) imaging cameras make it possible to measure actual crop height; however, camera tilt due to irregular ground conditions in farmland prevents accurate height measurements. In this study, stereo-vision-based crop height was measured with compensation for the camera tilt effect. For implementing the tilt of the camera installed on farm machines (e.g., tractors), we developed a posture tilt simulator for indoor testing that could implement the camera tilt by pitch and roll rotations. Stereo images were captured under various simulator tilt conditions, and crop height was measured by detecting the crop region in a disparity map, which was generated by matching stereo images. The measured height was compensated for by correcting the position of the region of interest (RoI) in the 3D image through coordinate transformation between camera coordinates and simulator coordinates. The tests were conducted by roll and pitch rotation around the simulator coordinates. The results showed that crop height could be measured using stereo vision, and that tilt compensation reduced the average error from 15.6 to 3.9 cm. Thus, the crop height measurement system proposed in this study, based on 3D imaging and a tilt sensor, can contribute to the automatic perception of agricultural robots.

Thousands of tons of wasted food could be saved every year due to a new monitoring system in development that pinpoints the expiration of perishable produce, even after a âuse-byâ date has expired.

A growing number of regions abandon their 2G networks and join 4G networks instead. The growing Internet of Things also leads to greater requirements from temperature data loggers in the cold supply chain industry. Tzone Digital is a company specialized in research, design, and manufacturing of…

Ensuring safe temperatures throughout the cold food storage process is a top priority for all food handlers. For compliance with federal food safety regulations, companies need a quality management system to measure, control and document temperatures at all stages of the transportation process. To best…

Chili pepper is one of the favorite foods of many consumers. For some people, the spicier the chili the better it is; other people prefer milder ones. Thai scientists have developed a portable device - whimsically shaped like a chili pepper - to help consumers know how much capsaicin (the compound that…

Wageningen University Research (WUR) has developed a machine for rapid plant phenotyping that is capturing the plants’ observable characteristics. This machine (called the MARVIN3D) uses multiple cameras to capture each plant from multiple angles and additionally creates an 3D-model of the plant. It is used…

Dr. Paul Fisher from the University of Florida IFAS Extension hosts Jon Greene of Bluelab Corporation in a new YouTube video. They discuss technical tips for pH and electrical conductivity (EC) monitoring in hydroponic plant production, as well as water management and the importance of maintaining…

From its introduction forty years ago, the Daily Light Integral (DLI) metric has become an important tool for determining monthly daylight availability for crops and estimating supplemental electric lighting requirements for greenhouses. DLI charts for the continental United States have been available…

Data is becoming increasingly important in our industry and no more so than now, but how can we collect that data and what do we do with it when we have it? Hanane Becha, Project Lead IoT Program, DCSA Digital Container Shipping Association, said that standards for containers and reefers are no longer…

DeltaTrak Inc. is promoting a data logger designed for ocean containers at the Produce Marketing Association’s virtual Fresh Summit.

The FlashLink RTL (real-time logger) Prime 3G-2T In-Transit Logger has an internal sensor to measure air temperatures when placed at the back of containers, and an external sensor on a 50-foot cable that measures supply air temperature, according to a news release.

The loggers help shippers:

Compare two sets of temperature data; Expedite inspections and insurance claims; and Verify that product was carried on the ship in correct temperature range.