The rector of the University of Almeria, Carmelo Rodríguez, has given an account of the progress made in the execution of the Transfiere Plan, focused on the granting of aid to companies for the transfer of knowledge to the province's strategic sectors. The initial budget for the Plan is 242,000 Euro and La Unión joined it from the start through the Inverdron Project.
Inverdron's objective is the monitoring of crops by means of spectral images, as these make it possible to considerably improve the process, as well as the application of the necessary treatments to improve the productivity. The researchers point out that its application is affected by the distortion created in the reflectance signal due to the type and thickness of the plastics that cover the crops. The project aims to develop protocols for the processing of spectral images by means of drone flights outside the greenhouses. This will lay the foundations for the development of monitoring systems for winter crops with high spatial and temporal precision.
An experimental design is planned that takes into account the variability of the types of plastic, and focusing on two major crops, as explained by the technicians of La Union. The spectral data taken by drones will be validated with sensors set up inside the greenhouses, and treated by Object-Oriented Image Analysis (OBIA) and Deep Learning techniques. This will make it possible to identify anomalies in the crops in given areas that may point to the these being affected by diseases.
Source: diariodealmeria.es