Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

W1009: Integrated Systems Research and Development in Automation and Sensors for Sustainability of Specialty Crops

Tour on August 1, 2013
"Sweet Cherry - Tree to Truck" lead by Karen Lewis
Harold Schell of Chelan Fruit Cooperative hosted a tour of the Chelan Fruit Warehouse, processing plant, and farm tours. We met Jeff Heath & Nick Fox at Stemilt Hill orchard where harvest was being done. Finally, we went to Stennes and had the opportunity to climb a ladder and empty picked fruit into the bin.

Date of W-1009 Business Meeting: August 2, 2013
Location: Wenatchee, WA
Host: Dr. Qin Zhang, WSU

Brief Meeting Meetings:

Chair: Dr. Reza Eshani, Florida
Vice-Chair: Dr. Changying Li, Georgia
Secretary: Dr. Raj Khosla, Colorado

Dr. Reza Eshani, current chair opened up the meetings and invited Dr. Jim Moyer, Director of Ag Experiment Station, WSU who is the administrative advisor to W-1009 group, to welcome the participants.

Dr. Jim Moyer welcomed the participants and introduced himself briefly to the group. He added that while he is new to WSU, he is responsible for many multi-state cooperative projects. He plans to continue to engage with the W-1009 group. His role is that of an administrative advisor and that he will support the group to ensure that all paper work is in place and that it moves along in time.

After a round of brief introduction of all the participants in the room, Reza invited each state representative to provide a short report of activities from their state to the group.

California:
David Slaughter presented report from California; He talked about many on-going activities in California, including work on Precision Irrigation work; wireless sensor networks; non-destructive determination of internal fruit quality using a handheld spectrophotometer, internal flesh color; sensing nitrogen in Almonds leaf from ground sensing; Precision Weed control, etc.

Stavros talked about his work on fruit location under tree canopy, looking at model based design to do 3D spatial distribution of fruits.

Iowa:
Mark Hanna, Brian Steward, Cucurbits crops for Disease Control. Lie Tang from Ag Automation and Robotics Lab presented the report.

Mississippi:
Phillip gave an overview of the work being done in his state. He added he is an electrical engineer.

Kentucky:
Joe: Talked about his group work on Tobacco. He talked about machinery, Field networks to monitor and control multiple machines in the field. Development of new power machinery.

Hawaii:
Lauren, presented his work on Coffee and Cacao

Michigan:
Dan Guyer, reported on his work on Over the row (canopy) systems, shaking pruning, canopy shaking.

Georgia:
Charlie (Changying Li), presented an update on his SCRI projects on post-harvest technologies for onions and sensor development for blueberry mechanical harvest.

Colorado:
Raj Khosla gave an update on the two SCRI projects that CSU is involved with Onion PIPE project and the SCRI MINDS project.

Pennsylvania:
Paul Heinemann presented on Automated Blossom Thinning System, and harvest assist (somewhere in between fully automated versus fully labor dependent).

Washington:
Qin Zhang presented information on many important fruit crops in Washington. Cherry production systems of the future; Precision Canopy and Water Management.

Florida:
Reza talked about harvesting of citrus and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle; Daniel Lee talked about sensing system for precision agriculture.

After a short break following the presentation of the state reports. Other business activities of the W-1009 were discussed.

2014 W-1009 Conference:

• Proposals to host the future W-1009 conference were discussed. The discussion went around the room from Pennsylvania, then potentially Georgia and Colorado. Then after some discussion it was proposed to co-host the W-1009 meetings with International Conference on Precision Agriculture (ICPA) in July 2014 next year. After much discussion about timing and tour at ICPA conference that Shrini (UC Davis) is expected to host, the motion to host the W-1009 2014 conference in Sacramento along with the ICPA conference, passed unanimously. David will follow up with Shrini to decide when and how to coordinate our meeting efforts with ICPA.

Other business:

• Discussion on forming teams to access other funding opportunities apart from SCRI since the Farm Bill is undecided at this time, accessing funds from AFRI as multi-state projects. Then we went around NRI program (National Robotics Initiative) that Stavros (UC-Davis) got or Manoj (WSU) and Lie (ISU) received $250K/yr 3 yr projects.
• There was also discussion on W-1009 being officially closed after this meeting and that we need to complete Appendix E at NIMSS website. Participants were encouraged to contact their AES director office to complete the process so that they are officially on the W-2009 list. There was some discussion on the percentage of time to be reported on the NIMSS website for the multi-state project/committee. The general consensus was under 10%
• Reporting: There is need for final reporting on W1009 within 30 days from closing of this meeting.
• Idea to upload pictures from the tour and trip to the website and for exchanging purposes.
• Format of presentations: There was some discussion on the inclusion of economics, commercialization of the products and if we could have more discussion and presentation on such topics in future meetings. Idea about having portion of the meeting in the evening prior to the business meetings.

Full State Reports can be found on the W-1009 Homepage under Additional Publications at the following link: http://lgu.umd.edu/lgu_v2/homepages/attachs.cfm?trackID=10356

Members of W1009 have produced several outcomes resulting from number of research activities. The research areas are broadly classified as: (1) specialty crop management (thinning, processing, disease detection & chemical application), (2) mechanical harvesting (including harvest assist), and (3) food quality and safety.

(1) Specialty crop management:

In Florida, several optical sensing techniques such as visible-near infrared spectroscopy (Vis-NIR), mid-infrared (MIR) spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, thermal imaging, and laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) were tested to detect citrus diseases such as Huanglongbing (HLB) and canker. Some of these sensing techniques were integrated with both ground- and aerial-based platforms. Sensing techniques such as visible-near infrared reflectance spectroscopy and fluorescence spectroscopy showed good potential for the ground-based sensor, These sensing techniques incorporated with aerial sensing platforms such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are inherently faster technique that can detect general stress much faster.

The Darwin 300 and PT-250 string thinners were extensively tested in Pennsylvania stone fruit orchards throughout the project period. The Darwin 300 string thinner was tested in apple orchards to determine efficacy, after successes in stone fruit. Blossom load, leaf damage, fruit load, fruit quality, and other parameters were measured for treatments of varying thinner rpm settings. In 2011, there were no significant differences in crop load and value between rpm treatments, which was in contrast to 2010 where increased thinning resulted in increased crop load. More testing is needed for use of the thinner in apples, particularly with the concern for fireblight spread. Ultrasonic and laser sensors were tested to detect canopy shape and distance and automatically control the position of the string thinner. Pennsylvania had three replicated trials with the Darwin string thinner. String thinner trials were with automated positioning systems to improve uniformity of thinning and were conducted on peach. 440 growers representing 20,000 acres attended field day demonstrations and Mid-Atlantic fruit conventions. Selective thinner development included further machine vision testing, laser range finding, and image analysis of peach trees both in the lab and in the orchard. Two end effector blossom removal mechanisms were designed and one was fabricated and tested by hand. A prototype 1/4-scale unit was fabricated by Penn State and U. of Illinois personnel. It has been tested in the lab for precision of positioning.

In Washington, research projects were conducted to develop mechanization and automation solutions for specialty crop production, including detection and control of diseases, pests, and quality of produce. The major advancements include: (1) successfully demonstrated prototypes of a hand-held blossom thinning device and deployed it to grower users in the Pacific Northwest region for extensive field trials; (2) developed a mobile tree canopy PAR data acquisition and visualization system, and successfully used the system to support tree fruit canopy and water management research as a major contribution to a SCRI project; (3) designed and constructed a research system for conducting both fundamental and application studies of solid set canopy delivery of chemical applications for a third SCRI project; (4) started the experimental design and laboratory testing device design for identifying the major attributors affecting the efficiency of a biomass harvest system, and search for possible solutions to improve the efficiency; (5) successfully conducted field validation trials of a pneumatic fruit transporting system.

In California, a precision, synchronized, multi-row transplanting system was designed and a prototype machine was fabricated and tested on a commercial organic farm in California. The system was designed to allow multi-row synchronized planting patterns in transplanted vegetable crops. Precise planting patterns in specialty row crops will facilitate the implementation of cost-effective, automated, individual plant care machines that can provide mechanized plant care tasks on a plant-by-plant basis on a commercial scale. Research findings were disseminated to Californian specialty crops farmers and processors at regional industry meetings. Research findings were also disseminated to academic and industry individuals at international research conferences. A fruit-location measuring platform was completed. Fruit height and distance-to-trunk distribution histograms for more than 40,000 fruits (pears and cling-peaches) helped growers verify the effectiveness of their pruning and thinning strategies. The statistics provided improved understanding of the fruit distributions on commercial orchard trees.

In Michigan, an infield apple harvesting and sorting prototype was being developed. New bin fillers were built; they are simple, compact and easy to operate. Laboratory tests showed that the bin fillers handled apples gently and distributed apples evenly in the bins without causing excessive damage to the harvested fruit. New harvest aid functions were also incorporated into the system, which allows six to eight people to pick apples from the ground and also from the platform. This new feature would significantly improve worker safety and also enhance productivity. The integration of the computer vision module with the apple transport and sorting unit was completed. Field test and demonstration of the system to apple growers, extension specialists and researchers will be carried out in September of 2013.

Development and study of new tart cherry production systems was established and is expected to continue into the new W-2009 multi-state project considering the long duration required to evolve such a system involving fruit trees. This project has involved the integration of horticultural (tree/plant design) and engineering (harvesting) concepts, as well as the integration of the two domains in terms of plant/machine interaction, focused on increasing the economic and environmental sustainability of the tart cherry industry. Preliminary trials have set direction for future highly potential approaches and have yielded data and information for development of proposals, some of which have been in collaboration with other W-1009 stations in the area of Over-the-Row (OTR) automation. The revolutionary approach has been demonstrated and presented to the grower community through field days and trade publications and several growers are collaborating directly or indirectly in the concept and project.

Machine vision and pattern recognition systems were studied, adapted, and developed for an automated sensing approach to monitor multiple specific insect species presence and population level estimates in the orchard. Multiple insect species were captured under the sticky trap integrated pest management techniques and algorithms for feature extraction and classification were developed. Approaches of multiple low-cost networked in-orchard systems or a more complex sensing system coupled with an autonomous platform for continuous or semi-continuous automated insect monitoring were considered.

In Oklahoma, the project was carried out to develop innovative technologies that provide solutions to issues and problems affecting pecan production and processing. Work completed or in progress includes: 1) Development of a pecan yield estimation technique using backscattered terrestrial microwave sensing. 2) Demonstrate the usefulness of the wireless image sensor networks in estimating the population of pecan weevils. 3) Development of an in situ method to rapidly determine the N status of a pecan trees.

In Kentucky, a distributed control framework was studied for managing multiple machines working in a single field. The NetLogo program, a multi-agent simulator, was used to simulate vegetable crop cultivation with two cultivating machines and one human operator. Development and testing were also conducted on a flow rate sensor for individual nozzles on sprayers. Individual nozzle sensors are necessary to monitor for plugged nozzles or other failures as well as feedback control for precise application of chemicals at the individual nozzle level. Spraying has become an important part of specialty crop production so improvements in application consistency and control are valuable. Work was also carried out on the construction and testing of a series hybrid drivetrain for agricultural machinery. A drivetrain was constructed using a diesel engine, a generator, a battery pack and electric traction motors. The traction motors were connected to a dynamometer and the drivetrain was tested at various loads.

In Iowa, research was carried out in the following five areas: 1) Automated non-chemical weeding: A second generation prototype of an automated intra-row mechanical weeder was developed in 2011. The design was further refined with a dual pivoting arm mechanism and a patent disclosure was published. 2) Plant Detection and Localization Using Machine Vision: A three-dimensional (3D) machine vision system for crop plant identification and localization at early growth stages was developed. The system utilized a real-time 3D time-of-flight imaging sensor that was capable of capturing both intensity and depth images under outdoor lighting conditions. 3) Chemical Application: Automated Nozzle Control for Spray Drift Reduction: The means for automated spray drift reduction through nozzle control was developed, implemented, and tested in the form of a spray nozzle controller. 4) Precision fertilizer Application: A precision rate and distribution control system were developed for pneumatic applicators to improve the placement and uniformity of dry fertilizers. The section control system implemented on a commercial airboom application system used eight metering devices to control four boom sections with two metering devices per section. 5) Machinery Simulation and Design: Model identifiability analysis was used to determine whether system measurements contain enough information to estimate the model parameters. The local structural and practical identifiability of a tractor and single axle towed implement model was evaluated with six uncertain soil-tire force model parameters from tractor yaw rate and implement yaw rate data. Overall, the study showed how different experimental factors can affect the amount of information available in a dataset for identification and that error in the measured data can propagate to error in model parameter estimates.

(2) Mechanical harvesting:

Two new autonomous orchard platforms were delivered to The Pennsylvania State University and Washington State University. An upgraded orchard platform-mounted vacuum-driven harvest assist system for testing in Pennsylvania State orchard architectures was tested. A new, low-cost harvest assist device has been designed and is being fabricated in Summer 2013. This device will be mounted on a low-cost, electric orchard platform and will be tested in late Summer and Fall 2013. Growers Financial Indifference Value of about $746/acre/yr was established for harvest assist system.

In Michigan, a prototype chestnut harvester for small-scale producers was developed and fabricated with focus on a simple and cost effective concept. The prototype has been constructed and evaluated to show very good potential for material collection and a high level of separation of desirable and discard material while minimizing any quality degradation of the chestnuts.

In Georgia, a miniaturized low-cost berry impact recording sensor (BIRD) and associated software was developed for the evaluation of blueberry mechanical harvesting process. The bruise susceptibility of three crisp-flesh and one conventional-flesh highbush blueberry genotypes was correlated with the data recorded by a berry impact recording device (BIRD) by dropping both the fruit and the BIRD sensor onto two types of contacting surfaces (hard plastic and cushioning material). The drop test confirmed that a conventional-flesh genotype (Scintilla) was more susceptible to bruising than the semi-crisp or crisp-flesh genotypes (Farthing, Sweetcrisp, and FL 05-528). Selection FL 05-528 was proven to be a promising machine harvestable genotype in terms of the resistance to bruising.

(3) Food quality and safety:

W1009 researchers are working on several aspects of food quality and safety. In Georgia, research has been carried out to develop sensing technologies for onion internal quality evaluation. A liquid crystal tunable filter based near infrared (NIR) hyperspectral imaging system was developed to detect sour skin disease in onions. A line scan hyperspectral imaging system (visible to near infrared spectra) was developed to predict onion internal quality attributes such as dry matter content, soluble solid content, and firmness. The optical properties of onion tissues were investigated in both a single wavelength (633 nm) and across a broad spectrum (500-1700 nm). Monte Carlo simulation was conducted to model the light propagation in multi-layer onion tissues in healthy, Botrytis neck rot and sour skin infected onions. X-ray images (computed tomography, or CT) were studied to detect onion internal diseases. The NIR spectrometry data were correlated with the chemical analysis data (Brix, Pungency, LF/IS) and the intensity of pungency and sweetness scored by a panel of experienced judges. A customized SmartNose system was developed to detect rot of onions in storage.

In Michigan, Computed Tomography (CT) was investigated to evaluate chestnut internal quality. The project has advanced from basic trials into assessing the potential, to having completed replicated experimentation to identify and define optimal scanning parameters for design and optimization of dedicated instrumentation, including image classification approaches and routines. The efforts have additionally focused on expanding the concept to an extended domain of commodities, including cherries and pineapples, to help broaden the concept applicability. A project was started in 2013 to evaluate CT and VIS/NIR technology for the potential to detect a problem with undesirable tissue fiber that challenges the processed carrot industry. Automated evaluation of internal potato tissue characteristics, and more specifically the glucose and sucrose content, through visible and NIR light reflectance, transmission, and scattering and correlating this against wet-based chemistry measurements was conducted to progress toward rapid evaluation techniques. Cherry phantoms were uniquely developed in collaboration with material scientists to a produce standards, having similar tissue properties to tart cherries, which can be utilized year-round and shared between various researchers looking to study and compare internal pit or pit fragment detection approaches.

Efforts were made to explore the spectral scattering as a useful tool for nondestructive sensing of fruit firmness. For instance, the moment method was proposed to extract important features from the spectral scattering images, and it was evaluated for Delicious, Golden Delicious and Jonagold apples. The effect of several factors (such as the variability of firmness in the calibration samples, data processing method and harvest season) and their interactions were evaluated on the performance of the firmness prediction models for three cultivars of apple. Research was carried out to improve the hyperspectral imaging system, operated in simultaneous reflectance and transmittance modes, for online inspection of both external and internal quality of pickling cucumbers.

In California, systems for sensing and for the automation of menial tasks, with applications in postharvest engineering for produce quality and safety and in precision agriculture were developed and tested. For example, a fully automated system was developed to automatically prepare a deaerated tomato juice sample and then to automatically measure the pH (for food safety), the color (for maturity), and the soluble solids content (for quality). The system was self-cleaning and could prepare the sample, conduct the quality measurements, and clean itself in under one minute. A second system to automatically determine the mass fraction of defects in a tomato fruit sample was also developed and successfully tested.

Arrays of microstructures were built on silicon surfaces to mimic stomata, trichomes, and grooves between plant epidermal cells. These structures were subjected to a static culture of Escherichia coli O137:H41tagged with green florescent protein for 48 h. Observation under a confocal laser scanning microscope was done to determine the bacterial attachment characteristics. A flow chamber was then designed to produce a thin film of fluid flowing across the artificial plant surface pieces that would simulate a dynamic flow environment that bacteria could encounter before and while attaching to plant surfaces.

In Oklahoma, the project was carried out to develop a low-cost small scale sanitizer for in-shell pecans and X-ray machine vision inspection systems for pecan defect identification.

Output:

The W1009 members collectively published about 126 research papers, the majority of which were published in well-recognized, peer reviewed journals. The research outputs have been summarized in these publications. In addition, significant contributions were made through workshops, conferences, field demonstrations, online materials, extension materials, etc. The growers and other stakeholders are involved in these projects with significant contribution in terms of knowledge and other inputs. Numerous students and researchers have been trained in these areas of research. The research stations will continue to work on their specific projects that contribute towards the goals of this project.

Full State Reports can be found on the W-1009 Homepage under Additional Publications at the following link: http://lgu.umd.edu/lgu_v2/homepages/attachs.cfm?trackID=10356

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Comparison of two aerial imaging platforms for identification of Huanglongbing infected citrus trees. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 91: 106-115. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compag.2012.12.002 Garcia-Ruiz, F., Sankaran, S., Maja, J.M., Lee, W.S., Rasmussen, J., and Ehsani, R. 2012. Comparison of two aerial imaging platforms for identification of Huanglongbing infected citrus trees. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, In review. Gonzalez, M.E., J.A. Jernstedt, D.C. Slaughter and D.M. Barrett. 2010. Microscopic Quantification of Cell Integrity in Raw and Processed Onion Parenchyma Cells. J. Food Sci. 75(7):E402-E408. Gonzalez-Mora, J., C. Vallespi, C.S. Dima, and R. Ehsani. 2010. HLB detection using hyperspectral radiometry. Paper. No. 301, Proceeding of the 10th International Conference on Precision Agriculture, 18-21 July 2010, Denver, CO. 10 pages. Guyer, D.E., DeKleine, M.E., Perry, R.L. 2012. New approaches in cherry and chestnut harvest systems. International Symposium on Mechanical Harvesting and Handling Systems of Fruits and Nuts. Editor: J.P. Syvertsen. Lake Alfred, FL. April 2012. Acta Horticulturae (ISHS) 965:189-194. Haff., R., and D.C.Slaughter. 2009. X-ray based stem detection in an automatic tomato weeding system. ASABE Paper No. 096050. St. Joseph, Mich.: ASABE. Hardin, J. A., C. L. Jones, P. R. Weckler, N. O. Maness, J. W. Dillwith, and R. D. Madden. 2013. Rapid in situ Quantification of Leaf Cuticular Wax Using FTIR-ATR. Transactions of the ASABE 56(1): 331-339. Hardin, J. A., M. W. Smith, P. R. Weckler, and B. S. Cheary. 2012. In situ measurement of pecan leaf nitrogen concentration using a chlorophyll meter and Vis-NIR multispectral camera. HortScience 47(7): 955960. Hardin, J. A., P. R. Weckler, and C. L. Jones. 2012. Estimation Of Pecan Yield Using Backscattered Terrestrial Microwave Sensing, Presented at the 2012 ASABE Annual International Meeting. Dallas, Texas, July 29 - August 1, 2012. 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