Abstract |
The increased research interest in Precision Agriculture (PA) during the past years has
significantly contributed towards supporting the various stakeholders of the agri-food
domain with their cultivation activities, in both open fields and greenhouses. Preceding
the emergence of PA, the domain of agriculture had already explored the potential
application of various technological solutions, which are now further exploited by PA for
the benefit of the agri-food sector. In addition, the rapid advancements in Information
and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and the emergence of the Internet of Things
(IoT), have benefited the primary sector by introducing monitoring facilities via networks
of sensors and increasing productivity through automations and mechanized agriculture.
Considering the emerging paradigm of Ambient Intelligence, this thesis aims to enhance
the interaction between farmers and Intelligent environments in the domain of PA, in
order to support the various daily activities aspiring to improve the quality and quantity
of cultivated species. Towards this direction, the GRETA system was designed and
developed, following a user-centered design process, permitting farmers and
agronomists to monitor and control an Intelligent Greenhouse via a set of useful and
usable applications.
GRETA offers a responsive web application targeting PCs and handheld devices (tablets,
smartphones). Moreover, it delivers an Augmented Reality application that visualizes the
greenhouse’s interior conditions in a sophisticated manner and provides contextsensitive assistance regarding the cultivation activities required in such environments.
In more detail, the system interoperates with the ambient facilities of the ICS-FORTH’s
Intelligent Greenhouse, allowing end-users to: a) monitor the conditions inside and
outside of the greenhouse; b) remotely control the state of various actuators, thus
adjusting the micro-climate inside the greenhouse; c) be notified regarding the
available/active automations (e.g. water pump deactivated automatically); d) be aware
of the optimal conditions for their plants to grow, and receive relevant guidelines; e) be
informed regarding any diseases that may occur, and get recommendations for treating
the plants. The aforementioned functionality, is delivered to end-users in a personalized
manner, keeping in mind the characteristics and needs of each target group (i.e.
professional farmer, hobbyist farmer and production agronomist).
Regarding professional farmers, the system permits the remote control and management
of the greenhouse, while offering personalized guidelines for cultivation-related tasks.
Additionally, aiming to support hobbyists or inexperienced farmers, GRETA provides
context-sensitive instructions for planting, caring and harvesting plants, while
streamlining communication and knowledge sharing with experienced farmers (i.e.
professionals, agronomists). Lastly, the system aids agronomists by offering an overview
of the greenhouse’s conditions, the plants’ status, development and growth, so as to
support them while making suggestions to the producers towards increasing the quantity
and improving the quality of agriculture products (e.g. recommendations for plant caring,
disease treatment).
This thesis: (a) presents an approach for the study of the domain of PA from the
perspective of intelligent environments; (b) reports on existing systems highlighting their
shortcomings and the potential for improvements; (c) describes the adopted design
methodology and the functionality of GRETA; (d) analyses step-by-step the current
implementation; and (e) documents the results of a series of expert-based evaluation in
the context of an Intelligent Greenhouse.
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