Special Issue "Applied Agri-Technologies 2"

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Sciences".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 1 June 2022.

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Dimitrios Kateris
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute for Bio-economy and Agri-technology (iBO), Centre for Research and Technology – Hellas (CERTH), 38333 Volos, Greece
Interests: agricultural engineering; agricultural robotics; artificial intelligence; condition monitoring; condition monitoring bearings; fault diagnosis; operations management; vibration
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Dionysis Bochtis
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute for Bio-economy and Agri-technology (iBO), Centre for Research and Technology – Hellas (CERTH), 38333 Volos, Greece
Interests: operations management; supply chain automation; agri-business; ICT-agri; bio-energy; bio-recourses
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Agriculture plays a vital role in the global economy, with the majority of the rural population in developing countries depending on it. The depletion of natural resources makes the improvement of agricultural production more important but also more difficult than ever. In this context, effective interventions in agriculture are essential for the fulfilment of its vital role, which is to maintain rural social and economic stability within sustainable development. The extensive use of applied agri-technologies results in productivity improvement and better resource use and reduces the time needed for farm management, marketing, logistics, and quality assurance.

The purpose of this Special Issue is to publish research papers, as well as review articles, addressing recent advances on systems and processes in the field of applied agri-technologies. Original, high-quality contributions that have not yet been published and that are not currently under review by other journals or peer-reviewed conferences are sought. Indicatively, research topics include:

  • Robotics and automation in agriculture;
  • Machine-embedded ICT tools,
  • Internet of Things (IoT) in agri-food production and agri-food chains;
  • Remote sensing and GIS applications;
  • AI applications in agriculture;
  • Decision support systems for agriculture;
  • ICT applications for precision farming;
  • Traceability and agri-food chains systems;
  • Big data and data mining for agricultural information systems;
  • Sustainability aspects (environmental-social) of new technologies in agriculture.  

Dr. Dimitrios Kateris
Prof. Dr. Dionysis Bochtis
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Applied Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • agri-robotics
  • traceability
  • farm management information system (FMIS)
  • precision farming
  • agri-technologies sustainability
  • ICT applications
  • agricultural logistics
  • Internet of Things (IoT)
  • GIS applications
  • remote sensing

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

Article
Bridging the Gaps in Traceability Systems for Fresh Produce Supply Chains: Overview and Development of an Integrated IoT-Based System
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(16), 7596; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11167596 - 18 Aug 2021
Viewed by 224
Abstract
Traceability, namely the ability to access information about a product and its movement across all stages of the supply chain, has been emerged as a key criterion of a product’s quality and safety. Managing fresh products, such as fruits and vegetables, is a [...] Read more.
Traceability, namely the ability to access information about a product and its movement across all stages of the supply chain, has been emerged as a key criterion of a product’s quality and safety. Managing fresh products, such as fruits and vegetables, is a particularly complicated task, since they are perishable with short shelf lives and are vulnerable to environmental conditions. This makes traceability of fresh produce very significant. The present study provides a brief overview of the relative literature on fresh produce traceability systems. It was concluded that the commercially available traceability systems usually neither cover the entire length of the supply chain nor rely on open and transparent interoperability standards. Therefore, a user-friendly open access traceability system is proposed for the development of an integrated solution for traceability and agro-logistics of fresh products, focusing on interoperability and data sharing. Various Internet of Things technologies are incorporated and connected to the web, while an android-based platform enables the monitoring of the quality of fruits and vegetables throughout the whole agri-food supply chain, starting from the field level to the consumer and back to the field. The applicability of the system, named AgroTRACE, is further extended to waste management, which constitutes an important aspect of a circular economy. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Applied Agri-Technologies 2)
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Article
FruiTemp: Design, Implementation and Analysis for an Open-Source Temperature Logger Applied to Fruit Fly Host Experimentation
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(13), 6003; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11136003 - 28 Jun 2021
Viewed by 600
Abstract
FruiTemp is an open-source prototype developed to study the response of endophytic insect species such as fruit flies (Diptera: Tephrtidae) to variable temperature conditions including the controlled laboratory and fluctuating field settings. The system is a three-channel temperature sensor that consists of two [...] Read more.
FruiTemp is an open-source prototype developed to study the response of endophytic insect species such as fruit flies (Diptera: Tephrtidae) to variable temperature conditions including the controlled laboratory and fluctuating field settings. The system is a three-channel temperature sensor that consists of two precision thermistors that measure the temperature in the core and the surface of a fruit on a tree and a Harsh Environment thermistor that measures the air temperature surrounding the host at a rate of one measurement per 15 min. The sample rate can be adjusted according to the researcher’s needs. The system was successfully tested in field and laboratory experimental conditions using apples as the fruit model. The measurements on apples on trees lasted five consecutive days and produced a range of reliable data. After assessing statistical agreement and precision, the results revealed a differential bias of 0.331 °C and a proportional bias of a magnitude of 0.982. This work promotes open-source implementations allowing inexpensive solutions aiding experimentation procedures by significantly lowering operating costs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Applied Agri-Technologies 2)
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Article
Advisory and Knowledge Transfer Tool for Ammonia Emission Mitigation on Pig Farms in Hungary
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(13), 5970; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11135970 - 27 Jun 2021
Viewed by 361
Abstract
The Ammonia Gas Emission Model for Swine (AGEM-S), a nitrogen flow model, was created with the objective of assisting in the reduction of ammonia emissions in the Hungarian pig sector. Regarding the applied technological processes and considering the factors that influence ammonia emissions, [...] Read more.
The Ammonia Gas Emission Model for Swine (AGEM-S), a nitrogen flow model, was created with the objective of assisting in the reduction of ammonia emissions in the Hungarian pig sector. Regarding the applied technological processes and considering the factors that influence ammonia emissions, the model quantifies the amount of ammonia emissions of pig farming in all stages (feeding, housing technology, manure storage, and application in the field). The aim of the project was to create a system that performs general calculations using the input data used by practicing farmers, without compromising the information content of the output data. Using this system, the input parameters can be entered as simply as possible and in the shortest possible time. In addition to demonstrating the impact of ammonia emission reduction measures to farmers from an integrated N management approach, AGEM-S has the potential to support the transfer of emission reduction technologies and practices at the farm level as a knowledge transfer tool primarily, but also as a decision support tool for technological change. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Applied Agri-Technologies 2)
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Article
Low-Cost Wireless Sensing System for Precision Agriculture Applications in Orchards
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(13), 5858; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11135858 - 24 Jun 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 357
Abstract
Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) can be reliable tools in agricultural management. In this work, a low cost, low power consumption, and simple wireless sensing system dedicated for agricultural environments is presented. The system is applicable to small to medium sized fields, located anywhere [...] Read more.
Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) can be reliable tools in agricultural management. In this work, a low cost, low power consumption, and simple wireless sensing system dedicated for agricultural environments is presented. The system is applicable to small to medium sized fields, located anywhere with cellular network coverage, even in isolated rural areas. The novelty of the developed system lies in the fact that it uses a dummy device as Coordinator which through simple but advanced programming can receive, process, and send data packets from all End-nodes to the cloud via a 4G cellular network. Furthermore, it is energy independent, using solar energy harvesting panels, making it feasible to operate in remote, isolated fields. A star topology was followed for the sake of simplification, low energy demands and increased network reliability. The developed system was tested and evaluated in laboratory and real field environment with satisfactory operation in terms of independence, and operational reliability concerning packet losses, communication range (>250 m covering fields up to 36 ha), energy autonomy, and uninterrupted operation. The network can support up to seven nodes in a 30 min data acquisition cycle. These results confirmed the potential of this system to serve as a viable option for monitoring environmental, soil, and crop parameters. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Applied Agri-Technologies 2)
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