Advanced Automation Technologies for Competitive Primary Sector Products

Dear Colleagues,

The automation of the procedures in all domains of the primary sector (precision agriculture, livestock, aquacultures) is necessary in order to reduce the production cost and increase the competiveness and quality of food products. Advanced technologies in hardware, software and telecommunications should be seamlessly incorporated into applications that automate the primary sector. These technologies can be utilized in mechanics, robotic vehicles and arms, sensors/actuators, analog and digital electronics, embedded systems, telemetry, image processing, AI/ML solutions for object detection and tracking and classification. Other important aspects that affect the primary sector are the health and safety/security of workers, rural welfare and education, environmental pollution, and renewable energy infrastructure that supports the primary sector.

Adopting new technologies in the primary sector has social and financial implications that must also be taken into consideration. These include the production cost, investment depreciation, infrastructure maintenance, and repair and upgrade costs. Modeling these technoeconomical parameters is vital for the assessment of new automation applications in the primary sector.

This Special Issue will present innovative papers related to advanced automation technologies for competitive primary sector products. The scope of this Special Issue includes, but is not limited to, the following topics:

• AI, ML, or image processing methods for object recognition, shape alignment, object orientation and tracking with applications in the primary sector;
• Precision agriculture automation techniques;
• Livestock and fishfarm monitoring;
• Sensor and actuator technologies for automation applications;
• The electronics and embedded systems used in the primary sector;
• Robotics, vehicles and other machinery used in the automation of the primary sector;
• Telecommunication protocols and infrastructure;
• Exploiting renewable energy to reduce costs in the primary sector.

The aim of this Special Issue is to offer researchers the opportunity to present their achievements in the field.

Dr. Nikolaos Petrellis
Guest Editor

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