API / Autonomous platform and information system for crop and weed monitoring

The overall objective of this project is to gain knowledge and expertise into autonomous field operations through the development of an autonomous platform and an information system (API) for crop and weed monitoring. The API will also contribute to the development of novel management systems e.g. the use of herbicides based on the measured need for control of weeds, the environmental demand for reduced use of herbicides or development of highly accurate non-chemical weed control measures.

The project is based on integration of existing technologies, e.g. integration of the Real Time Kinematics, Differential Global Position system GPS and computer vision to navigate the platform. The crop-weed monitoring will be based on an existing computer vision system, common image analysis and the knowledge about spatial weed distribution and site specific weed management. The historical knowledge about the spatial distribution of weeds in the field will be integrated in the planning system to initialise an autonomous sampling strategy.