Agricultural Engineering UGM students have developed a system to monitor the
growth of agricultural plants in real time.
“We developed a new method in monitoring the growth and development of a plant
by using a stereo camera that supports the application of precision agricultural
concept,” said Mira Aprilia Nur Fadilah, on Wednesday (3/7) at UGM.
Mira said in the system a stereo camera with two or more lenses were used. Each
lens was equipped with image sensors to take the plant image in real-time. The
image was then processed and used as a reference to calculate the height of the
plant and the width of the canopy by utilizing the difference in depth of colour
disparity.
Based on periodic monitoring of the plant height, the growth was observable in time
series, while the width of the canopy was used to estimate the plant development.
“We implement the Depth Perception method to monitor the height and
development of the plant in real time. This will make monitoring easy to do in the
Plant Factory,” she said.
Mira and her fellow students Ardan Wiratmoko as well as Yusuf Abdhul Azis
conducted the research in the Student Creativity Program under the guidance of Dr.
Andri Prima Nugroho. The research was funded by the Ministry of Research and
Technology.
The research was conducted in the Smart Agriculture Research of Agricultural and
Biosytems Engineering Department, using vegetables with a variety of leaf types
hydroponically in the Plant Factory.
Ardan added that the research came from their desire to contribute to advancing the
world of agriculture during the industrial revolution 4.0. Farming in Indonesia today
is faced with various problems ranging from land scarcity to climate change.
Ardan said Plant factory is a future technology to resolve unstable conditions of the
environment and land use. To increase the effectiveness and efficiency of its
application, the concept of precise agriculture is used to optimize the use of
resources and maximize the output while reducing the impact on the environment.
One of the important stages in production that determines the final quality of
agricultural products is the vegetative phase, which can be observed from its growth
and development. In the Plant Factory, plant growth and development are observed
intensively to determine the rate and prediction of the harvest.
Ardan explained that conventional growth monitoring is still done manually.
However, with the new plant monitoring method, researchers can do precise and
standard monitoring so they can improve the efficiency and effectiveness in the
upstream production.
