Use Cases & Trials

UC FARM 1 - Water Saving

The use case aims to automate the decision making of irrigation through the monitoring and continuous control of the phenology of an open avocado fruit orchard. This is located at the experimental station of La Mayora in Algarrobo Costa Malaga (Spain), using the advantages of 5G/6G technology, which means instantaneous treatment of large volumes of data to automate decision-making and diagnostic processes in real time. Thus, the main objective of the use case is to acquire and store data and monitor and control the plot of fruit trees to create a real-time information database that allows us to make decisions regarding parameters of efficient crop irrigation management.

The ongoing climate changes are acting as a driver for improving overall farming actions, not only by the direct impact it has on the crops, but also through the increasing regulations imposed on farmers. As such, bringing innovation and intelligence to crops management will increase its effectiveness, reducing the consumed resources while also increasing the cost effectiveness of operations.

The Mediterranean basis in highly susceptible to the harmful effects of climate change, such as water scarcity. In particular, the coastal regions of Málaga and Granada are the main producers of subtropical fruit crops, such as avocado, the most important in terms of productivity. The lack of available water for irrigation it threatening this production, and a handful of studies have explored the effects of climate change in this crop.

The use case objective is to focus on the development and provision of guaranteed products and services for the agricultural sector, in this case, ensuring water saving according to the phenological stages of the crop and taking advantage of the pilot facilities to optimize and validate the final product. All this will lead to efficient and intelligent irrigation. Large volumes of video and images in real-time require the use of 6G technology with lower latency and reliability.

Partners

Use Case Overall

In accordance with the requirements of the agriculture use case Farm 1, the usage of three concurrent slices has been identified, following the different needs. An eMBB slice, providing greater bandwidth, will be use for the transmission of the drone captures, e.g., images and videos. The control of drones and any other agricultural machinery not only needs a reliable link but also low latency, needing for this an URLLC slice. On the other hand, because the sensors are battery powered and require an energy-efficient connection, this will be provided by an mMTC slice.

The Application Functions (AF) for controlling the agriculture drone is deployed at the edge located in the farm to reduce latency. The AF for smart irrigation is also deployed in the edge to reduce the traffic load in the network, as the data collected will be used locally.

Key Objectives

Creating a network of (battery-powered) sensors and actuators to allow the acquisition of the necessary data on the water content of the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum.

Test the water demands of avocado crops in situ by comparing stressed and unstressed plants and improve the precision of irrigation.

Periodically monitoring the phenological state of the crop through images and videos transmitted in real-time by a drone adapted with different types of artificial vision cameras designed for agriculture.

Expected Innovations/Outcomes

Demonstration of low latency communications for drone remote control.

Demonstration of concurrent slicing for supporting high resolution video transmission, drone control and sensoring.

Dynamic management of the slices.

KPIs

KVIs

Use Case Alignment with UN SDGs

The UC-FARM-1 smart farming UC in La Mayora, Spain, demonstrates how advanced agricultural technologies can contribute to achieving multiple UN SDGs including, prioritizing water conservation, food security, and climate resilience.

Enhances avocado production through precision agriculture, localized irrigation and phenological monitoring improving food security and promoting sustainable farming practices (Target 2.4).

Precision irrigation systems and sensor networks reduce water wastage and contribute to efficient water management in agriculture (Target 6.4).

The integration of IoT devices, drones, and cloud computing in farming practices showcases innovation and the development of modern agricultural infrastructure (Target 9.5).

The data-driven decision-making minimizes resource waste and promotes sustainable consumption patterns in agriculture (Target 12.2).

Drought-resilient practices and reduced water usage mitigate climate stressors (Target 13.1).

Sustainable irrigation prevents soil salinization and waterlogging, protecting terrestrial ecosystems (Target 15.1).

First Trial of the 5G Private Network

The main purpose of this initial trial was to demonstrate the remote control of a drone via 5G. The demonstration also involved the pre-programmed execution of a drone flight path specifically designed to capture systematic imagery of trees within a defined area. Prior to deployment, the flight route was planned using mission planning software, which enabled the specification of waypoints, altitude, camera trigger points, and flight speed to ensure consistent data acquisition. The collections of KPIs related the control of the drone were also tested during this trial.

Use Cases & Trials