• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.73-86
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• 1995

The automatic control system in the greenhouse have to be developed to the direction of considering various factors the variables such as condition of the cultivation and greenhouse, the properties and types of products. Therefore, it is more important to set up variables appropriately than the problems of automatic control system itself, and the automatic control system which satisfy these problems should be simplified in the aspect of operation. In addition, even the individual automations are not perfect yet, so more studies are required for the development of comprehensive automatic system in korea. This study was carried out to automatize environment control systems for greenhouse, especially from most intensive labor requiring parts such as watering, irrigating liquefied fertilizer, spraying chemicals, mixing and ventilation system, etc. The results are summarized as follows. 1. Control type tensiometer was expected to be desirable in the automation of watering system, therefore, a new tensiometer was designed and developed through this study. 2. The chemical spraying system developed through this study was found to be excellent in the aspect of operation. 3. When pulse type water discharge meter was used in the mixing of liquefied fertilizer and chemical solution, the error of mixing were range $\pm$0.1~0.15%. 4. The water level switch of electrod type used for controlling water level was found to be affective in both control performance and operation cost. 5. The water and level control system can be omitted if each tank size are standardized in accordance with greenhouse size, therefore, the installation cost might be significantly reduced. 6. The developed general controller was excellent in hardware parts, but still remained to be improved in software parts.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.65-72
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• 2006

Objective of this research was to remove the accumulated salts in the plastic film house soils by installing the perforated PVC (${\phi}10cm$) underdrainage pipes at 50 cm depth of soils with cultivating vegetables. Efficiency of the underdrainage pipes was assessed based on the changes of soil chemical properties such as pH, EC, and cations, and growth and yield parameters of the vegetables between the two treatments; the control and the underdrainage pipe treatments. The EC of the underdrainage pipes installed soils after two growing seasons were in the ranges of $1.42-2.88dS\;m^{-1}$ but those of the control were in the ranges of $3.86-4.53dS\;m^{-1}$, indication the underdrainage pipes effectively removed the accumulated salts in soils. The pHs of the control soils and the underdrainage pipe installed soil were in the ranges of 7.2-7.5 and 6.9-7.3, respectively. There was a significant correlation between pH and cation exchange capacity (CEC) of the soils ($CEC=17.107{\times}pH-106.2$, $r^2=0.759$, P < 0.05). The ECs of the soils at different depths were compared between the two treatments after cultivating vegetables with lettuce-lettuce-garland chrysanthemum rotation systems. The ECs of the control soils at depths of 0-10, 10-20, 20-30, 30-40, and 40-50 cm were 3.45, 3.47, 3.03, 2.03, and $2.28dS\;m^{-1}$, respectively, with decreasing with soil depths. On the other hand, the respective ECs of the underdrainage pipes installed soils were 2.43, 2.52, 2.28, 4.00, and $4.23dS\;m^{-1}$ with increasing with soil depths. This might be derived from the salts moved downward with the draining water into the subsoil. The order of cations moved downward was Mg > Ca > K, based on the ratios of cations at specific depth over those at the surface soil. The survival rates of lettuce after 15 days of transplanting in the underdrainage pipe installed soils were 98.2% as compared to 86.6% of the control. The underdrainage pipe treatment also increased the diameter of the lettuce stalk from 12.9mm of the control to 13.7mm. Overall results demonstrated that the installment of the underdrainage pipes in the subsoils of the salt accumulated plastic film house soil effectively removed the salts by leaching downward,resulting in lowering soil EC and enhancing the growth and yield of vegetables.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.511-516
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• 2003

Computer vision technology has been utilized as one of the most powerful tools to automate various agricultural operations. Though it has demonstrated successful results in various applications, the current status of technology is still for behind the human's capability typically for the unstructured and variable task environment. In this paper, a man-machine interactive hybrid decision-making system which utilized a concept of tole-operation was proposed to overcome limitations of computer image processing and cognitive capability. Tasks of greenhouse watermelon cultivation such as pruning, watering, pesticide application, and harvest require identification of target object. Identifying water-melons including position data from the field image is very difficult because of the ambiguity among stems, leaves, shades. and fruits, especially when watermelon is covered partly by leaves or stems. Watermelon identification from the cultivation field image transmitted by wireless was selected to realize the proposed concept. The system was designed such that operator(farmer), computer, and machinery share their roles utilizing their maximum merits to accomplish given tasks successfully. And the developed system was composed of the image monitoring and task control module, wireless remote image acquisition and data transmission module, and man-machine interface module. Once task was selected from the task control and monitoring module, the analog signal of the color image of the field was captured and transmitted to the host computer using R.F. module by wireless. Operator communicated with computer through touch screen interface. And then a sequence of algorithms to identify the location and size of the watermelon was performed based on the local image processing. And the system showed practical and feasible way of automation for the volatile bio-production process.

• KIPS Transactions on Software and Data Engineering
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.129-134
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• 2018

Recently, the artificial neural network (ANN) model is a promising technique in the prediction, numerical control, robot control and pattern recognition. We predicted the outside temperature of greenhouse using ANN and utilized the model in greenhouse control. The performance of ANN model was evaluated and compared with multiple regression model(MRM) and support vector machine (SVM) model. The 10-fold cross validation was used as the evaluation method. In order to improve the prediction performance, the data reduction was performed by correlation analysis and new factor were extracted from measured data to improve the reliability of training data. The backpropagation algorithm was used for constructing ANN, multiple regression model was constructed by M5 method. And SVM model was constructed by epsilon-SVM method. As the result showed that the RMSE (Root Mean Squared Error) value of ANN, MRM and SVM were 0.9256, 1.8503 and 7.5521 respectively. In addition, by applying the prediction model to greenhouse heating load calculation, it can increase the income by reducing the energy cost in the greenhouse. The heating load of the experimented greenhouse was 3326.4kcal/h and the fuel consumption was estimated to be 453.8L as the total heating time is $10000^{\circ}C/h$. Therefore, data mining technology of ANN can be applied to various agricultural fields such as precise greenhouse control, cultivation techniques, and harvest prediction, thereby contributing to the development of smart agriculture.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.93-100
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• 2011

Maintenance of adequate soil water potential during the period of crop growth is necessary to support optimum plant growth and yields. A better understanding of soil water movement within and below the rooting zone can facilitate optimal irrigation scheduling aimed at minimizing the adverse effects of water stress on crop growth and development and the leaching of water below the root zone which can have adverse environmental effects. The objective of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of using a portable irrigation controller with an Watermark sensor for the cultivation of drip-irrigated vegetable crops in a greenhouse. The control capability of the irrigation controller for a soil water potential of -20 kPa was evaluated under summer conditions by cultivating 45-day-old tomato plants grown in three differently textured soils (sandy loam, loam, and loamy sands). Water contents through each soil profile were continuously monitored using three Sentek probes, each consisting of three capacitance sensors at 10, 20, and 30 cm depths. Even though a repeatable cycling of soil water potential occurred for the potential treatment, the lower limit of the Watermark (about 0 kPa) obtained in this study presented a limitation of using the Watermark sensor for optimal irrigation of tomato plants where -20 kPa was used as a point for triggering irrigations. This problem might be related to the slow response time and inadequate soil-sensor interface of the Watermark sensor as compared to a porous and ceramic cup-based tensiometer with a sensitive pressure transducer. In addition, the irrigation time of 50 to 60 min at each of the irrigation operation gave a rapid drop of the potential to zero, resulting in over irrigation of tomatoes. There were differences in water content among the three different soil types under the variable rate irrigation, showing a range of water contents of 16 to 24%, 17 to 28%, and 24 to 32% for loamy sand, sandy loam, and loam soils, respectively. The greatest rate increase in water content was observed in the top of 10 cm depth of sandy loam soil within almost 60 min from the start of irrigation.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.517-524
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• 2003

There have been worldwide research and development efforts to automate various processes of bio-production and those efforts will be expanded with priority given to tasks which require high intensive labor or produce high value-added product and tasks under hostile environment. In the field of bio-production capabilities of the versatility and robustness of automated system have been major bottlenecks along with economical efficiency. This paper introduces a new concept of automation based on tole-operation, which can provide solutions to overcome inherent difficulties in automating bio-production processes. Operator(farmer), computer, and automatic machinery share their roles utilizing their maximum merits to accomplish given tasks successfully. Among processes of greenhouse watermelon cultivation tasks such as pruning, watering, pesticide application, and harvest with loading were chosen based on the required labor intensiveness and functional similarities to realize the proposed concept. The developed system was composed of 5 major hardware modules such as wireless remote monitoring and task control module, wireless remote image acquisition and data transmission module, gantry system equipped with 4 d.o.f. Cartesian type robotic manipulator, exchangeable modular type end-effectors, and guided watermelon loading and storage module. The system was operated through the graphic user interface using touch screen monitor and wireless data communication among operator, computer, and machine. The proposed system showed practical and feasible way of automation in the field of volatile bio-production process.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Agricultural Machinery Conference
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• 2017.04a
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• pp.155-155
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• 2017

최근 애플망고 스마트 농가에 에너지 사용량이 증가됨에 따라 에너지 절감을 위한 대책들과 화석연료를 대체하는 다양한 신재생에너지 도입에 대한 요구들이 늘고있다. 본 연구에서는 애플망고 스마트 농가에 여러 에너지원들을 혼합하여 사용할 수 있도록 실증시험 모델을 구축하고 운영함으로써 그 효용성을 검토하고자 하였다. 우선 애플망고 특성을 고려한 비닐온실의 최대 냉난방부하량과 에너지모델을 분석하여 신재생 에너지원들의 혼합 및 기존 공조설비와의 연계를 계산하였다. 애플망고 시험 농지로는 재배에 적합한 제주도 서귀포를 선정하였으며, 기존의 경유 난방기를 사용하는 비교시험 하우스, 기존의 경유와 태양광, 지하 공기 히트펌프 난방기를 혼합하여 사용하는 실증시험 하우스, 경유와 지하공기 히트펌프 난방기를 사용하는 대조시험 하우스를 10~11월 두 달간 운영하여 그 결과들을 평가하였다. 온실 내외부에 온도, 습도, CO2를 측정할 수 있는 6점의 센서부들을 설치하였고, 적산 전력계와 유량계를 설치하여 데이터를 수집하였으며, 모든 시험 데이터는 모바일 원격으로 제어 및 모니터링이 가능하도록 구성하였다. 시험 결과, 각 하우스들에서 수확한 과실의 수량과 품질은 유사하게 평가되었지만, 실증시험 하우스의 난방비가 비교시험 하우스보다 절감되었다. 하지만 실증시험 하우스의 경우 높은 시설유지비로 인해 이를 고려한 사용료는 비교시험 하우스보다 더 비싸게 평가되었다. 본 연구를 통해 생산된 잉여전력을 매전할 때 이로 인한 이용비는 비교시험 하우스보다 더 경제적임을 확인할 수 있었다. 또한 기존의 경유와 지하공기 히트펌프 난방기를 혼합한 대조시험 하우스의 난방비용이 경제성에서 더 유리함을 알 수 있었다. 따라서 본 연구를 통해 애플망고 스마트 농가에 적합한 에너지-믹스 모델을 구축할 수 있었으며, 다양한 신재생에너지들의 효용성들을 검토할 수 있었다.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Agricultural Machinery Conference
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• 2017.04a
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• pp.132-132
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• 2017

고품질 농산물을 대량 생산하기 위한 가장 중요한 것은 적절한 관개관리이다. 생육시기별 작물 재배에 있어서 꼭 필요한 만큼의 물을 필요한 때에 준다면, 농업용수를 절약할 수 있을 뿐만 아니라, 작물의 한발 및 습해에 따른 피해를 최소화 할 수 있을 것이다. 기존의 토양 및 증발산량 기반의 자동 물관리 기술의 경우 직접적으로 작물의 상태변화를 실시간으로 확인할 수 없으며, 측정오차가 크고 작물수량이 많을 경우 측정시간 및 소요비용이 크다는 단점이 있다. 이를 극복하기 위해 최근 작물의 수분 스트레스를 비파괴적으로 측정하여 관개계획에 활용하는 연구가 해외에서 활발히 이루어지고 있다. 본 연구에서는 열영상 기술을 활용한 적정 관개계획 수립과 관련된 국내외 연구 사례를 소개하고, 오이를 대상으로 토양수분함량 변화에 따른 엽온 변화를 측정하고, 실시간으로 작물의 수분스트레스 여부를 분석하기 위한 예비실험을 실시하였다. 엽온 측정을 위해 적외선 센서(CT-300-232, DiWell, Korea)를 사용하였으며, 관개조건에 따른 엽온 및 FDR센서를 이용하여 토양수분변화를 모니터링 하였다. 세 가지 토양수분조건, 즉 200% $ET_c$(과다관개), 100% $ET_c$(적정관개), 30% $ET_c$(과소관개),을 시험구에 조성하고, 각각의 처리구에 따른 엽온변화를 측정하였다. 동일한 대기온도하에서 엽온의 변화를 살펴본 결과, 과소관개한 시험구에서의 엽온변화 폭이 가장 컸으며, 적정관개의 엽온 변화폭이 가장 작게 나타났다. 이는 물관리 조건에 따라 많이 줘도, 적게 줘도 스트레스 요인으로 작용함을 확인할 수 있었다. 향후 연구에서는 실시간 엽온자료와 더불어 기상자료를 활용하여 작물 수분스트레스 지수(Crop Water Stress Index, CWSI)을 산정하고, 이를 관개시설 운영 및 제어에 활용하기 위한 모듈 개발을 수행할 계획이다.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Agricultural Machinery Conference
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• 2017.04a
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• pp.131-131
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• 2017

작물의 체온인 엽온은 작물의 증발산량 또는 작물의 스트레스와 관련이 있으며, 일반적으로 일사, 풍속, 습도 등 기상조건과 잎의 크기, 형태 등 생리작용 등에 의해 지배된다. 엽온을 작물의 수분스트레스지수, 증발산량 등을 산정하기 위한 인자로 많이 활용되고 있으며, 최근 ICT 기술의 발달로 인해 열영상 카메라, 적외선 센서 등을 활용해서 실시간 측정을 하고, 정보를 작물 생육환경 제어에 활용하는 연구들이 많이 이루어지고 있다. 본 연구에서는 시설오이를 대상으로 캐노피 온도(Canopy temperature, $T_c$)와 대기온도(Air temperature, $T_a$)간의 상관관계, 또 ($T_c-T_a$)와 포화수증기압차(Vapor pressure deficit, VPD)와의 관계를 분석하였다. 대기온도와 상대습도를 이용하여 산정된 VPD가 엽온에 미치는 영향을 분석한 결과, 엽온 증가에 따라 VPD가 증가하였으며, 캐노피와 대기온도간의 차이 또한 VPD간에 음의 상관관계($R^2=0.82{\sim}0.89$)가 나타났는데, 이는 대기온도에 따른 엽온과 포화수증기압의 상승이 원인인 것으로 나타났다. ($T_c-T_a$)와 VPD값을 이용하면 작물 수분스트레스(Crop Water Stress Index, CWSI)를 산정할 수 있는 데, 결과값을 분석한 결과 $T_c$와 $T_a$의 차가 적은 경우 CWSI값이 증가함을 알 수 있었다. 향후 연구에서는 추가적으로 다양한 재배환경에서의 캐노피 온도, 포화수증기압차, 그리고 CWSI를 산정하여, 적정 생육 환경조성을 위한 지표로 활용할 계획이다.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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• v.35 no.2B
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• pp.252-262
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• 2010

Recently, the USN (Ubiquitous Sensor Network) technology is emerging as an aspect of digital convergence trends which is being rapidly evolving in the whole society. The technological feasibility for the various application services using the USN is researched in numerous industries, but, in the agricultural field, the market of USN application service, technology adoption and commercialization have been delayed. In the agricultural field, the ubiquitous technologies could lead to huge change in the conventional surroundings such as growth environment of livestock, crop cultivation and harvest. In this paper, to offer a integrated management, we construct a u-swinery(ubiquitous swinery) system which is consisted with USN environmental sensors to collect information from physical phenomenon such as luminance, relative humidity, temperature and ammonia gas. Numbers of CCTV were also installed to monitor inside and outside of the swinery. The u-swinery integrated management system can monitor and control the condition of swinery from remote sites. Furthermore, by gathering the cumulative environmental data from the system, the optimal growth condition for the livestock could be created.