Spot Spraying For Sustainable Agriculture Powered by AGX Orin & GigE Cameras

Automation is quickly adapting the agriculture industry and has seen the need for a wide range of industrial computing and communication solutions to overcome the challenges present in harsh agricultural environments.

A USA agricultural company who designs and manufactures autonomous platforms which fully automate farming equipment approached Things Embedded with a concept and a host of failures they were having deploying their code in the field. Their autonomous platforms not only assist the farmer but improve operations in sustainable agriculture.

Built on the latest NVIDIA Jetson systems, the AGX Orin Series, their architecture included the use of high-speed GigE vision cameras and insecticide sprayers combined with Artificial Intelligence built on NVIDIAs unified embedded software stack allowing for a machine to determine if a plant is a weed, and dispose of it in a flash, literally.

The high-speed GigE vision cameras on board the agricultural vehicle analyze the field and provide continuous pictures to the onboard ruggedized Jetson computer. Combining Artificial Intelligence and Agricultural knowledge the industrial Jetson PCs can provide fast and accurate analysis of weed detection even when the vehicles continue to operate at 15mph. Continuous picture recordings allows the technology to be continuously improved and adapted for a multitude of green-on-green and green-on-brown applications.

Sending the data from these high-speed GigE cameras to the image processors requires a 10G backbone link. Previous commercial switches had been installed inside cabinets to protect the hardware from the elements, however, this wasn’t enough to handle dust and water ingress or the 24/7 rigors of shock and vibration found when operating on bumpy terrain in a ploughed field.

The LMP-1802G-M12-10G family of switches by Antaira provided that 10G backbone link and low voltage power over Ethernet. For power saving purposes, assuring PD, priority, and enhancing the security level of the network, LMP-1802G-M12-10G series also support PoE scheduling and PoE output limit function to set up PoE output duration and watt at will. With an IP67 rating, this unit is waterproof, dust-proof, vibration-proof, and has a rugged metal housing. The LMP-1802G-M12-10G unit can withstand the tough outdoor environments required for a full day’s work. Utilising robust M12 connectors the switch assured a solid connection and meant the device no longer required to be mounted inside a cabinet, allowing it to be mounted externally and handle being washed down at the end of the day.