Emerging Technologies for Agriculture and Environment

Agriculture is at the heart of all occupations in developing countries, and with developing technologies, the application should be cost-effective and efficient. The proposed setup includes low-cost moisture, temperature sensors for optimizing water usage and yield, and radar sensors for monitoring any invasion in the farm. The setup is aimed to provide a study a miniature setup representing smart agriculture including smart water management with consistent monitoring for weather conditions in the present and future. An intelligent invasion monitoring system which can indicate animals or specifically pests invading the fields. This setup represents a part of a grid which will be utilizing solar power to prevent periodic replacements of batteries, and for this purpose, a solar panel will be used in the miniature farm. The main objective is to provide a comparative study of smart farms to conventional farms; these smart farms employ machine learning algorithms in real time to tackle problems related to water and energy. The Internet of things and machine learning have been advancing industrial purposes in each and every way, and finding its way in agriculture is still difficult due to the expenses which might not be affordable for a farmer. This research is a step toward efficient yet cost-effective farming.

The class A β-lactamase penA gene codes for penicillin-binding protein 2 (PBP2) which plays an important role in assembling the peptidoglycans on the outer side of the plasma membrane. The alteration in the structure of PBP2 protein makes the pathogen to gain resistance against penicillin. Thus, it is important to understand the role of drug-resistant mechanism by penA gene to develop potent drugs against penicillin-resistant pathogenic strains. In our study, we have used gene interaction network analysis of penA gene in various bacteria to understand its role in drug-resistant mechanisms. We have collected a total of 1039 interactions from 28 organisms available from STRING database. The penA gene interaction network was constructed using Cytoscape 3.6.1. The network analysis has shown that, along with penA gene, the genes murG, ftsW, murC, ftsA, and ftsQ are observed to have more number of interactors and they may be considered as the key candidates to understand the penA drug-resistant mechanism. Functional enrichment analysis has shown the important GO terms and pathways where penA gene plays an important role. We have also elucidated the evolutionary relationship of penA gene in various Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Our study helps in understanding the drug-resistant patterns of penA gene in various bacteria and also their evolutionary relationships.

Nowadays cement had become the most extensively used construction material worldwide. The global demand of cement had reached about 5.2 billion metric tons. These lead to huge consumption of raw material and in production of cement huge amount of greenhouse gases like CO₂ was released, about 5% of total man-made CO₂ emission is through cement manufacture industry. To safeguard the environment, efforts are being made to recycle different industrial by-products and utilize them in value-added applications. The use of industrial wastes, which are pozzolanic in nature, can minimize the use of cement. Fly ash (FA) and slag (GGBS) are the most common pozzolan and are being used worldwide in concrete works. Recently, some researchers notified that a new by-product from iron ore industry, namely Alccofine, also processes pozzolanic nature. The objective of the present investigation is to evaluate the effect of Alccofine with fly ash and Alccofine with ground-granulated blast furnace as the supplementary cementitious material with reference to the compressive strength property of hardened concrete and to probe the optimal replacement level of cement with combination of fly ash with Alccofine and ground-granulated blast furnace with Alccofine.

IoT is a reflective system of connecting the real-world objects that are accessed via the network. Sensors are involved for the data collection, in which the objects are having their own IP address and having the ability to access and transmit the resources through the Internet without manual performance. It is an architectural framework that offers integration and transfers the information between the computational devices. Its application areas are wide spread across smart homes, wearables, automation of vehicles, industrial Internet, smart cities, smart agriculture, smart retail, energy engagement, poultry and farming. In intelligent agriculture circumstances, to control the progress and to attain better yield in harvests are the primary focuses of this research work. The objective is to present new methodologies for the smart agricultural system, for monitoring and tracking, manufacturing of crops, import and export process, sales details, etc. By implementing the IoT-based smart sensors for the crop management, one can efficiently conquer the impulse of difficult and changing climate, the geographical disability, natural calamity, plagues and ailments about the crop. This research work proposes a cloud platform for smart agriculture data with wireless sensor network based on IOT. In cloud, intelligent production information is stored securely and made open for the authorized users.

Agricultural research is practiced globally as farming contributes to national revenue of many countries. The embryonic technologies can be intelligently used to help farmers in automating farming operations for better productivity and reduced human efforts. Recent agricultural researches emphasize majorly on agro-meteorology, wireless sensor network-based Internet of things systems for land surveillance, and geospatial technology for drought assessments. Large farmlands need to be monitored continuously to evaluate soil fertility, crop moisture and protect from crop raiders. This research work proposes an idea of smart monitoring of farmland using wireless sensor networks. The timely collected data by the network will assist the farmers to take precise agronomic decisions. The main constraint of wireless sensor networks is its limited lifetime because sensor nodes are battery-driven devices. The major energy consumption is due to long-distance radio communications. To prolong the lifetime of nodes and reduce the transmission distances, a fuzzy-based distributed clustering protocol is proposed. The network is clustered using fuzzy-c-means algorithm. The cluster head selection in each cluster is then carried out based on perception probability model. The protocol is simulated using MATLAB. The simulation results are obtained for different coverage areas. The proposed protocol outperforms the recent conventional protocols in terms of energy savings and network sustainability. The results indicate that the proposed protocol is scalable and sustainable. Hence, it can be efficiently used in farmland monitoring systems.

In the present scenario, it is extremely important for any farmer to increase his farm productivity and using multi-farming techniques; it is one of the most suitable ways to achieve that (Paudel in J Nepal Agricu Res Council 2:37–45, 2016 [1]). Many new farming techniques are being introduced to which a general farmer has no access to and hence his growth rate is monotonous. Even after having the cutting-edge technology and farming techniques, a general farmer has no access to any of it, i.e. the outreach of information technology in farming is still very low. As the number of parameters to optimize farm productivity increases, so thus the permutations of number of techniques and hence expertise is needed to analyse the best farming technique for the given scenario. Given so many existing techniques which vary over even a slight change in parameters, only the experts in farming are adaptable to them and hence it is extremely important to automate the technique generation process so as to put the capability of generating the best farming output to a non-farming expert. From the farmer’s point of view, smart farming should provide him with the best crop output in the most sustainable manner. Moreover, multiple cropping over single piece of land has become a necessity to meet the financial requirements and the demand-supply chain in the market. Due to multiple crops being planted on the same piece of land, it makes the technique generation process more ambiguous and time-consuming. To tackle this problem, a big data analysis of farming parameters might prove to be helpful (Wolfert et al. in Agricu Syst 153:69–80, 2014 [2]). Big data analysis helps in exploiting large datasets computationally to observe hidden patterns, trends and outcome of each technique. The combination of using smart farming with the big data for multiple cropping can provide the most well-analysed results and the complex patterns which are not perceivable to humans in providing the most optimum use of farming resources under the given constraints. Using an analysis algorithm over the big-dataset might be able to provide faster and precise techniques over the complex set of quantifiable parameters and widely changing constraints.

Flyash, ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBFS) and Alccofine are industrial byproduct materials and require large area of land for the safe disposal. These byproducts which are rich in alumina and silica can be value added, by using as binder in geopolymer concrete. The industrial byproducts are activated by NaOH- or KOH-based alkaline solution. Effective utilization of industrial byproducts in the construction industry will reduce the impact on the environment, which is caused due to ordinary portland cement (OPC). Previous studies on geopolymer concrete are at high molarity of NaOH and curing adopted is hot air oven curing for the effective polymerization of binder material and the alkaline activator solution (AAS). The present study is aimed to understand the effect of Alccofine as a ternary binder in geopolymer concrete at low molarities of NaOH-based alkaline solution under ambient temperature curing. Flyash, GGBFS, and Alccofine are the binder materials considered in geopolymer concrete by complete replacement of OPC. The ratio of Na₂SiO₃ to NaOH is fixed at 2.5 for all the geopolymer concrete mixes. Msand is used as fine aggregate by replacing with river sand in geopolymer concrete. The study also focused on comparing the compressive strength, split tensile strength, flexural strength, and cost analysis of ternary blended geopolymer concrete with conventional concrete of M30 grade. It is observed from the results that the geopolymer concrete has attained better strength properties than OPC concrete at the lesser cost and the impact on environment is reduced.

During the past decade, water requirement has increased many folds in India. However, it has turned out to be a major challenge for the world in matching the increasing demand for water supply. In other hands, water resource has been continuously polluting due to apathetic usage of water, natural and man-made calamity, global warming, sewages, and garbage. Optimal utility of this resource and above all its preservation is the only way to safeguard future life as it is well known that water is life. In this paper, we present a framework based on Internet of Things (IoT) for water monitoring and control activity, which supports Internet-based data collection on a real-time basis. The system addresses the issue of flow rate measuring and in the same time, this study proposes a method to check wastage of water. It has the provision to measure the quality of water dispensed to every household by deploying PH and conductivity sensors.

Waste management has become a serious issue, especially in developing countries with very high population. Lack of bins or proper disposal facilities remains a problem to date. Various governments are also trying hard to push for a cleaner nation by helping curb pollution and improving public sanitation. The smart bin is an important and significant application to deliver cleanliness. A smart bin with automated metal and non-metal segregator is modeled. Using NodeMCU, the level of the bin is monitored in real time and sent to the cloud for further analysis. A novel mathematical model to calculate the most optimal way of distributing the bins in one dimension has also been discussed. Tourist areas, parks, educational institutions, etc., can use the bins in a network to improve sanitation.

In the past few decades, the rapid growth of the urbanization rate has taken place, and therefore, plans for sustainable urban planning are required. Using new technologies and a strategic approach, the concept of smart cities is approaching the whole world. A smart city is not built without a smart waste management system. In this article, our model describes the application of “solar-assisted smart solid waste dustbin” for the management of the solid waste system of the city. In our model, the volume of solid wastes has been drastically reduced compared to the conventional process. It reduces the cost of transportation and reduces the odor of waste. First of all, organic waste is ground by grinders and, at the same time, the humidity content is heated to reduce the weight of the waste. Compressors will then compress, and finally, compressed waste materials are stored in the storage unit. The control system is run by solar energy, and the systems are semi-automated. In addition, rented materials are collected by bin to be used for agricultural purposes. Today’s traditional bins will be able to efficiently manage these wastes as they waste their waste on the road, and it may cause insects and mosquito breeding. Dismantling in dirty environments also causes serious illness. It controls through solar energy and is a semi-automatic system; by doing this, we can change the contaminated environment.

Present times, the conventional fossil fuel-driven tractors are a major threat to the environment and normally associated with huge running cost which cannot be afforded by the farmers. This project aims at the development of a bio-hybrid tractor that runs on rider’s pedalling power coupled with electric motor power. In this tractor, the batteries used for the electric propulsion can be charged either using PV panels or the grid. In addition, a power-split device is mandatory feature of this tractor to provide necessary high torque for off-road applications. As the tractor is using greener energy sources, it has less carbon footprint. This type of tractors will provide a path for alternative way of farming and partial/complete replacement of conventional fossil fuel-driven vehicles in near future.

The research focuses on the study of admixtures used for producing lightweight mortar by replacing cement and fine aggregates. Mortar is a composition of water, fine aggregate and binding material. The concept of sustainable development and reduction in environmental degradation has been the talk of the hour for numerous years, and its application in the field of civil engineering is inevitable. Since cement production has multiple adverse effects on the environment and also the excessive instream sand mining causes the degradation of rivers, the objective of this research is to replace cement with metakaolin, silica fumes, ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS), lime and nano-silica materials. Plenty of aforementioned admixtures are basically waste products. Solid glass beads and cenosphere are used to replace sand entirely. Fifteen mix designs of different composition have been tested and analysed. Variety of tests including ultrasonic pulse velocity test, split tensile strength test and compressive strength test was performed to determine structural characteristics of the concrete mix. The optimum percentage of substitution is as follows: cement (35%), metakaolin (28%), silica fumes (12%), slag (15%), lime (10%) and nano-silica (0%). The selected mortar samples were characterized by the means of destructive and non-destructive tests, and the efficient mortar mix was analysed using scanning electronic microscope (SEM analysis).

While trace amounts of fluorine are essential for life, its excessive intake leads to a disease known as fluorosis. It is a predominant ailment in majority of the countries inclusive of India. It is caused also by drinking fluoride containing water. Retention of fluorine in bones and teeth occurs through F⁻–(OH⁻) exchange on their inorganic component known as hydroxylapatite. Endeavour of the present study is to design a column using activated alumina as an adsorbent for continuous defluoridation of water for domestic purpose. As a part of it, operational defluoridation capacity of alumina was determined by variation of different factors (amount of alumina, time, temperature, added salts). A family of four members was taken as a model. The initial and final fluoride concentrations were taken as 2.0 and 0.7 ppm, respectively. Dimension of the unit (adsorbent bed diameter and height) was determined.

As the world oil reserves are draining day by day, new resources of carbon and hydrogen must be investigated to supply our energy and industrial needs. An extensive amount of biomass is accessible in many parts of the world and could be utilized either directly or as crude material for the production of different fuels. The motivation behind the present research is to find an appropriate strain for the fermentation of watermelon waste to get ethanol. Saccharification and fermentation (SSF) of watermelon waste were carried out simultaneously in the presence of A. niger and S. cerevisiae (toddy origin and baker’s yeast). Toddy originated S. cerevisiae culture is found to be more active than that of baker’s yeast. For the ethanol production, the optimized conditions for different parameters like temperature, time, strain and pH are finalized.

In recent years, a staggering increase in the development and use of unmanned aerial vehicles has been noticed in a comprehensive range of applications. This paper is based on the utilization of autonomous quadcopter in plantation monitoring (Krishna in Agricultural drones: a peaceful Pursuit, [1]). Agricultural drones are set to revolutionize the global food generation system. Agricultural drones are already flocking and hovering over farms situated in a few agrarian zones. This quadcopter will autonomously navigate, avoid collisions and collect data using computer vision for post-analysis and drop seeds in specified locations. Using aerial quadcopter for surveying vast agricultural land can reduce human efforts. The quadcopter is designed to detect moving objects and identify rodents using an object recognition method. The motive of the paper is to design a low-cost unmanned autonomous aerial vehicle system which will accurately and efficiently locate potential threats and notify the owners about their location and severity.

Water shortage can be tackled by conserving water to the maximum extend. Efficient usage of water is therefore important in all applications. Dishwashing in mega kitchens results in water wastage as well as time-consuming. The aim of this project is to design a continuous flow bulk dishwasher employing image processing to identify the intensity of strain and control the quantity of water. It is executed by fixing water jets controlled by a controller which sprays programmed quantity of water on the plates on the conveyer belt and suitable angles of jet resulting in effective cleaning, and efficient usage of water as well as reducing human effort, in minimum lead time. If implemented, it will serve as a useful product for all mega kitchens serving large number of people.

Dholavira was a part of the Indus Valley Civilisation known for its efficient town planning and water conservation. Dating back to 2600 BC, when cast iron and steel pipes were sporadic and rather scarce, unskilled builders within the city cut trapezoidal channels for water to flow into the city. These channels were excavated from natural earth with low Hazen–Williams constant (0.01) avoiding major and minor losses. Modern materials like cast iron when used cause excessive frictional losses inside the pipes, resulting into loss of hydraulic gradient. The most crucial fact that this paper establishes is a new calculation of the city’s natural hydraulic gradient which is estimated to be about 12–20 m. This is sufficient for an efficient distribution of water from reservoirs to the inner dwellings of the city. The reservoirs with a height of 22–24 m could supply a unit demand of 11–16 MLD and store 2–3 MLD. The hydraulic gradient obtained from a Bentley WaterGEMS simulation was around 24 m which was close to the natural hydraulic gradient. The Scenario energy cost for Dholavira was also calculated using an energy pricing model which was then compared to modern-day water management systems. When superimposed on the 2600-BC-old distribution channel, it gave a savings of about 7.02 million USD annually in terms of energy efficiency.

The living infrastructure, consisting of both the natural and man-made infrastructure constituting the green infrastructure, is undergoing serious imbalances, thereby affecting the ecological balance. Drastic ecological balance is a threat to the human existence on earth. Presently, awareness of this threat and the need to save the earth are being felt at large. Initiatives around the globe are underway to protect the earth from all disciplines and communities across nations. Green buildings and green roof with temperature control measures play a key role in green infrastructure. However, the use of thermocol is a widely prevalent, irreplaceable lining for air-conditioned halls. Thermocol is manufactured from polystyrene, a petroleum-based plastic, and its incineration emits toxic gases causing damage to the environment. Our work presented in this paper deals with an alternative eco-friendly solution to this issue. Our work deals with a paperboard-based material as an alternative to thermocol, and the use of printed electronic components embedded within these boards acts as temperature control mechanisms in a green building. As a proof of concept, a prototype printed circuit has been prepared and embedded in a one-inch multi-ply recycled paperboard.

The risks, consequences and severity of wildland fires are well-known. Hence, the demand for timely, high-quality fire information in the least amount of time possible and the subsequent intimation to concerned authorities would help in scaling down the loss of life and property. This paper discusses a WSN system which collects data using multiple sensors to monitor temperature, humidity, smoke and oxygen levels in several spots in a forest environment. The forest would be divided into square-shaped clusters for monitoring, each containing a sensor system. The localisation of the node would be done using satellite communication to reduce coverage holes and ensure maximum range with the least latency. This node would communicate data to a monitoring station with its location and send alerts according to the sensed thresholds breached based on the novel logic algorithm. This paper describes the overall structure of the sensing system, detection and prediction algorithms, topology of the WSN, localisation techniques and an insight into a suggested drone-based mitigation system to localise the fire.

This paper investigates the influence of the grid-connected renewable energy sources and their effect on the utilities having diode front-end rectifiers. The grid interface in the renewable energy converters generally has PWM Inverters with LCL filters. These LCL filters are tuned for different resonance frequencies based on their switching frequency and system parameters. With multiples of renewable energy source converters connected in parallel, the grid parameters and harmonic interaction change differently based on the individual LCL filter design and operating conditions. This condition becomes worse if inverters connected in the same PCC are significantly increased. The utility rectifiers are designed for a specific range of grid specification according to various international standards. Effect of grid parameter variation such as voltage and current harmonic injection due to these inverters in a specific grid configuration and application from earlier studies is referenced. Grid model is generated from earlier studies and simulation was carried out for a specific diode front-end model of VFD. Reliability variation in front-end rectifier utilities such as variable frequency drives with a special emphasis on DC filter capacitor and DC link inductor is also discussed.