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Master of Science in Sustainable Design Engineering Thesis Defense: Nazar Hussain

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We are pleased to announce the Master of Science in Sustainable Design Engineering (MSc-SDE) Thesis Defense of Nazar Hussain. 

Title: Development of a Smart Variable Rate Sprayer using Deep Convolutional Neural Networks for Site-specific Application of Agrochemicals

Date: Wednesday, August 5, 1:00 to 4:00 PM

Abstract: 

Potato production in Canada typically involves approximately 20 uniform applications (UA) of agrochemicals during a growing season, while usually ignoring spatial and temporal variations in the occurrence of weeds and diseased plants within potato fields. However, UA poses a serious threat to the environment and substantially increases the cost of crop production. Spatial distribution of weeds and diseased plant patches within potato fields emphasizes the need to develop a smart variable rate sprayer (SVRS). Innovations in development of precision agriculture technologies have enabled engineers to develop SVRS using machine vision (MV) and deep learning (DL) to accurately identify and encounter the targets (weeds and diseased plants) in real-time for within-fields variable rate application (VA) of herbicides and fungicides. Five potato fields were selected to collect images of spatially and temporally variable healthy potato plants, diseased potato plants, weeds and their combinations among them and with bare soil patches. Results indicated that the SVRS was capable of significantly reducing the use of agrochemicals during VA, when compared with UA, both in lab and field environments. The SVRS was able to save 47 and 51% of agrochemicals for weeds and simulated diseased plant detection experiments, respectively, under all weather conditions. The results of this study suggested that the developed SVRS has a great potential to reduce the use of agrichemicals, lower environmental risks, and ultimately improve farm profitability of potato producers. 

Nazar is supervised by Dr. Aitazaz Farooque in the Faculty of Sustainable Design Engineering.

The presentation and examination will be presented via a web conference. Please RSVP with the Graduate Studies Coordinator and Chair of the Defense, Dr. Amy Hsiao, at ahsiao@upei.ca for the information to connect if you wish to attend, by Tuesday, August 4 at 4:00 PM.