Environmental assessment is the second step in the utilization of smart agriculture framework in the tropical agriculture production. It is important to interpret the collected environmental data as a factor to support the decision making on farming management. Evapotranspiration (ET) is the sum of evaporation and transpiration from the soil surface and plant tissue respectively. Reference evapotranspiration (ETo) is the ET from reference surface that can be used to estimate water loss from an open-field cultivation surface.
The ETo rate can be estimated using the FAO Penman-Monteith 56 model with the environmental data as input. Since we can collect environmental data (air temperature, relative humidity, and solar radiation) using the FMS, the water loss from cultivation surface can be computed systematically. Also, for the further precise decision, Forecast on Demand (FoD) environmental forecasting engine should be taken into account.
However, several challenges regarding the utilization of ETo as an assessment parameter are:
- Understanding the water loss behavior in tropical agriculture cultivation
- Accuracy and acceptability of ETo as environmental assessment in tropical agriculture cultivation
- Utilization of the real-time monitoring of ETo in practical farming management 4) Predictive forecasting model that can support FoD
Therefore, we consider two topics according to challenges mentioned above
- Real-time evapotranspiration monitoring to study the water loss behavior in tropical agriculture production
- Development of Forecasting on Demand (FoD) predictive model as decision support in tropical agriculture production
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» Environmental Monitoring
» Environmental Assessment
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