24 May 2019 Lincoln app makes Aerospace Challenge shortlist

The goal of the Challenge is to seek out innovative ideas of how the agricultural sector can use space technology to be more sustainable.

Eighteen top applicants have been invited into an incubator programme and will receive support for the duration of the Challenge. At the end of the incubation period, up to 10 finalists will be selected to participate in the final demo and pitch sessions in Christchurch.

Lincoln team leader and senior lecturer in agricultural engineering, Dr Majeed Safa, said after five years of study, they hoped to develop an app to help dairy farmers to estimate nitrogen application on their farms based on a developed artificial neural network (ANN) model and thermal images taken by UAV or satellite.

Due to environmental concerns, economic constraints, and efficiency expectations, managing nitrogen consumption on dairy farms is critically important, he said.

"The nitrogen leakage of dairy farms has contaminated many rivers, lakes and water resources around New Zealand.

"We believe the first step in improving nitrogen fertilizer application efficiency in pastoral farming is to develop a model to estimate pasture nitrogen content."

The proposal relies on the principle that the higher the nitrogen content in pasture grass, the higher will be the light energy absorption for photosynthesis, which can be detected by thermal imaging.

“The proposal would be a great step to reducing the mentioned environmental impacts with minimum pressure on farmers. The project can also help farmers reduce their costs and increase their benefits, “ Dr Safa said.

He said they had received a number of expression of intetrial from individuals and companies to support the trial 

The Challenge will culminate in a national demo and pitch event to be held in Christchurch on 17 and 18 October 2019 where the winning team will be announced.

- You can find out more about engineering at Lincoln at http://www.lincoln.ac.nz/Study/Courses/