Beatriz Sanz Baños Make your holidays run smoothly with IoT The arrival of summer holidays allows us to visit our favorite destinations, but who isn´t worried about losing their suitcase when travelling? Luckily, IoT help us to have everything...
Beatriz Sanz Baños Distribution and Logistics Companies IoT technology services are already applied in the distribution and logistics industry to optimize different processes. This has a positive effect on the productivity, security and the preventive maintenance...
Beatriz Sanz Baños Efficient and responsible milk production We have a new example of how technology can help us form a better society in which the production and consumption of milk is carried out in a sustainable...
Beatriz Sanz Baños Smart gas stations and how to find them In the last few years, gas stations started to offer travelers a wide range of possibilities beyond mere refueling. This increases competition between service stations, which is forcing these...
Drones in Precision FarmingLuis Simón Gómez Semeleder 19 November, 2015 Streamlining and modernizing farming techniques has been a key process since the turn of the century in order to ensure global food supplies. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that farming production will need to be increased at least 70% by 2050, thus almost duplicating current production. However, climate events (shifts in weather patterns, advancing desertification…), combined with demographic and social trends (increase in urban population and city size…) make it very difficult to allocate the necessary farming land in the medium term. Therefore it is more important than ever to be able to optimise the use of farming land to be able to increase current production. From a consumer perspective, most of the farming resources are dedicated to water, fertilizers and plant protection products, as well as the power to carry out the irrigation, fertilizing and harvesting. New technologies simplify manual processes and make a better use of available resources. There are currently a variety of Internet of Things based solutions to digitize farming processes: smart irrigation, cattle monitoring, smart water resources management, etc. Farms have also started to use connected drones recently. Drone farming Besides the coolness factor, drones are an ideal platform for monitoring activities. The main advantage of flying a drone over other aerial solutions is its rapid deployment, enabling monitoring of large portions of farmland in a simple, quick and cost-effective manner, providing high value insight that speeds up decision-making. Spectral on-board sensors allow drones to take high resolution aerial pictures of the whole plot of land evaluated. Certain farming activities are currently automated thanks to GPS positioning tools. Therefore these activities can now be planned and designed with a great deal of precision Fertilizer management The pictures taken using the different on-board cameras (multispectral, infrared, thermal…) provide data that goes beyond what can be seen with the naked eye: soil nitrate levels, or crop vigour through leaf brightness testing (plant reflectance). It is possible to determine exact fertilising needs for the soil of each plot of land after processing this data. Thus, farmers can have a fertilizing map while driving the tractor, which will allow them to add only the needed amount of fertiliser in each differentiated area. This level of precision brings obvious advantages: previously the whole plot of land received equal amount of fertiliser or it was spread based on the farmer’s experience and knowledge. The lack of science behind this had a toll on using these products efficiently and required farmer expertise. Technology takes this burden off farmers’ shoulders and allows to maximise investment in expensive plant treatment products and fertilisers maintaining farming land performance at its peak thanks to the precise data obtained. Water resources and other farming applications for drones Based on our bird’s-eye-view data provided by multiple sensors, we can extract further information that allow us to extend our analysis to other aspects of plots and crops. Besides fertiliser level, we can also determine the amount of watering required (if the crop is subject to “water stress”), control pruning requirements, detect weeds, or keep invasive species at bay in real time. Other applications are more obvious and well known, but also important for farming activity and are related to surveying applications (plot measurements, cadastral surveys…), reservoir water management, river courses, crop patrolling and security, etc. Affordable technology Steep entry barriers previously made access to these aerial resources (satellite, or plane/helicopter images) only affordable for large crop owners (normally in the hands of the big food industry players). Drone technology is an outstanding improvement, unthinkable until not long ago. It is a tangible reality that allows access to relevant information positively impacting on crop performance at an affordable price for farmers that own medium size crops. Telefónica’s global offering in farming, called Smart Agro, combines connectivity and the support channel of a leading telecommunications firm with partners that provide both the technology and expertise in the field of farming. We offer customised end to end projects to suit the needs of any farmer whether it is to reshape their business model or improve the operative process, maximizing savings in either case. Research: On the overexposure of Amazon credentials in mobile appsQuick and dirty script in Powershell to check certificate fingerprints
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Santiago Morante Cendrero AI in Science Fiction Films: A Recurring Pattern of Fascination and Horror In today’s post we are going to explore how Hollywood films have dealt with the subject of technological advances, especially robotics and Artificial Intelligence. You will be surprised to...
Andrés Escribano The Ultimate Evolution Towards the Digitisation of Industry Digital transformation brings us new opportunities, it is changing our lives both in the way we communicate and in the way we produce. Digitalisation of the industrial fabric in particular...
Paloma, Recuero de los Santos Green data centers: fighting climate pollution from Internet use Do you have any idea how the Internet affects the environment? According to World Bank data, 48.5% of the world’s population was already connected to the Internet in 2017...