A wireless monitoring system for phytosanitary treatment in smart farming applications

The environmental impact, the toxicity, and the high cost of agrochemicals adopted in intensive agriculture are stimulating the study of innovative solutions for the management of the phytosanitary treatments. The proposed wireless monitoring system aims at reducing the level of the pesticides while ensuring a high quality production. A wireless sensor network is designed for the local measurement of the agro meteorological variables, which determine the disease development during the growing season. The acquired information is processed in real-time by a fuzzy logic method for the estimation of the optimal pesticide dosage and application time. The performance of the proposed wireless system has been experimentally validated in a real test field for the optimal treatment of the grapevine downy mildew. The obtained results point out a correct disease management with a reduced amount of agrochemicals up to 70% respect to the standard dosage.