TEBAKA System for acquiring basic knowledge for agriculture.

The TEBAKA project aims to design and create an "integrated platform" for the agricultural world, in particular for wheat, olive and vine crops. Through the platform, TEBAKA intends to provide means and structured knowledge for the acquisition and consultation of information useful for decisions, in particular for providing indications in the initial stages of potential and/or manifest critical issues.

The “integrated platform” is made up of:

• Different technological systems (satellites, aircraft and ground vehicles with and without a pilot on board, fixed stations, paying loads of sensors with different characteristics and performances);
• Environments for archiving and managing large quantities of data;
• Methodologies for data fusion and analysis, the construction of Data Driven models, the development of models and relationships between the elements of the observed phenomena created with machine learning techniques, data analytics, and decision support systems.

The final objective is to create a product/service for the world of crops with different types of development on the territory (horizontal for wheat, vertical for vines and mixed for olive trees), to be offered to various players operating in the world of innovative agriculture such as public bodies, trade associations, service companies, medium/large national and international agricultural companies, possibly integrating the proposed solution with other existing or complementary ones under development.

Designed primarily for use in large territorial dimensions, the system easily adapts even to smaller areas, encouraging joint use between multiple actors to enjoy the benefits of innovative solutions at affordable costs. The solution allows both private companies and public bodies to design high added value services which, in the case of private individuals, have value mainly in consultancy activities with direct implications, while in the case of the public, in addition to this, there are the effects deriving from the greater value that can be built in the territory from agricultural production.

Further results expected

The system is designed to be usable also for further experiments and applications linked to other crops and other phenomena present in the area which have highly dynamic evolution characteristics (with elements of non-linearity).

The availability of the integrated platform and basic cognitive tools for the territory also intends to encourage the development of new professional figures in the technological field such as experts in sensors, electromagnetic phenomena, data acquisition (IOT - internet of things), data fusion (management and fusion of large volumes of multi-source data), data modeling (modeling of complex dynamic phenomena both from a theoretical and data driven perspective), situation awareness (use of artificial intelligence concepts in the field of machine learning, data analytics, decision support systems) as well as developing new skills and instrumentation for researchers, agronomists, phytopathologists and entomologists as well as land management experts.

Project partners

DTA – Distretto Tecnologico Aerospaziale Pugliese (leader), Politecnico di Bari, Università di Bari, Università del Salento, CNR – Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, ENEA, Planetek Italia, ASI - Agenzia Spaziale Italiana, Magnaghi Aeronautica, SIT ‐ Servizi di Informazione Territoriali.

The TEBAKA project duration is 42 months and is scheduled to end in April 2024.

The activities of the TEBAKA project are divided into the following basic structure:

• Analysis of the Apulian territory, identification of the cultivated areas and plots to be observed, definition/authorization of operational missions and verification of the same.
• Definition of the carrier platforms and payloads (paying loads) of sensors to be used (on satellites already operational and on air and ground systems to be integrated/developed), development of the mobile center project on land for mission management and operational integration with a data acquisition and processing center.
• Definition of the data acquisition criteria from the various platforms/payloads during the various planned missions, verification of operational adequacy on the identified territories and basic processing of the data acquired through representation in thematic maps.
• Definition of the theoretical models of the annual production cycles of the agricultural crops considered, of the data fusion criteria of multisensory data, of the criteria for the analysis of the data acquired in the missions, of the criteria for the creation of data driven models with the use of machine learning ,and big data analytics, of the criteria for integration with theoretical models and creation of integrated and validated basic models.
• Development of intensive data acquisition activities from the various platforms/payloads for a refinement of the models built through the processing of large quantities of data, definition of the criteria for identifying potential critical factors and development of decision support models/systems for their management, development of the project and the prototype of the complete system.
• Consistent with the objectives and commitments with the MIUR, also allow the evaluation and exploitation of intermediate and final results, the valorisation and dissemination within the reference communities, the identification and application of methods and tools capable of maximize the impact of public and private investment.

Link at the official description on DTA – Distretto Tecnologico Aerospaziale Pugliese website.