A Doctoral Thesis Explores the Potential of Drones and Artificial Intelligence in Agricultural Management

On Friday, March 28th, the defense of the Doctoral Thesis titled ‘REMOTE SENSING WITH UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES AND DEEP LEARNING TECHNIQUES FOR AGRICULTURAL MANAGEMENT. APPLICATION TO TWO CASE STUDIES IN THE PROVINCE OF ALICANTE’ took place. It was presented by Ms. Ana María Codes Alcaraz, enrolled in the Doctoral Program in Agricultural, Agro-environmental, and Food Resources and Technologies, and co-directed by Drs. Carmen Rocamora Osorio and Herminia Puerto Molina, professors from the Engineering Department, Higher Polytechnic School of Orihuela, and researchers at CIAGRO.

The thesis presentation was conducted in a blended format. The examination committee consisted of Dr. Gregorio Egea Cegarra, Professor at the University of Seville; Dr. Salvador Castillo García, Professor at Miguel Hernández University and researcher at CIAGRO; and Dr. Daniela Vanella, researcher at the University of Catania.

The thesis explores two innovative applications of UAV remote sensing and deep learning techniques. In the first case, an image recognition algorithm was trained to characterize the floating plastic elements present in the Segura River and the irrigation infrastructure of the Vega Baja, which proved to be a reliable tool for monitoring waste accumulation, which can be very useful to the basin authorities in evaluating corrective measures to mitigate plastic pollution of the hydrographic system. In the second case, an algorithm was trained that was able to detect bagged grape bunches in a vineyard attached to the PDO ‘Uva de mesa embolsada del Vinalopó’ in images captured from a UAV, which allowed for an estimation of production. The results of the thesis highlight the transformative potential of unmanned aerial vehicles and artificial intelligence to address relevant challenges in environmental and agricultural management.