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Considering the degradation of water resources and the increase in human population, desalination seems to be a promising method for meeting the global water demand, from potable water to plant irrigation needs. The contribution of desalination to the agricultural sector, through the supply of water for plants or animals, is critical because this sector represents 70% of the global water demand. Unfortunately, the desalination process is energy-intensive and subjected to several factors that result in undesirable fluctuations on quality/quantity of product water, and/or energy waste. Renewable energy sources can supply the necessary power, but they amplify these challenges because their availability varies over time. A simple and efficient way to tackle this issue is to control the pressure of the feed water before feeding it to the membrane. Typically, the pairing control systems are quite expensive or lack the necessary customization freedom that could improve their operation. Therefore, this study highlights the feasibility of enhancing a typical desalination control equipment via the incorporation of modern low-cost microcontrollers and flexible open-source software; the potential of these tools has not yet been fully explored. The microcontroller executes customized PID logic, driving an industrial inverter module. Our results indicate that the proposed system can keep pace with the desalination process setpoints, reducing the stress of the electromechanical components and periods of out-of-specification freshwater production. This low-level control function implementation minimizes the need for human intervention while providing a promising foundation for further extensions and customizations in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People getting involved with modern agriculture should become familiar with and able to exploit the plethora of cutting-edge technologies that have recently appeared in this area. The contribution of the educational robotics in demystifying new scientific fields for K-12 students is remarkable, but things become more challenging when trying to discover efficient practices for higher education. Indeed, there is an apparent need for pilot examples facilitating students' professional skills acquisition and thus matching the potential of the actual systems used in the modern agricultural premises. In this regard, this work discuses laboratory experiences while implementing an automatic airflow control system of convincing size and role capable for remote configuration and monitoring. This non-conventional robotic example exploits retired electromechanical equipment, from an old farm, and revives it using modern widely available microcontrollers, smart phones/tablets, network transceivers, motor drivers, and some cheap and/or custom sensors. The contribution of the corresponding software parts to this transformation is of crucial importance for the success of the whole system. Thankfully, these parts are implemented using easy-to-use programming tools, of open and free nature at most, that are suitable for the pairing credit-card-sized computer systems. The proposed solution is exhibiting modularity and scalability and assists students and future professionals to better understand the role of key elements participating in the digital transformation of the agricultural sector. The whole approach has been evaluated from both technical and educational perspective and delivered interesting results that are also reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inevitably, the rapid growth of the electronics industry and the wide availability of tailored programming tools and support are accelerating the digital transformation of the agricultural sector. The latter transformation seems to foster the hopes for tackling the depletion and degradation of natural resources and increasing productivity in order to cover the needs of Earth's continuously growing population. Consequently, people getting involved with modern agriculture, from farmers to students, should become familiar with and be able to use and improve the innovative systems making the scene. At this point, the contribution of the STEM educational practices in demystifying new areas, especially in primary and secondary education, is remarkable and thus welcome, but things become quite uncertain when trying to discover efficient practices for higher education, and students of agricultural engineering are not an exception. Indeed, university students are not all newcomers to STEM and ask for real-world experiences that better prepare them for their professional careers. Trying to bridge the gap, this work highlights good practices during the various implementation stages of electric robotic ground vehicles that can serve realistic agricultural tasks. Several innovative parts, such as credit card-sized systems, AI-capable modules, smartphones, GPS, solar panels, and network transceivers are properly combined with electromechanical components and recycled materials to deliver technically and educationally meaningful results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]