Title: An expert system for vineyard management based upon ubiquitous network technologies

Authors: Giuseppe Aiello, Luigi Cannizzaro, Giada La Scalia, Cinzia Muriana

Addresses: Dipartimento di Tecnologia Meccanica, Produzione e Ingegneria Gestionale, Universita degli Studi di Palermo, Viale delle Scienze 90128, Palermo, Italia. ' Dipartimento di Tecnologia Meccanica, Produzione e Ingegneria Gestionale, Universita degli Studi di Palermo, Viale delle Scienze 90128, Palermo, Italia. ' Dipartimento di Tecnologia Meccanica, Produzione e Ingegneria Gestionale, Universita degli Studi di Palermo, Viale delle Scienze 90128, Palermo, Italia. ' Dipartimento di Tecnologia Meccanica, Produzione e Ingegneria Gestionale, Universita degli Studi di Palermo, Viale delle Scienze 90128, Palermo, Italia

Abstract: Vineyard operations for quality wines production are currently based upon costly and time-consuming manual sampling operations required to assess the maturity phases of grapevines. The ripening process however is significantly influenced by the environmental parameters which nowadays can be effectively monitored by means of ubiquitous computing technologies. Besides the possibility of gathering data, hence, suitable tools are required to support the vineyard management process. The present research concerns the development of an expert system to effectively manage the vineyard operations. The methodology is based on the analysis of the time series of indices related to the maturation phases by means of referenced growth models, and on the prediction of the achievement of maturation thresholds. The paper also reports the results of an experimental study on a Sicilian vineyard.

Keywords: expert systems; WSN; wireless sensor networks; RFID; radio-frequency identification; vineyard management; time-series forecasting; ubiquitous technologies; ubiquitous networks; winemaking; vineyards; wine production; manual sampling; maturity phases; grapevines; ripening processes; environmental parameters; ubiquitous computing; data gathering; maturation thresholds; referenced growth models; Sicily; Italy; Monreale; services operations; informatics.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSOI.2011.041419

International Journal of Services Operations and Informatics, 2011 Vol.6 No.3, pp.230 - 247

Published online: 07 Mar 2015 *

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