The Great Barrier Reef and Queensland sugarcane farmers are set to benefit from a new smart irrigation system.
Developed by Victoria’s La Trobe University for Far North Queensland ag-tech company Aglantis, the intelligent irrigation system uses artificial intelligence to automate water pump management and monitor sunlight, temperature and humidity levels without human interaction.
Aglantis managing director Luke Malan said the system was initially conceived as a project to improve land management and prevent fertiliser run-off from farms into the Great Barrier Reef.
“But with new technology making smart irrigation more affordable the potential of the product is almost limitless,” Mr Malan said.
He said in addition to saving water, future AI additions could teach the system how to conserve energy, responding to solar or energy tariffs.
“It could also examine soil profiles and make intelligent choices around crop selection and yields. It essentially takes the guesswork out of farming.
“With growing pressures on profitability, it’s more imperative to know what you’re doing and how you can do it better. This flips conventional thinking on its head and opens the doorway to new possibilities.”
Professor Wei Xiang, Director of La Trobe University’s Cisco Centre for AI and the Internet of Things, said the smart irrigation system was the centre’s first commercial product and showed how industry could drive research to tangible and groundbreaking results.
Professor Xiang said La Trobe was also working with the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) to create the world’s first AI-powered three-dimensional digital twin of the Great Barrier Reef to monitor its health.
He said researchers from both organisations were testing the capabilities of AI software which enables real-time rendering of photo-realistic scenes, to produce 3D digital twins of the sections of the reef.
“This AI-empowered software is tailored to the unique challenges of reconstructing high-quality models of the complex underwater environments of coral reefs,” he said.
“By leveraging La Trobe’s home-grown, cutting-edge AI technology, we aim to answer questions around how climate change may impact the structure of coral reefs. This will pave the way for more effective restoration strategies.”
