Weed Control Systems
Real-time, High-speed, Precision Agriculture
Semi-Finalist in the 2008 WA Inventor of the Year - Development Category
In collaboration with Photonic Detection Systems Pty Ltd (PDS), researchers at the WA Centre of Excellence for Micro-Photonic Systems, part of the Electron Science Research Institute (ESRI) at ECU have developed a High Speed Weed Identification system to achieve Precision Spot Spraying of weeds, reducing herbicide use by up to 60% and increase crop yield.
The control of weeds currently costs Australian farmers around $4 billion per year, through a combination of the cost of herbicides, reduced yield and loss of production. The current industry practice of blanket spraying large volumes of herbicides at different times of the cultivation cycle is inherently wasteful, costing Australian farmers in excess of $1billion p.a. and $30 billion p.a. globally.
The Micro-Photonic Weed Sensor is an automated system using a 3-wavelength collimated laser detection module and precision agriculture predictive model that is able to accurately discriminate weeds from surrounding crops ('green-from-green'). The systems is less invasive and more cost-effective than blanket spraying, as the individual weeds are located and sprayed selectively, reducing herbicide use significantly. This also enhances the cropping cycle of wheat, barley and sugarcane which have a combined Australia-wide annual market of $8.8 billion. This system can be readily retrofitted onto existing spray-boom systems and operates at full production speeds.
The IP has been generated by Professor Kamal Alameh and exclusively licensed to PDS providing the rights to the patent in return for an upfront licensing fee and royalty payments from commercialisation of the product. PDS and ECU are currently working with industry partners in WA and Queensland to trial the systems and commercialise the technology via existing agricultural machinery leasing channels.