Workpackages

The S4A project is divided into seven workpackages of which WP2, WP3 and WP4 are the core activities reflecting the three technical-scientific frames: SPACE, AERO and IN SITU.

WP0 management and quality control

Task 0.1 Project phases management

Task 0.2 Meeting planning and organizing

Task 0.3 Reporting

WP1 analysis of the state of the art, users needs and requirements definition

Task 1.1 WP coordination, identification of the target users in the three setors and defintion of the involvement method;

Task 1.2 SPACE sector: state of the art, users needs and requirements over regione Lombardia who are involved in the agrisector to guide the analysis of the methods for remote sensing data processing and to define the most suited tools to be developed;

Task 1.3 AERO sector: state of the art, users needs and requirements over regione Lombardia to define the best procedures for the operational use of UAV for the agro-buisiness sector;

Task 1.4 IN SITU sector: state of the art in the specific sector, analysis of the state of the art of the regional agro-meteo network for field measurements, analysis of the needs and requirements of the users involved (farmers, associations, regional operators) to define and design the data infrastructure for field observations and measurements and for information exchange with the final users.

WP2 SPACE: retrival of information on crop conditions from satellite data

Task 2.1 Acquisition of High Resolution (HR) optical (i.e. DMC, Sentinel 2) and radar (i.e. Cosmo-Skymed, Sentinel 1), image processing and supervised classification based on filed data acquired with smart technologies (WP4) and derived from existing agronomic databases (SIARL) for the identification of crop types at the beginning of the season (early mapping);

Task 2.2 Acquisition of Medium resolution (MR) satellite data (MODIS, PROBA-V) with daily revisiting time and analysis of the time series to estimate crop status indicators and crop phenology stage at regional scale based also on filed data (W4);

Task 2.3 Acquisition of Medium resolution (MR) satellite data with thermal infrared bands and definition of water stres indicators; estimation of crop evapotraspiration based on the energy balance. Calibration and validationof of the estimated parameters with existing field measurements (WP4).

WP3 AERO: designing and development of environments for supporting UAV acquisitions

Task 3.1 Development of advanced user interfaces based on virtual reality environments or increased reality to support control of UAV missions;

Task 3.2 Integration of information acquired by various systems, including sensors, and their representation in a virtual environment to optimize data acquisition and improve compression where possible;

Task 3.3 Development of applications to support AUV missions re-planning if required.

WP4 IN SITU: development systems based on 2.0 technology for data acquisition and information exchange

Task 4.1 Design and demonstration of a data infrastructure for management and sharing measurements acquired by field sensors (Sensor Enablement), field observations and agronomic existing databases (i.e. SIARL);

Task 4.2 Development of smart technologies for the acquisition of information from in situ observations (i.e. crop type and phenology) by the actors of the agricultural world (i.e. farmers, skilled operators) to support the interpretation of data acquired by satellites;

Task 4.3 Development of smart technologies for the return of specilized/focused information to the end user on i) regional crop water stress and ii) crop water requirements.

WP5 Testing methodologies developed for agricultural monitoring in Lombardy

Task 5.1 Definition of the test areas;

Task 5.2 Harmonized acquisition through smart technology of field measurements and observations for a test area;

Task 5.3 Image acquisition from UAV platfrom over a test area to demonstrate its features and capabilities in agricultural monitoring at the local scale and for precision farming applications;

Task 5.4 Production of crop maps and their status by analysis satellite data integrated with in situ data;

Task 5.5 Return of the higher level information to the end user and assessment of the contribution of in situ and satellite data for agro-ecosystems monitoring (regional and local).

WP6 Evaluation of the impact of the developed technologies in Lombardy

Task 6.1 Indentification of the regional stakeholders involved (revision of the results of WP1, depending on the economic and technological impact assessment) and definition of the methodology used for the economic analysis;

Task 6.2 Evaluation of the economic and technological impacts on the territory at the regional scale (environment, business and society).

WP7 Dissemination of results and capacity building actions

Task 7.1 Design and implementation of a multimedia platform for sharing the project status (objectives, activities, results) between the project partners

Task 7.2 Design and implementation of information material addressed to the public (brochures, website, audio-visual material).

Task 7.3 Creation of a system of mutual interaction between the scientific community, policy makers, professional organizations able to involve all the parties on the basis of the results of WP1

Task 7.4 Organization of events targeted at persons referred to in Task 7.3, education community and foreign European regions that have declared interest to follow the development of the project

Summary of the workpackages of the project with the coordinator for each WP and the Institutes involved.