Olive oil is very healthy fat obtained from the olive, a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin. The oil is produced by pressing fresh olives. It is commonly used in cooking and cosmetics. Here in Crete the cultivation of the olive tree is deeply rooted in the tradition of the island. The trees are perfectly adapted in the climate and soils of the island and this is the secret of produci
ng an excellent oil. Nowadays, the main threat for olives is olive fruit fly, a species of fruit fly which feeds inside the fruit, destroying the pulp. The olive fly problem is treated by detection, monitoring and management. When it comes to detect and monitoring the olive fly, being vigilant, diligent and systematic is critical as fly population can multiply rapidly. In Crete, Greek government has appointed agriculturists to monitor populations in the spring with McPhail traps. When traps indicate that population is increasing in early summer, agriculturists give instruction to workshops to apply bait sprays. The traps are placed in different places throughout the region of Crete. The first application happens a week or two before pit hardening and it re-applies every 5 to 6 weeks during summer. The idea is to create and develop an Agriculture wireless Sensor Board (single node). Having this node and a pc/smartphone application, agriculturists or producers can monitor olive fly populations plus different environmental parameters from their houses without visiting the olive fields. Thus the system will be useful for preventing possible plagues with timely sprays. Nodes will be installed throughout the region of Crete along with McPhail traps which are already placed and will be created a large Wireless Sensor Network. Each node consists of a McPhail trap, a camera and a printed circuit board. Camera will receive a picture inside the trap and through image processing will estimate the number of dead olive flies. In addition, there will be sensors able to measure ambient temperature/humidity, atmospheric pressure, solar radiation, soil temperature and soil moisture. Each node can integrate a GPS that delivers accurate position of it. Node will be sleeping most of the time in order to save energy. After some hours wakes up, collects data from the sensors, implements the wireless communication via GSM/3G technology, send the collected information to a base station and goes again to sleep mode. Each node can be powered with rechargeable lithium batteries and a solar panel, making the system completely autonomous. Using Google Maps application at a pc/smartphone and an internet connection, the user will be able to watch the node position and the collected real-time data from any place in the world. Purpose of this project is to anticipate olive threats, to minimize time consumption and money, as well as maximize agriculture results. Finally the system may be useful for irrigation system manage as well as for agriculturists in research, i.e. to create statistical prediction models.
