Vineyard Information System for Technology and Automation (VISTA)

英国葡萄酒行业在规模和成熟度上都在迅速增长。但是，即使英国葡萄酒赢得越来越多的奖项，该行业也面临着劳动力成本上升、气候条件变化以及减少对化肥和化学制剂依赖的压力。我们认为，解决这些挑战的办法是采用数据驱动的农业方法。未来的葡萄园将建立在软件系统上，该系统可以了解作物的位置和条件。未来的自主耕作系统将在葡萄园的高分辨率地图上运行，向他们显示每棵葡萄树、行、柱子、灌溉泵等的位置。VISTA项目正在开发数字地图，这将推动向数据驱动农业的转变。我们正在构建VISTA-Map，这是一个开源的地图协议，可以在英国或世界其他地方的任何商业葡萄园上使用。该地图将具有高分辨率，易于与其他农业系统集成，并将支持来自各种来源的数据。使用无人机和地面机器人系统，我们将创建几个英国葡萄园的高分辨率地图，并在两个实际应用中使用它们。首先，VISTA-Map将用于为葡萄园生成高精度的收获产量估计。在收获前有更好的产量预测将使种植者能够确保他们的作物获得更好的价格，并减少因无法出售而浪费的作物数量。其次，VISTA-Map将用于创建精确的应用地图，其中化学制剂或肥料使用gps引导的机器以不同的速率施用。像这样的精密技术在其他农业领域很常见，从而减少了化学品的使用，提高了作物产量。该项目联盟还将探索如何将VISTA-Map扩展为一个完整的葡萄园数字双胞胎，捕捉和建模作物的各个方面，如天气和气候、土壤健康、疾病测绘和灌溉。为了完成这个项目，我们为这项工作组建了一个非常棒的联盟。合作伙伴带来了葡萄栽培、作物监测、无人机、机器人系统、3D和语义地图方面的专业知识。VISTA项目为英国葡萄园产业转向数据驱动农业提供了一条明确的道路，为解决种植者目前和未来面临的问题提供了坚实的数据基础。

The UK wine industry is growing rapidly in size and in sophistication. But even as British wines are winning more and more awards, the industry faces rising labour costs, changing climate conditions, and pressure to reduce reliance on fertilisers and chemical agents.We believe the solution to these challenges is to adopt a data-driven approach to farming. The vineyard of the future will be built on software systems that understand where the crop is and what its condition is. The autonomous farming systems of the future will run on high resolution maps of the vineyard, showing them the location of each vine, row, post, irrigation pump and more.The VISTA project is developing the digital maps that will drive the shift to data-driven farming. We are building the VISTA-Map, an open source mapping protocol that can be used on any commercial vineyard in the UK or in the rest of the world. The map will be high resolution, easy to integrate with other farming systems, and will support data from a variety of sources.Using drones and ground robot systems, we will create high resolution maps of several UK vineyards and use them in two practical applications. First, the VISTA-Map will then be used to generate high accuracy harvest yield estimates for the vineyards. Having better yield forecasts before harvest will allow growers to secure a better price for their crop, and reduce the amount of crop that is wasted because it cannot be sold. Second, the VISTA-Map will be used to create precision application maps, where chemical agents or fertilisers are applied in varying rates using GPS-guided machinery. Using precision techniques like this is common in other areas of farming, and results in reductions of chemical usage and increases in crop yield.The project consortium will also explore how the VISTA-Map could be expanded into a full vineyard digital twin, capturing and modelling aspects of the crop such as weather and climate, soil health, disease mapping and irrigation.To achieve this project, we have assembled a fantastic consortium for this work. Partners bring expertise in viticulture, crop monitoring, drones, robot systems, and 3D and semantic mapping.The VISTA project is a clear route for the UK vineyard industry to move to data-driven farming, providing a solid foundation of data to tackle the problems facing growers in the present and the future.