Skippy Scout Soil: Drone-based soil sampling system

挑战粮农组织估计，到2050年，粮食产量需要增加70%，才能养活世界98亿人口。健康的土壤是农业发展、健康和有营养的粮食生产以及基本生态系统服务的基础，而这些对我们的基本生存以及地球的可持续未来至关重要。土壤的可持续管理可使粮食产量增加58%，农业土壤是地球上最大的碳库之一，具有扩大碳固存的潜力。可靠的土壤数据对实施可持续土壤管理至关重要，碳封存计划需要更定期的测量。然而，目前的土壤取样技术耗时，要么是手工的，要么是使用昂贵的机器，产生碳排放，本身就会损害土壤。无人机技术为解决这些挑战提供了巨大的潜力。与其他技术相比，它们可以显著节省时间和成本（例如，比步行快20倍），并具有环境效益（例如，没有地面压实或碳排放）。Drone Ag将开发和测试Skippy Scout Soil系统，该系统将比目前可用的其他解决方案更具成本效益、更及时、更环保。这项新技术将使Drone Ag能够将其市场领先技术扩展到土壤分析市场。研发将解决硬件和软件方面的挑战，重点关注开发系统的两个关键创新，并将导致高效，准确，易于使用，紧凑且价格合理的新颖解决方案，对当前市场具有颠覆性。我们将与主要的行业利益相关者密切合作，确保解决方案能够满足他们的要求。该项目将为更广泛的供应链和最终用户带来经济效益。特别是环境效益将带来更有效的碳测量分析、更少的土壤压实和更少的碳排放。社会影响包括创造高价值的就业机会。

CHALLENGEThe FAO estimates that food production needs to increase 70% in order to feed a world population of 9.8 billion by 2050\.Healthy soils lay at the foundations of agricultural development, healthy and nutritious food production, and essential ecosystem services, which are crucial to our basic survival as well as our planet's sustainable future.Sustainable management of soil could produce up to 58% more food and agricultural soils are among the planet's largest reservoirs of carbon and hold potential for expanded carbon sequestration.Reliable soil data are essential in implementing sustainable soil management and more regular measurements are required for Carbon sequestration schemes. However current soil-sampling techniques are time-consuming, being either manual, or using machinery which is costly, produces carbon emissions and itself can damage the soil. SOLUTIONDrone technologies offer significant potential to tackle these challenges. They can deliver notable time and cost savings over other techniques (e.g. up to 20x faster than walking) and environmental benefits (e.g. no ground compaction or carbon emissions).Micro-SME business, Drone Ag will develop and test Skippy Scout Soil, a system that will be more cost effective, timely and environmentally friendly than other solutions currently available.This novel technology will enable Drone Ag to extend its market leading technology into the soil analysis market.R&D will address hardware and software challenges, focusing on two key innovations to develop the system and will lead to an efficient, accurate, easy to use, compact and affordable, novel solution that is disruptive to the current market.We will work closely with key industry stakeholders to ensure the solution will meet their requirements.The project will deliver economic benefits to the wider supply chain and end-users. Environmental benefits will result in particular, with more efficient analysis for carbon measurement, less soil compaction and less carbon emissions. Social impacts include high-value job creation.