Voice-Controlled and Wireless Solid Set Canopy Delivery (VCW-SSCD) System for Mist-Cooling

Abstract

California growers in the San Joaquin Valley believe that climate change will affect the pistachio yield dramatically. As the central valley fog disappears, insufficient dormant chill accumulation results in poor flowering synchrony, flower quality, and fruit set in this dioecious species. We have developed a novel, user-friendly, and low-cost Voice-Controlled Wireless Solid Set Canopy Delivery (VCW-SSCD) system to increase bud chill accumulation with evaporative cooling on sunny (winter) days. This system includes: (i) an automated solid-state canopy delivery (SSCD) system; (ii) a wireless weather-, crop-related data acquisition system; (iii) a Voice-Controlled (VC) system using Amazon Alexa; (iv) a mobile application to visualize the collected data and wirelessly control the SSCD system; and (v) a smart control system. The proposed system was deployed and evaluated in a commercial pistachio orchard in Bakersfield, CA. The system worked well with no reported errors. Results demonstrated the system's ability to cool bud temperatures in a low relative humidity climate. At an ambient temperature of 10-20 • C, bud temperatures were lowered 5-10 • C.

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