Farm management systems and the Future Internet era

• Published in: Computers and electronics in agriculture 2012-11, Vol.89, p.130-144
• Main Authors: Kaloxylos, Alexandros, Eigenmann, Robert, Teye, Frederick, Politopoulou, Zoi, Wolfert, Sjaak, Shrank, Claudia, Dillinger, Markus, Lampropoulou, Ioanna, Antoniou, Eleni, Pesonen, Liisa, Nicole, Huether, Thomas, Floerchinger, Alonistioti, Nancy, Kormentzas, George
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Agricultural and farming systems; agriculture; Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions; Biological and medical sciences; farm management; Farm management system; farms; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Future Internet; General agroecology. Agricultural and farming systems. Agricultural development. Rural area planning. Landscaping; General agronomy. Plant production; Generalities. Agricultural and farming systems. Agricultural development; Generic enablers; information-systems; Internet; Internet of Things; management systems; precision agriculture; requirements; support
• ISSN: 0168-1699; 1872-7107
• DOI: 10.1016/j.compag.2012.09.002

Smart/precision farming systems are expected to play an important role in improving farming activities. During the past years, sophisticated farm management systems have emerged to replace outdated complex and monolithic farm systems and software tools. The latest trend is to enable these management systems to operate over the Internet. However, the Internet, in its current operation form, faces a number of shortcomings especially in handling vast numbers of networked devices (i.e., Internet of Things) or allowing a simplified integration of systems and services developed by different players. Currently, a number of research initiatives aim at addressing these shortcomings. Such an example is the “Future Internet” program launched by the European Commission. In the context of our work, we have specified a farm management system that takes advantage of the new characteristics that “Future Internet” offers. These come in terms of generic software modules that can be used to build farming related specialized modules. We present the functional architecture of this farm management system and provide an operational example. We also analyze the technological enablers that will make this architecture a reality.