South Australian producers could be looking to the skies and beyond for higher quality and more timely data to improve their decision making and efficiency.
SmartSat Cooperative Research Centre Managing Director Professor Andy Koronios will outline how intelligence from space is set to transform Australian agriculture at Growing SA 2022 later this month.
SmartSat CRC is a consortium of universities and other research organisations partnered with industry that has been funded by the Australian Government to develop know-how and technologies in advanced telecommunications and IoT connectivity, intelligent satellite systems and Earth observation next generation data services.
Prof Koronios said space technologies are already informing, shaping and helping Australian producers and the wider agricultural sector, especially when combined with on-ground sensor technology.
“Space technologies can assist in monitoring our crops, developing prediction models to guide commercial decisions in this area and help address challenges such as pests, weeds and diseases,” he said. “However, we currently need to rely on non-Australian satellites to gather and transmit this data.”
“At SmartSat, we are working on a number of projects, and we are planning an entire innovation program with a space mission, which we have named ‘TerraWatch’, to provide Australian capability in agricultural intelligence from space.
“The innovation and research and development program for TerraWatch is still under development with participation of a number of major agricultural organisations. It aims to advance the technological capability using Australian-made satellites and new generation of imaging sensors to provide analysis-ready data which will assist in areas including crop yield estimation, input optimisation, water management, soil carbon estimation support and natural disaster effects on agriculture and farming.”
Prof Koronios said a recent joint collaboration between Australia and the United Kingdom – Space Bridge – was set to release findings on five recently completed projects, one of which was looking into the remote sensing benefits to agriculture through hyperspectral processing.
“Excitingly, the 2022 Federal Budget included $1.2 billion for a National Space Mission in Earth Observation (NSMEO),” Prof Koronios said.
“The NSMEO program will build Australian satellites as well as satellite calibration and validation infrastructure for Australia’s sovereign Earth Observation program.
“There will be many sectors that will benefit from new Earth Observation (EO) activities, as the information from EO satellites inform our lives every day through aspects such as weather forecasts and providing data to producers about their crops and paddocks.”
Find out more and register for GROWING SA 2022 at growingsa.com.au/program
ENDS
For media interviews contact Alistair Lawson, AgCommunicators, 0448 400 606
PrOF ANDY KORONIOS
Andy is the CEO and Managing Director of the SmartSat CRC, a consortium of industry and research organisations developing game changing satellite technologies to catapult Australia into the global space economy. Andy has previously held the positions of Dean – Industry & Enterprise and Head of the School of Information Technology & Mathematical Sciences at the University of South Australia. Andy holds academic qualifications in Electrical Engineering, Computing and education as well as a PhD from the University of Queensland. He has extensive experience in both commercial and academic environments and his research areas include data quality, information management & governance, data analytics and the strategic exploitation of information. Andy has worked both as a consultant as well as a professional speaker on IT issues in Australia and South East Asia and has more than 30 years’ experience in the academic environment. He is a Fellow of the Australian Computer Society, a Founding Fellow of the International Institute of Engineering Asset Management, a Distinguished Speaker of the ACM and was conferred as an Emeritus Professor at UniSA in 2021.
