| Semester 2, 2023 Toowoomba On-campus | |
| Units : | 1 |
| School or Department : | School of Agriculture and Environmental Science |
| Grading basis : | Graded |
| Course fee schedule : | /current-students/administration/fees/fee-schedules |
Staffing
Course Coordinator:
Overview
Digital technology is transforming agriculture. The purpose of this course is to equip students to competently and effectively develop and deploy instrumentation solutions to collect, communicate and process data to deliver optimal decision making in agricultural production systems. Students will develop an understanding of the fundamental concepts that underpin instrumentation and automation so that they are equipped to deal with the rapid development and emergence of new instrumentation and automation solutions in agriculture.
This course provides students with a practical introduction to the use of instrumentation and automation in agricultural production systems. Students will develop skills in selecting and using a range of digital technologies including sensing, processing and network technologies to address specific real-world agricultural production challenges.
Students will participate in a range of individual and team practical activities to develop confidence and competence in the use of instrumentation.
This course contains a mandatory residential school for external students and on-campus students.
Course learning outcomes
On completion of this course students should be able to:
- Differentiate between the range of sensors employed in agricultural technology applications.
- Calibrate and deploy a sensing system to solve a given task.
- Compare different signal processing approaches.
- Build and operate a LoRaWAN (low-power wide-area network).
- Design a connected smart farm.
- Use CANBus and ISOBus systems and describe associated standards for these systems.
- Describe the fundamental elements of automation including sensing, control and actuation.
- Communicate the results from implementing instrumentation in agricultural technology applications.
Topics
| Description | Weighting(%) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Existing and emerging sensors in agricultural technologies | 30.00 |
| 2. | Sensor output interpretation and signal processing | 20.00 |
| 3. | Wireless networks including low-power wide-area networks | 10.00 |
| 4. | Data connectivity and IoT in Agricultural Production Systems | 15.00 |
| 5. | CANBus and ISOBus systems | 10.00 |
| 6. | Fundamentals of automation in agricultural technologies | 15.00 |
Text and materials required to be purchased or accessed
Student workload expectations
To do well in this subject, students are expected to commit approximately 10 hours per week including class contact hours, independent study, and all assessment tasks. If you are undertaking additional activities, which may include placements and residential schools, the weekly workload hours may vary.
Assessment details
| Description | Group Assessment |
Weighting (%) | Course learning outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quiz | No | 10 | 1 |
| Report 1 | No | 30 | 1,2,3,8 |
| Report 2 | No | 30 | 4,5,7,8 |
| Practical | No | 30 | 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 |