Hyperautomation in Precision Agriculture: Advancements and Opportunities for Sustainable Farming

Dr. Sood is working as Scientist at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Ropar, India, under Women Scientist Scheme (WOS) by Department of Science & Technology (DST), Govt. of India. She is also founder of a company named as Aiotronics Automation Pvt.Ltd. supported under Himachal Pradesh CM Startup Scheme. She has more than 10 years of experience in the field of academics and research. She received her PhD in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Chitkara University, Punjab in 2020. She has done B. Tech from Himachal Pradesh University (HPU) Shimla, 2008 and M. Tech from Punjab Technical University (PTU) in Electronics and Communication Engineering,2011. She has also done MBA in Human Resource (HR),2010. She has authored more than 25 SCI-indexed articles (IEEE, T&F, ELSEVIER, and SPRINGER), SCOPUS indexed book chapters and holds many inventions. Her research interests include satellite sensors, remote sensing, scatterometer and digital image analysis.

Dr. Arun Lal Srivastav is working as Assistant Professor at Chitkara University School of Engineering and Technology, Chitkara University, Himachal Pradesh, India. He has obtained his PhD from the Indian Institute of Technology (BHU), Varanasi, India on the adsorption of nitrate and fluoride from water. Also, he has done post-doctoral research at National Chung Hsing University, Taiwan. He is currently involved in the teaching of Environmental Science, Environmental Engineering, Disaster Management and Design Thinking to the undergraduate engineering students. His research interests include water quality surveillance, climate change, water treatment, river ecosystem, soil health maintenance, engineering education, phytoremediation and waste management. He has published > 86 research papers in various prestigious journals (Elsevier, Springer, IWA, Taylor & Francis etc.) including some book chapters and conferences. He is also the editor of 20 books with Elsevier, Springer, NOVA and Wiley. Additionally, he is also one of the series editors of Elsevier and Nova publisher on energy sustainability and e-waste management, respectively. Further, in his credit, 12 patents have been granted by the Government of India on multidisciplinary topics. He is also working on 04 Government sponsored projects (worth ~16 million INR) on phytoremediation, adsorption, capacity building, organic farming, leachate treatment, agro-waste management etc.

Dr. Ampatzidis is an Associate Professor leading a research and extension precision agriculture engineering program at the Southwest Florida Research and Education Center (SWFREC) in Immokalee, Florida. He received his B.S. in Agriculture Science in 2002 from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH) in Thessaloniki, Greece, with a major in row crops and ecology. After completing his bachelor’s degree, he enrolled in the Agricultural Engineering department and completed his M.S. in 2005 with an emphasis on precision agriculture and robotics. At the same time, he completed his second bachelor’s degree in Hydraulics, Soil Science and Agricultural Engineering in 2008 (AUTH). He received his PhD in Agricultural Engineering from AUTH in 2010 with an emphasis on precision agriculture and automation for specialty crops. His current research focuses on the mechanical harvesting of specialty crops, mechatronics, artificial intelligence, machine vision, precision agriculture, smart machines (e.g., smart spraying technologies), UAVs, and machine systems.