Electro-leaf, a biomimicry system to estimate in-canopy airflow in fruit crops

This paper proposes a method, based on an array of sensors, to estimate in-canopy airflow in fruit orchards and vineyards. These sensors, called electro-leaves, mimic a real leaf which oscillates randomly under the air turbulence coming from an air-assisted sprayer. These oscillations are sampled at 700 Hz and processed in order to detect peaks of movement. The value of these peaks could be used as a reference to make adjustments to the operating parameters of the sprayer, with the aim of improving spray deposition and reducing drift. Results show that the electro-leaves estimate different airflows as a function of the air volume, the tractor forward speed and the canopy sizes. Also, the detected airflow is highly correlated with the wind speed measured by an ultrasonic and a vane anemometer.