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Experimental and statistical modeling of relations between morphological characteristics of grapevine and spraying deposits : application to precision agriculture

My name is Anice Cheraiet, and I'm doing my thesis in the field of precision viticulture. I work for the Institut Français de la Vigne et du Vin (IFV) and am based at the Unité Mixte Technologique EcoTech (IFV-Irstea-Montpellier SupAgro), part of Irstea's UMR ITAP in Montpellier.
Trained as an ecologist, I followed a double university diploma with a Master 2 research course in biodiversity and ecosystem functioning and the Magistère in biology at the University of Paris-Sud XI. Doing this thesis is an opportunity for me to develop my skills in this field of research and to consolidate the know-how acquired during my university training.

• Starting date: January 2018
• University: University of Montpellier / Institut Agro 
• PhD school: GAIA , MUSE Montpellier Université d’Excellence
• Scientific field: Functional ecology - Precision viticulture - Bio statistics - Biophysical measurements
• Thesis management: Carole Sinfort (Montpellier SupAgro, UMR Itap)
• Thesis supervisors: Bernadette Ruelle (Inrae,UMR Itap), Olivier Naud (Inrae,UMR Itap), Sébastien Codis (IFV UMT ECOTECHVITI), Nadine Hilgert (Inrae, UMR Mistea)
• Funding: #DigitAg – IFV (Acta – les instituts techniques)
•  #DigitAg : Cofunded PhD – Axe 1 – Challenge 3

Keywords: Precision viticulture, Modeling, LiDAR sensor, Vegetation structure, Precision spraying

Abstract:  The societal demand for reducing pesticides use and the context resulting from European directive 2009/128/EC and French action plan Ecophyto bring forward the need to reconsider plant protection processes. One issue raised is the adaptation of sprayer set points (technological parameters, dose) with regard to morphological characteristics of grapevine and according to sprayer. The performance of a spraying process can be described by its efficiency, namely the quantity of product that reaches target for a given sprayed quantity, and by its quality, which is essentially the homogeneity of deposits by surface unit within the canopy. The objective of the thesis is to develop models that predict quantities and profiles of deposits on vegetation with regard to canopy morphology and characteristics of sprayers, within a precision agriculture framework. LiDAR technologies, in particular, will be mobilized in order to characterize this morphology and propose indicators. The modeling framework will be multi-scale. The applied objective is to analyze the interest of developing innovative precision spraying techniques associated to a numerical and data intensive agriculture. Different technological scenarios will be considered and the potential savings in chemical inputs, with regards to classical spraying at homologated dose, will be evaluated. The methodological questions involved in experimental and statistical modeling will be as follows: (I) combination of high resolution (LiDAR) and ponctual (readings) measures, as well as physical sampling (deposits), (ii) adaptation of observation and decision to different technological scenarios and different scales, (iii) sensibility analysis for accuracy and variability of indicators with regard to sampling configuration and observed structures of spatial correlation. Inversion of models should make it possible to compute recommendation maps for sprayer set points from maps describing the canopy.

Jury compound:

• Fréderic BARET, Directeur de Recherche, INRAE Avignon, France
• Patrice REY, Professeur, Bordeaux Sciences Agro, France
• Alexandre ESCOLA-AGUSTI, Professeur associé, Université de Lleida, Espagne
• Christelle GEE, Professeur, AgroSup Dijon, France
• Benoit PALLAS, Chargé de recherche, INRAE Montpellier, France
• James TAYLOR, Directeur de recherche, Montpellier SupAgro, France
• Olivier NAUD, Ingénieur de recherche, INRAE Montpellier, France
• Sébastien CODIS, Ingénieur, IFV, France
• Fréderic LEBEAU, Professeur, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, Belgique

Contact :  anice.cheraiet [AT] vignevin.com​ – Tel: 06.79.92.91.73

Social network: ResearchGate

Download the thesis manuscript

Communications at international conferences

A. Cheraiet, M. Carra, A. Lienard, S. Codis, A. Vergès, X. Delpuech, O. Naud (2019), Investigation on LiDAR based indicators for predicting agrochemical deposition within a vine field, Precision Agriculture 2019, Proceedings of the 12th European Conference on Precision Agriculture – https://dx.doi.org/10.3920/978-90-8686-888-9_18

A. Cheraiet, X. Delpuech, M. Carra, J. Andres, A. Vergès, A. Lienard, S. Codis, O. Naud. (2019), Evaluate sensors and innovative digital solutions in the vineyard to reduce and manage phytosanitary inputs, Environmental Science And Pollution Research – 

Cheraiet A., Naud O., Carra M., Codis S., Lebeau F., Taylor J. (2020) An algorithm to automate the filtering and classifying of 2D LiDAR data for site-specific estimations of canopy height and width in vineyards, Biosystems Engineering