MORERA Project – CDTI Missions
System for Monitoring Efficient Irrigation and Agricultural Yield
The MORERA project will develop a personalised irrigation recommendation system for each plot based on satellite images and Artificial Intelligence, as well as a new generation of miniaturised and compact remote sensing instruments to respond quickly to user needs.
Its objective is to boost the Spanish agricultural industry, the most important in the country with 11% of GDP, by providing farmers with personalised information that enables them to apply precision agriculture at low cost.
Pioneering project in irrigation monitoring and agricultural yield with new space sensors
MORERA is a pioneering initiative in the sector that will enable personalised irrigation recommendations to be made for each plot, reducing water use in crops by up to 25% thanks to Artificial Intelligence and satellite imagery, integrating data from dedicated instruments and multiple sources (Copernicus, AEMET, etc.) and developing a new generation of miniaturised and compact space instruments for remote sensing.
Proposing a modular system that integrates deficit irrigation recommendations and yield prediction to optimise productivity, MORERA, which will be launched in 2023, responds to one of the challenges of the ‘Science and Innovation Missions’ call for proposals, through which the Centre for Industrial Technological Development (CDTI) seeks solutions to problems with a high impact on society through innovative technologies.
MORERA is the first project to develop a plot-based recommendation system (not just maps) based on new remote sensing instruments and data from Copernicus satellites processed using artificial intelligence algorithms. It is also a pioneering project in Europe in using thermal infrared to calculate evapotranspiration and water stress, which will enable deficit irrigation management.
New generation of miniaturised instruments for remote sensing
Given that this system will require optimised data for agricultural use and short update times, MORERA will also go further in the field of remote sensing to generate miniaturised and compact optical instruments with a combined size and resolution ratio that does not yet exist. This will be achieved by applying freeform geometries in optical systems for space, which will reduce the size and cost of the system. These combined elements, not present in any currently available instruments, must be compatible with small satellites and CubeSat constellations to minimise development times and costs while increasing the system’s versatility (constellations that increase revisit and/or coverage, extrapolation to other applications or inclusion of new detection bands, etc.).
Benefits for the agricultural sector and industry
Thanks to MORERA, farmers will be able to apply precision agriculture at low cost with a system that will provide them with regular measurements of crop status and give them personalised fertigation recommendations, as well as yield forecasts based on Artificial Intelligence and Big Data algorithms. This integrated concept represents an advance over the options currently available on the market, responding to the sector’s needs in terms of resource management in the context of climate change.
Along these lines, MORERA will investigate new algorithms for processing remote sensing images with machine learning to optimise farmers’ decisions: recommendations in scenarios of water scarcity and crop yield prediction.
Consortium members
Thales Alenia Space Spain is leading this consortium and will be responsible for defining the complete system and the artificial intelligence algorithms in cooperation with TEPRO and the IAS, as well as defining and integrating the new thermal infrared instruments in cooperation with LIDAX, ASEOPTICS, INTA and UV. It will also be responsible for the integration and final testing of the global system prototype.
More information…
If you are interested in learning more about this project, or would like further information about ASE Optics Europe’s capabilities and experience, please contact us!