Prof. Yusuf Hendrawan, STP., M. App. Life Sc., Ph.D is inaugurated as a Professor in Agricultural Control System Science at Universitas Brawijaya (UB). The Vice Dean III of FTP became the Youngest Professor in Indonesia for the Field of Agricultural Engineering.
In his scientific oration entitled Utilization of Intelligent Bio-Instrumentation System (IBIS) in the Development of Precision Agriculture in the 4.0 Industrial Revolution Era, Prof. Yusuf explained about modern agricultural systems by applying artificial intelligence so that it can be beneficial to control agricultural systems to be precise or accurate.
IBIS is a measurement of biological objects, especially agricultural objects called the Intelligent Bio-Instrumentation System (IBIS).
IBIS is a method of measuring biological objects through the analysis of digital images obtained from digital cameras. This digital image analysis uses artificial intelligence-based software.
He explained that the advantages of IBIS are measurement methods that do not damage the observed agricultural objects, are accurate, easy to use and can be used in agricultural control systems to make them more effective.
“In addition, the measurement tools are cheaper and the measurement procedures are simpler when compared to conventional measurement methods,” he said.
The development of this IBIS has been started since 2008 which began with research focusing on digital image analysis for agricultural products using a simple digital camera such as a web camera. From a digital image, a lot of information can be taken that can be used to characterize a biological object, especially agricultural objects. The first method developed is digital image analysis using color, morphology/shape, and surface texture of objects. Parameters of color, shape, and surface texture can be used to measure the physical and chemical characteristics of agricultural objects. This measurement method using a digital camera is called the computer vision method.
The next stage, Prof. Yusuf Hendrawan developed artificial intelligence to model the characteristics of agricultural objects. The results show that artificial intelligence can improve the accuracy of measurements made using computer vision.
The combination method between artificial intelligence and computer vision was then tested to solve the problems of characterization and identification of plants cultivated in a closed system (plant factory). This method can be applied to identify the response of plants in the plant factory to changes in environmental factors such as temperature, humidity, water, nutrients, light, CO2, etc.
In 2012 to 2019, the researches of Prof. Yusuf Hendrawan directed to the use of computer vision-based artificial intelligence to develop the IBIS method. Besides being used for the pre-harvest process, the use of IBIS has begun to be developed for measuring the quality of post-harvest products. The use of artificial neural network methods as one of the artificial intelligence modeling methods has been used to model various characteristics of biological objects, especially agricultural products. The artificial neural network method is a modeling method that can study the characteristics of the observed object independently by imitating the working principle of a biological neural network.
Since 2020 until now, Prof. Yusuf Hendrawan uses IBIS method for the development of precision agriculture. The IBIS ability to identify plant responses is then used to build an effective communication system with agricultural objects or what is known as the Speaking Plant Approaches (SPA) method. \
“When we can communicate with plants, then we will know the needs of plant life accurately. The impact is that plants can grow more optimally and can save the use of energy, fertilizers, and other agricultural materials. In the post-harvest sector, IBIS has been used to identify the quality, physical, and chemical characteristics of agricultural objects so that the quality of agricultural products can be improved,” he said.
In the future, Prof. Yusuf Hendrawan will develop IBIS for plant factory technology. Plant factory is a closed agricultural cultivation system in which all environmental factors (temperature, humidity, light intensity, water, nutrients, CO2, sound frequency, etc.) can be optimally controlled.
“In the 4.0 industrial revolution era, consumer demand of buying products is also getting more detailed, and all these consumer demands must be specifically met by producers. This is called a customizable product. Even agriculture, in the future, consumers can easily determine the characteristics of agricultural products they want specifically and in detail. Starting from physical characteristics (size, color, texture, etc.) to chemical characteristics (containing vitamins, protein, carbohydrates, antioxidants, etc.) must be adapted to the wishes of consumers. Customizable agricultural products can be produced through a closed agricultural cultivation system with plant factory technology,” he said. [Humas UB/ Trans. Iir]
