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Artificial intelligence and machine learning to improve Australia’s winemaking industry

Artificial intelligence and machine learning to improve Australia’s winemaking industry

Winemaking contributes over A$ 40 billion to the Australian economy each year. Among the
many challenges being faced by this centuries-old industry are managing pests
and diseases, producing a consistent crop and using water efficiently.

According to the report
made by the University
of Melbourne
, artificial intelligence and machine learning have the
potential to change the face of winemaking.

Dr Sigfredo Fuentes is a plant physiologist
and agronomist at the University of Melbourne. He explained how they are able
to make use of cutting-edge technology to keep wine racks stocked with
high-quality drinks.

Drones improve the irrigation management of
wineries by taking detailed pictures as they fly overhead. Multi-spectral and
thermal infrared cameras that are mounted on drones can pick up signs on the
vines that indicate their water status.

The machine-learning model to assess stress
was developed using ten vegetation indices as inputs and is able to classify
the plants into three levels of stress: absent, moderate or severe. With an 83%
accuracy, the winemakers are able to use water and fertiliser supplies more
efficiently.

Moreover, drones can also provide
information on which parts of the vineyard are hit by disease or pests, as well
as what plants have died and need replacing. This proves how technology allows
a 45-hectare land to be surveyed in 15 minutes and have the data ready a day
later.

Machine learning algorithm has aided in
grapevine cultivar classification, assisting on telling grape varieties apart.
It can also give information about water stress and fertiliser status.

Dr Fuentes explained that their machine
learning model uses 13 morpho-colorimetric parameters, which are shape and colour
measurements, as inputs and predicts the cultivar with a very high accuracy of
94%, and water stress with an accuracy of 88%.

The algorithm can also be a part of a
computer application, which can be downloaded to a smartphone or tablet PC.

Grapes that have been in close proximity to
a bushfire can produce smoke-tainted wine, which has a distinct, unpleasant
smoky and leathery taste. But using the naked eye alone, to determine which
grapes have been contaminated, proved to be difficult as they look the same as
the uncontaminated ones.

Drones have aided the team of Dr Fuentes in
addressing the issue. They have developed a way to use thermal infrared imagery
to measure the pattern of temperatures in the canopies of the vines.
Thermographs are images in which every pixel is a measure of temperature rather
than light.

Dr Fuentes discussed that smoke
contamination disrupts the vines’ temperature, so measuring this thermal
pattern and analysing it through machine learning models allows them to
determine which plants have actually been affected by a bushfire.

Their algorithm is able to provide an
accurate map of what areas of the vineyard have been affected by smoke, thereby
providing growers what they needed to make informed decisions when harvesting
their grapes to avoid contamination.

In order to determine whether a grape is
ready to become quality wine, its sugar content should be assessed. More
important to assess though is the production of flavour and aromas, which
according to research is related to the pattern of cell death in grapes.

He explained that a percentage of the fruit
must be dead in order to produce the different aromas and flavours for
winemaking. To achieve this, they made use of a handheld device that uses near-infrared
wavelengths to measure the level of grapes and the patterns of cell death, made
possible by machine learning algorithm. This allows winemakers to see in real
time which grapes are ready for picking.

Estimating yield early in the season is
particularly important to help winemakers plan logistics including allocation
of resources, like water and fertiliser, how many staff to hire for the season,
and how many barrels to have ready, among others.

Dr Fuentes shared that big data and machine
learning are used to predict seasonal yield faster with an accuracy of around
80 – 90%. They take the historic data of a specific vineyard such as soil data,
management data, meteorological information and actual yields per season.

They would then plug the data into their
machine learning models to predict the yield from the coming season, from early
stages of growth thereby aiding winemakers plan for that season much more
effectively.

PARTNER

Qlik’s vision is a data-literate world, where everyone can use data and analytics to improve decision-making and solve their most challenging problems. A private company, Qlik offers real-time data integration and analytics solutions, powered by Qlik Cloud, to close the gaps between data, insights and action. By transforming data into Active Intelligence, businesses can drive better decisions, improve revenue and profitability, and optimize customer relationships. Qlik serves more than 38,000 active customers in over 100 countries.

PARTNER

CTC Global Singapore, a premier end-to-end IT solutions provider, is a fully owned subsidiary of ITOCHU Techno-Solutions Corporation (CTC) and ITOCHU Corporation.

Since 1972, CTC has established itself as one of the country’s top IT solutions providers. With 50 years of experience, headed by an experienced management team and staffed by over 200 qualified IT professionals, we support organizations with integrated IT solutions expertise in Autonomous IT, Cyber Security, Digital Transformation, Enterprise Cloud Infrastructure, Workplace Modernization and Professional Services.

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PARTNER

Planview has one mission: to build the future of connected work. Our solutions enable organizations to connect the business from ideas to impact, empowering companies to accelerate the achievement of what matters most. Planview’s full spectrum of Portfolio Management and Work Management solutions creates an organizational focus on the strategic outcomes that matter and empowers teams to deliver their best work, no matter how they work. The comprehensive Planview platform and enterprise success model enables customers to deliver innovative, competitive products, services, and customer experiences. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, with locations around the world, Planview has more than 1,300 employees supporting 4,500 customers and 2.6 million users worldwide. For more information, visit www.planview.com.

SUPPORTING ORGANISATION

SIRIM is a premier industrial research and technology organisation in Malaysia, wholly-owned by the Minister​ of Finance Incorporated. With over forty years of experience and expertise, SIRIM is mandated as the machinery for research and technology development, and the national champion of quality. SIRIM has always played a major role in the development of the country’s private sector. By tapping into our expertise and knowledge base, we focus on developing new technologies and improvements in the manufacturing, technology and services sectors. We nurture Small Medium Enterprises (SME) growth with solutions for technology penetration and upgrading, making it an ideal technology partner for SMEs.

PARTNER

HashiCorp provides infrastructure automation software for multi-cloud environments, enabling enterprises to unlock a common cloud operating model to provision, secure, connect, and run any application on any infrastructure. HashiCorp tools allow organizations to deliver applications faster by helping enterprises transition from manual processes and ITIL practices to self-service automation and DevOps practices. 

PARTNER

IBM is a leading global hybrid cloud and AI, and business services provider. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. Nearly 3,000 government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM’s hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM’s breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and business services deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM’s legendary commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service.

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