Assessing health condition of crop in the field is one of core operation in precision fanning. A sensing system was proposed to remotely detect the crop health condition in terms of SP AD readings directly related to chlorophyll contents of crop using a multispectral camera equipped on ground-based platform. Since the image taken by a camera was sensitive to changes in ambient light intensity, it was needed to convert gray scale image data into reflectance, an index to indicate the reflection characteristics of target crop. A reference reflectance panel consisting of four pieces of sub-panels with different reflectance was developed for a dynamic calibration, by which a calibration equation was updated for every crop image captured by the camera. The system performance was evaluated in a field by investigating the relationship between com canopy reflectance and SP AD values. The validation tests revealed that the com canopy reflectance induced from Green band in the multispectral camera had the most significant correlation with SPAD values $(r^2=0.75)$ and NIR band could be used to filter out unwanted non-crop features such as soil background and empty space in a crop canopy. This research confirmed that it was technically feasible to develop a ground-based remote sensing system for assessing crop health condition.

This study was carried out to develop a real-time grouping system of chlorophyll contents of rice crop canopy for precision agriculture. The system measured reflected light energy of a rice canopy on a paddy field from visual to near-infrared range and analyzed the collected information of chlorophyll contents of rice crop canopy with given position data. The four filters, 560 nm $({\pm}10nm)$, 650 nm $({\pm}25nm)$, 700 nm $({\pm}12nm)$, and 850 nm $({\pm}40nm)$, were used for a multiple regression to estimate the chlorophyll contents of rice crop canopy. Every $0.2m^2$ area of the open field was inspected at a distance of 1 m above the rice canopy. According to the results of verification test, the chlorophyll content grouping by a commerical chlorophyll meter (SPAD) and by the developed system showed 58.7% match for five-stage chlorophyll contents of rice crop canopy grouping and 93.5% for the $five{\pm}1-stage$ grouping. In addition, the results showed 63.0% match for three-stage grouping and 100.0% for the $three{\pm}1-stage$ grouping.

This study was conducted to develop a nondestructive grouping system for soil organic matter using visible (VIS) and near infrared (NIR) spectroscopic method. The artificial light was irradiated on the cut soil surface at 15 to 20 cm depths to reduce the errors of light at open field. The reflectance energy from the cut soil surface was measured to group the soil organic matter using VIS/NIR light sensor with narrow band pass filter. From reflectance spectra of soil samples, the sensitive wavelengths for measuring the soil organic matter were selected and compared to previous research results. The grouping system for soil organic matter consisted of light sensor with band pass filter measuring the reflectance energy of the cut soil surface, global positing system (GPS), analog-to-digital (AD) converter, computer and operating software. The regression models to predict the soil organic matter were developed and evaluated. From field test, the accuracies of the developed light sensor system were 81.3% for five-stage grouping of the soil organic matters and 91.0% for three-stages grouping of the soil organic matters, respectively. It could be possible to support the decision making for variable rate applications with the developed grouping system for soil organic matter in precision agriculture.

A wind-heat generation system was developed and the system consisted of an electric motor, a heat generation drum, a heat exchanger, two circulation pumps and a water storage tank. The heat generation drum is an essential element determining performance of the system. Frictional heat was generated by rotation of a rotor in the drum filled with a working fluid, and the heat stored in the fluid was used to increase water temperature through the heat exchanger. Effects of some factors such as rotor shape, kind and amount of working fluid, rotor rpm and water flow rate in the heat exchanger, affecting the system performance were investigated. Amounts of heat generated were varied, ranging from 126,000 to 32,760 kJ/hr, depending on combination of the factors. Statistical analysis using GLM procedure revealed that the most influential factor to decide the system performance was amount of the fluid in the drum. Experiments showed that the faster the speed of the rotor, the greater heat was obtained. The greatest efficiency of the heat generation system, electric power consumption rate vs gained heat amount of water, was about 70%. Though the heat amount was not enough for plant bed heating of a 0.1-ha greenhouse, the system would be promising if some supplementary heat source such as air- water heat pump is added.

Soy protein meat analog was produced using a twin-screw extruder attached with a cooling die. Heat transfer analysis was performed for cooling dies with various die sizes at the four different moisture contents of feed during extrusion process. The experimental design consisted of two cooling die widths (30 and 60 mm), three cooling die lengths (100, 200, and 300 mm), four product moisture contents (71.2, 67.0, 61.6 and 55.8%), and water and water plus ethylene glycol as cooling material. When water was used as cooling medium, the values of equivalent overall heat transfer coefficient $(U_e)$ for each die width of 30 and 60 mm were in the range of 187.0 - 341.4 and $358.5-191.6W/m^2^{\circ}C$ depending on the size of die length. Convective heat transfer coefficients between cooling water and inside die wall of cooling channel $(h_c)$ for both die widths of 30 and 60 mm were 588.5, 416.1, and $339.8W/m^2^{\circ}C$ for each die length of 100, 200, and 300 mm. Convective heat transfer coefficients between product and inside die wall of product channel $(h_p)$ for each die width of 30 and 60 mm were in the range of $434.6-888.1W/m^2^{\circ}C$ and $460.7-1014.5W/m^2^{\circ}C$ depending on the size of die length. When water plus ethylene glycol was used as cooling medium, the values of $U_e$ were in the range of $143.9-319.6W/m^2^{\circ}C$ and $177.8-332.7W/m^2^{\circ}C$ for each die width of 30 and 60 mm depending on the size of die length.