Catalogue of Services

This service concerns training AI models on behalf of the customer for a specific task and optimisation objective, e.g., improving accuracy on crop classification from image data. The target model is the solution provided by the customer that needs to be enhanced with respect to a set of pre-determined features to reach the desired performance level. However, if required, the training can also be applied to additional state-of-the-art models available in the market for benchmarking purposes. If not defined by the customer, some features of the training process can be identified via service S00179 (desk assessment activities for digital systems and/or data): for instance, model features to improve, reference model baselines to include in the performance comparison, as well as benchmark datasets. The data used for training the model can be either provided by the customer or annotated ad hoc as a preparatory activity to model training (via service S00290 - Data Labelling); another possibility is that data are retrieved among reference benchmark datasets that are openly available. We will also agree with customers on the level of hardware acceleration required, based on the considered AI models: e.g., GPU acceleration via connection to a remote server vs. on-device training.

Support clients in defining metrics and testing their AI solutions in real life, in the field, or virtually. Within normal and "stressed" operating conditions, including AI-generated test cases, we assess the readiness of agriculture-related AI algorithms for classification (weeds, chromatic analysis of crops), surround understanding and perception capabilities (for safety, for navigation), yield measurement (quantity of produce, quality), and robotics (anomaly detection, etc.). Besides accuracy metrics, we have experience evaluating memory and computing power footprints, and by doing so, understanding bottlenecks and improving the energy efficiency of proposed solutions.

The tests in this service are aimed at products that run complex apps (based on a multitude of microservices, including heavy AI algorithms) in the fields, with limited to no connectivity to the cloud. In these cases, we propose a benchmarking designed to understand what the bottlenecks are in the implemented solution architecture to help TEF customers improve the efficiency and reliability of such products/solutions. The service may also encompass virtual facility elements (enriched datasets, virtual machines hosting containerised modules) blended with physical sensors and infrastructure in our test field or directly installed at the client's premises if need be for the duration of the experimentation.

One of the key activities during digital testing is the collection of data concerning the progression and the final outcome of the tests. Such data enable the evaluation of system performance by the customer or – if needed – by AgrifoodTEF (via Service S00184). This service manages the collection of data relevant to performance evaluation produced during the tests by both the system under test and the computational environment where the tests take place. 

Examples of collected data comprise information produced within a virtual environment to simulate sensor data collection in a physical environment; statistics about AI model performance in the test and deployment phase (e.g., occupied memory, number of trainable parameters, training/optimisation loss, etc.); specific labels and annotations to use as ground truth for evaluating the system; and system output when subjected to a range of test conditions. The minimum set of data to be collected is defined by the evaluation metrics that the user chose (either on their own or with AgrifoodTEF support, via Service S00178) to process them; generally, a larger set of data wrt the minimum is selected by AgrifoodTEF together with the customer to provide a richer view of the system’s performance and to enable the application of other metrics in the future, if needed. As an output of the service, in addition to the raw data, we also provide the customer with documentation describing logged features and conditions of the testing environment at the time of testing, as well as any parameter values, variation ranges and specifics required for reproducibility purposes.

Through this service, we offer dedicated technical systems (hardware and software) and expertise for the collection of relevant data during testing.

The scope of data collected can range from data generated by the AgrifoodTEF technical infrastructure (e.g., through the installation of IoT sensors) to the collection of data generated by the system under test to the generation of ground truth for evaluating the system. If necessary, service S00111 may be leveraged to take care of the interconnection between AgrifoodTEF data collection systems and the customer’s systems.

In addition to the raw collected data, we will also provide customers with complete documentation describing the logged features and conditions of the testing environment at the time of testing, as well as any parameter values, variation ranges and specifics required for reproducibility purposes.

Where necessary, data collection and documentation activities can require the involvement of field experts (e.g., engineers, agronomists).

Note: annotation and labelling of collected data, if needed, can be provided via service S00115.

This service consists of deploying a modular sensor payload (equipped with Lidar, inertial motion units, GNSS, Radar, stereo cameras, and ultra-wideband technology) to agricultural environments such as vineyards and orchards to collect and annotate high-fidelity datasets tailored to customer needs. Data are systematically labelled and can be delivered to agrifoodTEF customers as structured datasets for AI-driven agricultural solutions.

This service concerns the curation of ground truth annotations for testing and experimentation data. More specifically, data labelling concerns the association of portions of data (e.g., image regions) to descriptions that provide information about the significance of those portions. In particular, labelling is required whenever the data are meant to be used for model training. We also provide labelling services for domain-specific data attributes, such as disease indicators and their confounding factors, by experts in agronomy. The labelled data will be accompanied by a report synthesising quality metrics and statistics like the number of data points annotated, the percentage of the full set covered for the annotations, the number of annotators and the inter-annotator agreement.

Through this service, we offer customers the ability to validate and augment the data collected during the different testing phases. Examples of operations that this service can provide include quality checks (e.g., presence of all datastreams, presence of drop-outs, technical quality such as focus or exposure of camera images, agronomic significance of data); preparation for performance evaluation (e.g., identification of the images containing selected visual markers or specific plants, association between images from the system under test and the ground truth); data processing (e.g., transcoding) and augmentation (e.g., generation and incorporation of metadata). Data labelling (e.g., to enable training of AI models) is not included, as it is the object of a separate service (S00291).

We provide an analysis of collected data in the context of developing AI-driven agricultural products and services, identifying opportunities for data-value extraction through integration within the agrifoodTEF DataSpace.

Our goal is to help customers understand both the monetary and non-monetary value of their data, as well as the channels through which they can offer it to potential users and buyers.

By analysing supply and demand in relevant Data Spaces, we recommend optimal strategies for describing metadata and adopting the appropriate technological solutions to enhance data visibility, ensuring data owners maintain control over who accesses their information.

Our services include consulting customers on enriching their data systems to adopt data sovereignty and trust solutions, aligning with the European data space strategy.

Any test activity involves three main components, i.e., environment (where the tests take place), protocol (defining what activities are executed and how), and evaluation metrics (used to assess the results of the tests). This service concerns the last element; its goal is to design the best metrics to evaluate the performance of digital systems such as (for instance) AI models or computer vision software. The digital environment and the testing protocol metrics can be designed—if required—via services S00176 and S00177. Our team will identify and define with customers the most adequate set of quantitative metrics to assess the outcome of the digital testing activities. In order to ensure the relevance of the metrics with respect to the real-world use cases, the team will involve engineers and agronomists. The metrics will be adapted not only to the task that the digital system under test (e.g., a piece of software) is designed to perform, but also to the features of the data used for the tests. For instance, a customer that has developed a machine incorporating an AI model will be interested in testing the model on data generated by their own machine: the performance metrics will therefore need to be adapted to the specific features of that data.

Any physical test activity involves three main components: environment (where the tests take place), protocol (defining what tests are executed and how) and evaluation metrics (used to assess the results of the tests). This service concerns the last element; its goal is to design the best metrics to evaluate the performance of a customer solution taking into consideration the use cases specified by the customer and the environment and protocol chosen for the tests (which, if needed, can be designed via services S00106 and S00107). Our team will identify and define with customers the most adequate set of quantitative (i.e., based on instrumental measurements) and/or qualitative (i.e., relying on expert human judgement) metrics to assess the system functionalities of interest. This phase will involve, in particular, agronomists and experts in agricultural machinery. Based on the defined evaluation metrics, a set of requirements for the collection of required data and ground truth annotations will also be defined accordingly. For instance, the service may lay out the specifications for dedicated data collection campaigns (possibly executed via service S00113). This phase will involve engineers and experts in AI and robotics. On request, the output of the service will include analyses on additional environmental factors than those directly tracked through the designed metrics (e.g., seasonal effects, impact of test distribution over time on results).

Any physical test activity involves three main components: environment (where the tests take place), protocol (defining what tests are executed and how) and evaluation metrics (used to assess the results of the tests). This service concerns the first element, i.e., the design of a physical testing environment for use cases such as (for instance) weeding, plant phenotyping, and precision spraying solutions. The protocol and the evaluation metrics can -if required- be designed via services S00107 and S00108. 

Depending on your requirements and reference system/solution to be tested, our team will design an ad hoc setup equipped with all the required features for testing. Environmental features include, for example: 

• the crop and weed species to be prepared and their growth stage,  

• the plant layout and intra-row configuration,  

• seasonal weather and climate-related conditions (e.g., lighting conditions, wind, rain),  

• the type of soil, moisture level, and terrain conditions (e.g., uneven terrain, presence of any slopes, and so forth), 

• the technical infrastructure supporting the tests (e.g., electrical layout, network infrastructure, environmental sensors, data acquisition systems…). 

In order to consider all aspects of the environment, this service involves a team comprising both engineers and agronomists.