Assessment

Equipped with advanced systems for sustainable and intelligent food transformation, this fixed facility supports pilot-scale trials for food companies. It enables the testing and optimisation of food processing procedures, from ingredient preparation to packaging and labeling. The plant offers comprehensive solutions for ready-to-eat vegetables (IV Range), refrigerated ready meals (V Range), and restructured foods (VI Range), while also facilitating the study of storage, refrigeration, and shelf life.

The facility includes a mechanical workshop, an extensive range of robot platforms and hardware (e.g., sensors) and a 200 m³ motion capture volume. A close collaboration with Università degli Studi di Milano allows AIRLab to test robot systems for agricultural applications in fields, orchards and greenhouses.

The cluster comprises 4 servers with 24 GPUs overall and a NAS. It is installed in a climate-controlled server room; power is distributed via industrial UPS units.

The small ruminants research barn at Raumberg-Gumpenstein is a flexible facility designed for in-depth studies on sheep and goats. It offers customisable compartments for various research setups, including feeding trials, performance testing, and carcass evaluation. Equipped with 360-degree video monitoring and weighing systems, the barn supports continuous behavioural tracking and health assessments, providing valuable insights into animal welfare and productivity.

The poultry research barn at Raumberg-Gumpenstein is a versatile research facility designed to conduct a variety of studies with both fattening poultry and laying hens. This multi-purpose barn can be adapted for different poultry types, making it suitable for a wide range of research applications. The barn is equipped with continuous video monitoring to track animal behaviour and a gas measurement system to monitor emissions during experiments.

The cattle research barn at Raumberg-Gumpenstein is a state-of-the-art facility designed to meet international research standards for cattle experimentation. The barn supports real-time data acquisition through sensors and cameras, ensuring precise measurement and observation of animal welfare, behaviour, and productivity. With dedicated spaces for calving, separation pens, and a high standard of hygiene, the infrastructure enables both basic and applied research in animal science.

The Food Pilot helps companies, labs, and governments with their agri-food challenges: product development, process optimisation, or troubleshooting technical production problems. Within a co-creative process we bring solutions in the form of advice, lab analyses, and/or pilot trials performed on semi-industrial processing equipment. We work strictly confidentially. The Food Pilot is a collaboration between ILVO and Flanders' FOOD. More information is available on www.foodpilot.be/en/.

The ILVO Hyperspectral Technology Facility enables advanced applications in agri-food processing, such as quality control, defect detection, grading, and sorting of (raw) products. By comparing spectral and spatial data to reference measurements, we build chemometric models capable of estimating product parameters in real time. The facility hosts a range of hyperspectral and multispectral devices, including spectrometers with customisable probes, hyperspectral cameras, and FTNIRS systems suited for both solid and liquid samples.

ILVO’s fertiliser spreader calibration lab offers services to farmers, fertiliser spreader manufacturers, and fertiliser-producing companies. Two different approaches are used for assessing the performance of centrifugal and pendulum fertiliser spreaders for specific types of fertilisers: collection trays equipped with anti-reflection grids are used for determining spread patterns in field conditions.

The ILVO testing field is a small field with dry sandy loam soil. The testing field is conveniently located next to our workshop facility, allowing us to test and adapt a prototype in quick succession in a real-world setting. Depending on the intended tests, different crops are installed each growing season.