Posted: January 9, 2025
Cyber-physical heating system may protect apple blossoms.
Photo: Penn State
Spring frosts can devastate apple production, and a warming climate may cause trees to blossom early, making them more susceptible to damage from extreme cold events. Growers' efforts to prevent flowers from freezing by heating orchard canopies have been inefficient.
Penn State researchers, led by Long He, associate professor of agricultural and biological engineering, devised a frost protection cyber-physical system, which makes heating decisions based on real-time temperature and wind-direction data. The system consists of a temperature-sensing device, a propane-fueled heater that automatically adjusts its direction and angle depending on wind direction, and a crewless ground vehicle to move the system through an orchard.
Published in Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, the study's findings show that the system greatly reduced bud damage. In tests, the system as much as tripled the time the test-area canopy was protected, compared to similar but unprotected orchard sections nearby.
—Jeff Mulhollem
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