A Formal Model for Managing Multiple Observation Data in Agriculture

Abstract

Nowadays, farmers can search for treatments for their plants using search engines and applications. Most existing works are developed in the form of rule-based question answering platforms. However, an observation could be incorrectly given by the farmer. This work recommends that diseases and treatments must be considered from a set of related observations. Thus, we develop a theoretical framework for systems to manage a farmer's observation data. We investigate and formalize desirable characteristics of such systems. The observation data is attached with a geolocation in which related contextual data is found. The framework is formalized based on algebra, in which required types and functions are identified. Its key characteristics are described by: (1) the defined type called warncons for representing observation data; (2) the similarity function for warncons; and (3) the warncons composition function for composing similar warncons. Finally, we show that the framework helps observation data to become richer and improve advice-finding.