This paper describes the development of a modular unmanned aerial vehicle for the detection and eradication of weeds on farmland. Precision agriculture entails solving the problem of poor agricultural yield due to competition for nutrients by weeds and provides a faster approach to eliminating the problematic weeds using emerging technologies. This research has addressed the aforementioned problem. A quadcopter was built, and components were assembled with light-weight materials. The system consists of the electric motor, electronic speed controller, propellers, frame, lithium polymer (li-po) battery, flight controller, a global positioning system (GPS), and receiver. A sprayer module which consists of a relay, Raspberry Pi 3, spray pump, 12 V DC source, water hose, and the tank was built. It operated in such a way that when a weed is detected based on the deep learning algorithms deployed on the Raspberry Pi, general purpose input/output (GPIO) 17 or GPIO 18 (of the Raspberry Pi) were activated to supply 3.3 V, which turned on a DC relay to spray herbicides accordingly. The sprayer module was mounted on the quadcopter and from the test-running operation conducted, broadleaf and grass weeds were accurately detected and the spraying of herbicides according to the weed type occurred in less than a second.

The tremendous increase in vehicular navigation often witnessed daily has elicited constant and continuous traffic congestion at signalized road intersections. This study focuses on applying an artificial neural network trained by particle swarm optimization (ANN-PSO) to unravel the problem of traffic congestion. Traffic flow variables, such as the speed of vehicles on the road, number of different categories of vehicles, traffic density, time, and traffic volumes, were considered input and output variables for modelling traffic flow of non-autonomous vehicles at a signalized road intersection. Four hundred and thirty-four (434) traffic datasets, divided into thirteen (13) inputs and one (1) output, were obtained from seven roadsites connecting to the N1 Allandale interchange identified as the busiest road in Southern Africa. The results obtained from this research have shown a training and testing performance of 0.98356 and 0.98220. These results are indications of a significant positive correlation between the inputs and output variables. Optimal performance of the ANN-PSO model was achieved by tuning the number of neurons, accelerating factors, and swarm population sizes concurrently. The evidence from this research study suggests that the ANN-PSO model is an appropriate predictive model for the swift optimization of vehicular traffic flow at signalized road intersections. This research extends our knowledge of traffic flow modelling at a signalized road intersection using metaheuristics algorithms. The ANN-PSO model developed in this research will assist traffic engineers in designing traffic lights and creation of traffic rules at signalized road intersections.

The fourth industrial revolution (4IR) has ushered in technological advancement, which is currently reshaping all sectors of the economy, including the agricultural domain. This paper describes the application of artificial intelligence technique on an embedded device. It involves the smart detection of potassium deficiency in red grape vines using the deep learning algorithm. This was deployed on a raspberry pi-3 for real-time actuation and effective prediction. The light-emitting diode (LED) was lit when a potassium deficient red grapevine leaf was brought close to the pi-camera. Image data obtained was fed as input into the model. Training, validation, and testing accuracies of 89%, 81%, and 80% were obtained respectively for the CNN model which surpassed the performance of the Support Vector Machines (SVM) classifier. This research has demonstrated a paradigm shift from the conventional agricultural method of detecting nutrient deficiency to a more effective real-time deep learning algorithm which prompt a corresponding actuation to effectively spray of fertilizers. This technique in no doubt would lead to tremendous increase in food production.

Energy demand and consumption have, in recent times, witnessed a rapid proliferation influenced by technological developments, increased population and economic growth. This has fuelled research trends in the domain of energy management employing tri-generation systems such as combined cooling, heating and power (CCHP) systems. Furthermore, the incorporation of renewable energy, especially solar energy, to complement the thermal input of fossil fuels has facilitated the effectiveness and sustainability of CCHP systems. This study proposes a new approach to improve the overall efficiency of CCHP systems and to compute optimal design parameters in order to assist decision makers to identify the best geometrical configuration. A multi-objective optimization formulation of a solar-assisted CCHP system was adopted to maximize the net power and exergy efficiency and to minimize the CO₂ emission using the greywolf optimization technique. In addition, the effects of the decision variables on the objective functions were analysed. The proposed optimization approach yielded 100 set of Pareto optimal solutions which would serve as options for the decision maker when making a selection to choose from when seeking to improve the performance of a solar-assisted CCHP system. It also yielded higher exergy efficiency and lower CO₂ emission values when compared with a similar study. The results obtained indicate that a system with high net power output does not necessarily translate to a highly efficient system. Additionally, minimal CO₂ emissions were recorded for a system with low compression ratio, low combustion chamber inlet temperature and high inlet turbine temperature. This study demonstrates that the proposed approach is potentially suitable for the optimization of a solar-assisted CCHP system.

The increasing demand for energy, driven by technological advances, population growth, and economic expansion, has intensified the focus on efficient energy management. Tri-generation systems, such as Combined Cooling, Heating, and Power (CCHP) systems, are of particular interest due to their efficiency and sustainability. Integrating renewable energy sources like solar power with traditional fossil fuels further optimizes CCHP systems. This study presents a novel method for enhancing the CCHP system efficiency by identifying the optimal design parameters and assisting decision makers in selecting the best geometric configurations. A mathematical programming model using the Harris Hawks optimizer was developed to maximize the net power and exergy efficiency while minimizing CO₂ emissions in a solar-assisted CCHP system. The optimization resulted in 100 Pareto optimal solutions, offering various choices for performance improvement. This method achieved a higher net power output, satisfactory exergy efficiency, and lower CO₂ emissions compared to similar studies. The study shows that the maximum net power and exergy efficiency, with reduced CO₂ emissions, can be achieved with a system having a low compression ratio and low combustion chamber inlet temperature. The proposed approach surpassed the response surface method, achieving at least a 4.2% reduction in CO₂ emissions and improved exergy values.