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Digital and Precision Agriculture Lab, University of MarylandPrecision Agriculture Technology Conference on Feb 26, 2026 at the Crowne Plaza, Annapolis.Digital and Precision Agriculture Lab, University of MarylandPrecision Agriculture Technology Conference on Feb 26, 2026 at the Crowne Plaza, Annapolis.

Ongoing Research Projects

Precision Irrigation Management for Soybean in Maryland
AI & ML

Optimizing Water-Smart Soybean Production

Precision irrigation management for soybean in Maryland to improve water use efficiency and yield.

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UAVs and AI for Crop Management and Environmental Sustainability
AI & ML

Advanced UAV Technology for Sustainable Crop Monitoring

AI and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) technology for crop monitoring, LAI estimation, and disease detection.

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Drone-Based Spraying for Watermelon in the Mid-Atlantic

Smart Aerial Spraying Systems for Watermelon

Drone spraying for watermelon production; effectiveness and efficiency assessment.

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AI-Enabled Precision Irrigation Decision Support Tool
AI & ML

Intelligent Irrigation Decision Platform

AI-based irrigation decision tool to help farmers apply optimal water amounts, reducing water and nutrient use while improving productivity.

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Precision Horticulture with UAVs for Ornamental Nurseries
AI & ML

Digital Plant Management for Ornamental Production

Precision horticulture with UAVs, computer vision, and ML for ornamental nursery monitoring, decision-making, and resource optimization.

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Soil and Water for Irrigation Management in Maryland
AI & ML

Soil and Water for Irrigation Management in Maryland

Comprehensive database of soil hydraulic properties for Maryland to support precision irrigation and water-use efficiency.

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Nutrient Load Reductions in Agricultural Drainage

Quantifying Nutrient Management in Drainage Systems

Measuring and quantifying nutrient load reduction in agricultural drainage structures to improve water quality.

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View Thematic Research Areas on the home page →

D-PAL Facilities

Our lab integrates field, laboratory, and computational resources to support precision agriculture research-from soil and water analysis to UAV-based monitoring and AI-driven decision support.

Field Research

Central Maryland Research and Education Center-diverse agricultural landscapes for testing irrigation, VRI, automated drainage, and sensor networks.

  • • Irrigation & VRI systems
  • • Automated drainage water management
  • • Weather & soil moisture networks

Laboratory

Soil hydraulic characterization, water quality and nutrient analysis, and lab-scale irrigation and drainage systems.

  • • Soil hydraulic properties
  • • Nutrient & water quality
  • • Lab-scale irrigation/drainage

Remote Sensing & GIS

UAV systems, multispectral/hyperspectral imaging, GIS software, satellite imagery processing, and spatial analysis.

  • • UAV crop monitoring
  • • Multispectral imaging
  • • GIS & satellite processing

IoT & Sensors

Wireless sensor networks, IoT irrigation control, real-time data acquisition, and sensor calibration.

  • • Wireless soil moisture networks
  • • IoT irrigation control
  • • Real-time telemetry

Computational & Modeling

HYDRUS and process-based models, ML/AI environments, big data processing, cloud resources, and statistical/visualization tools.

  • • HYDRUS & process-based models
  • • Machine learning & AI development
  • • Cloud computing & visualization

Location

Central Maryland Research and Education Center
2005 Largo Road, Upper Marlboro, MD 20774-8508