Frost monitoring cyber-physical system: a survey on prediction and active protection methods

Frost damage in broadacre cropping and horticulture (including viticulture) results in substantial economic losses to producers and may also disrupt associated product value chains. Frost risk windows are changing in timing, frequency, and duration. Faced with the increasing cost of mitigation infrastructure and competition for resources (e.g. water and energy), multi-peril insurance, and the need for supply chain certainty, producers are under pressure to innovate in order to manage and mitigate risk. Frost protection systems are cyber-physical systems comprising of sensors (event detection), intelligence (prediction), and actuators (active protection methods). The Internet of Things communication protocols joining the cyber-physical system components are also evaluated. In this context, this paper introduces and reviews existing methods of frost management. This paper focuses on active protection methods because of their potential for real-time deployment during frost events. For integrated frost prediction and active protection systems, prediction method, sensor types, and integration architecture are assessed, research gaps are identified and future research directions proposed.