Ingenious students’ project lights the way for powdery mildew treatment

Final year science, engineering and technology students from 91×ÔÅÄ are ready to showcase their future-leading technology at this year’s Ingenuity showcase on Wednesday, 29 October.

The annual event is attended by several thousand people including primary and secondary school students, industry representatives and the general public.

"Ingenuity is a chance for University of Adelaide final year students to shine," says University of Adelaide’s Professor David Lewis, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology.

"Students are challenged to develop ingenious solutions to help improve the way we live and work. Their projects seek to advance human knowledge by applying cutting-edge technology.

"Their practical solutions to real-world problems highlight the skills and experience they have gained during their courses."

The projects cover a range of topics including compacting iron to create cleaner steel, capitalising on the power of waves to make energy and advancing optical coherence tomography to diagnose cardiovascular disease, developing noise-reducing motorcycle helmets, amphibious housing and exploring hydrogen-powered aircraft.

Students Andy Le, Cian Dunlevy, Jaedh Rameezdeen, Vedant Sakpal and Milan Tamang are shining a literal light on a problem experienced by one of Australia's largest industries - viticulture.

Powdery and downy mildew cost the Australian viticulture sector nearly $170 million a year.

At present, treatment consists of chemical herbicide, but the students been exploring a cleaner, safer way to deal with the pest by harnessing UV-C light.

"We've implemented a control system which uses ultrasonic sensors to measure the distance to the grapevine," says Milan.

"This is used to ensure the UV-C emitters deliver a consistent and effective treatment."

The automated system uses a series of 10 sensors to navigate vines that have been identified as being infected, and can move three UV-C lights up, down, in and out to treat the mildew on the leaves, and deep within the plant where sunlight doesn’t reach.

"UV-C is a band of ultraviolet light which has shown potential to be effective in controlling pests and fungi," says Cian.

“Research shows that chemical pesticides currently used can be harmful to people's health, to the plants and the environment; we see this method as a means to provide a better alternative."

The team’s system would attach to an autonomous tractor and drive through the vines at night -- as the mildew can repair damage to its DNA using certain wavelengths of sunlight.

"This is just a demonstration of what it could look like, and how it could be used to treat the problem -- there is the capability to explore the mechanical design and sensor capabilities," says Jaedh.

"There's still a lot of research to be done about the right dosage of UV-C light as a treatment, and this design can be used as a platform in that research as well -- something new doesn't need to be developed."

Ingenuity will be held at the Adelaide Convention Centre from 9:30am to 3pm. To find out more, visit the .

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