Dimitrios Paraforos

Prof. Dr. Dimitrios Paraforos

Contact:
Phone: +49 6722 502 362
eMail: Dimitrios.Paraforos(at)hs-gm.de
Postal Address:Von-Lade-Straße 1
D-65366 Geisenheim
Address: Building 6003
Room 4
Brentanostraße 9
65366 Geisenheim
Vita

Dimitrios Stergios Paraforos was born in Thessaloniki, Greece and grew up on a farm in Northern Greece. He completed his BSc studies in Automation Engineering at the Technological Educational Institute of Chalkida (now National and Kapodistrian University of Athens) and his MSc in Agricultural Engineering at the University of Thessaly.

After working for some years in the Industry as an Automation Engineer, he joined the University of Hohenheim where he obtained his PhD (2016) and Habilitation (2020) in Agricultural Engineering. In 2018 he received the Baden-Württemberg Certificate for academic teaching, while in 2020 he was awarded the GIL prize for his Habilitation Thesis.

Since April 2023 he is serving as a Professor of Agricultural Engineering in Special Crops at the Hochschule Geisenheim University. He is also serving as an associate editor of Computers and Electronics in Agriculture and is a member of the Editorial Board of Smart Agricultural Technology (both published by Elsevier).

He has been involved in more than 20 European and national research projects in the field of digitisation of agriculture and technology transfer. He is currently the coordinator of two BMEL-funded projects, DIWAKOPTER and Oenotrace, which focus on the implementation and traceability of sustainable cultivation practices in speciality crops. His research interests include the automation of agricultural machinery, unmanned ground and air vehicles and decentralised and resilient digital farming systems.

Publications
Research Projects

Project start: 01.11.2024
Project end: 31.10.2027
Sponsor: Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture

Autonomous field robots have enormous potential for ecologizing crop production and mitigating labor shortage. Although these systems are now ready for market, there are still major challenges, particularly with regard to their interaction with machine management, process control and the interaction between robot and implement. The aim of ISObot is to develop an integrated system for optimizing the operational management of field robots through improved interoperability at different levels, as well as automated process control. The starting point are commercial robot-implement combinations and a web-based machine management system. A process controller is being developed for weed management in viticulture, which uses sensors and intelligent algorithms to monitor and actively control the work process and document the quality of work. Another use case in arable farming will focus on monitoring the hoeing process and recording process parameters. In both cases, the robots will be linked to the machine management system via an IoT system in order to visualize process-relevant information via user-friendly interfaces and make it available for further agronomic use. Finally, approaches are being developed to bring communication between the subsystems involved into an automated, machine-readable form, primarily on the basis of the ISO 11783 (ISOBUS) standard, thus ensuring maximum interoperability at different levels without additional manual effort. Dissemination and transfer activities will be leveraged in the project to establish an exchange with agricultural practice. Eventually, another aim is to derive recommendations for further standardization efforts to improve the interoperability of electronic communication in agricultural machinery.

Project start: 01.05.2024
Project end: 30.04.2027
Sponsor: Federal Ministry of Education and Research

The diversification of cropping systems supports sustainability, climate resilience and ecosystem services, and will be considered in the context of Precision Agriculture in NSmartSystems. Various methods and open-source tools will be developed to optimally combine diversification and precision fertiliser management, enabling farmers to improve their profitability and reduce negative environmental impact. The specific objectives of the NSmartSystems project are: (1) Development of decision support systems (DSS) for the diversification of cropping systems through crop rotation and the intelligent use of catch crops. (2) Improved decision making for variable rate N fertilisation through user-centered, multi-parametric tools. (3) Optimisation of in-field variable rate N application through improved coordination of the application system and spreade. (4) Develop tools for farmers to analyse and monitor the impact of their management decisions over time.

Project start: 01.03.2024
Project end: 28.02.2029
Sponsor: Hessen State Ministry of Higher Education, Research and the Arts

Project start: 01.06.2023
Project end: 30.11.2026
Sponsor: European Commission, Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture

Oenotrace will provide solutions to the ICT-AGRI-FOOD call for proposals as it includes a data-driven system enabling and promoting transparency for the end-users along the value chain from producer to consumer. Mapping of the value chain will be performed, and in the next step critical points/process steps where information flow (and transparency) can be improved will be identified. This will be examined having wine-growing in the focus and will provide the consumers with a clear and transparent tracing of how the bottle of wine has reached them. Data will be available along the entire value chain starting from machinery working in the field applying various rates of inputs (fuel, pesticides, fertilizers) and climate conditions up to winemaking, bottle filling and transportation. One main target is to trace back with full transparency sustainable cultivation practices.

Project start: 28.02.2020
Project end: 27.02.2025
Sponsor: Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture

Presentations