Ahmad Kamal Nasir, PhD
Director engineering laboratory
Assistant professor of electrical engineering, school of science and engineering
lahore university of management sciences, pakistan
Index Time Speaker Talk Title 
 		Affiliation 
1 09:30 - 10:15 
 		Uni. Prof. Dr. -Ing. Hubert Roth 
 		Large Scale Aerial Mapping using Autonomous MAVs 
 		University of Siegen, Germany 
2 10:15 - 10:45 
 		  Tea Break  
 		 
3
 		10:45 - 11:15 
 		Dr. -Ing. Ahmad Kamal Nasir 
 		Use of UAV(s) for Agriculture and Forestry Applications 
 		Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), Pakistan 
4 11:15 - 11:45 
 		Dr. Abubakr Muhammad 
 		Robotics & Automation Driven Precision Ag Solutions for Public Sector and Industry in Pakistan 
 		Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), Pakistan 
5 11:45 - 12:15 
 		Dr. Ali Raza 
 		Towards Multipurpose Robotic End-Effector for Crop Husbandry 
 		University of Engineering and Technology Lahore, Pakistan 
6 12:15 - 12:45 
 		Dr. Muhammad Anjum Ali 
 		Technology Adaptation and Diffusion Challenges in Pakistan Agriculture Sector 
 		Plant Science Division, National Agriculture Research Council, Islamabad, Pakistan 
7 12:45 - 14:00 
 		  Lunch Break  
 		 
8 14:00 - 14:30 
 		Dr Mamoona Wali Muhammad 
 		Precision Forestry 
 		Punjab Forestry Institute, Peshwar 
9 14:30 - 15:00 
 		Dr. Jehanzeb Masud Cheema 
 		Crop Health Monitoring using UAV Multispectral Imagery 
 		University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF), Pakistan 
10 15:00 - 15:30 
 		Mr. Abdul Wahab 
 		Development of GIS Based Forest Management Information System in Punjab 
 		GIS Lab, Punjab Forest Department, Pakistan 
11 15:30 - 15:45 
 		  Tea Break    
12 15:45 - 16:45 
 		  Discussion Panel  
 		 
  16:45 - 17:15 
 		  Closing Cermony  
 		 
Workshop Proceeding:

3rd International Workshop on Precision Agriculture and Forestry (WPAF) was held on Saturday 14th October, 2017 at Ali Institute of Education, Lahore. It was part of the three days RoboMela Event organized as a joint effort by Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), University of Siegen, Germany, University of Kaiserslautern, Germany, Lahore College for Women University (LCWU), University of Central Punjab (UCP), University of Lahore (UOL) and Higher Education Commission (HEC).  
 
Precision agriculture meant to optimize the agricultural production system by use of several information based technologies to enhance profit and reduce environmental risks. The purpose of this workshop was to provide a platform to university researchers, private and public sector organizations and industry professionals to share their current research work, experience and highlight the challenges that precision agriculture and forestry faces in Pakistan. 45 people participated in the workshop out of which 55% were students, 27% were from private agriculture and food sector and 18% were from public agriculture sector. Students showed a keen interest in remote sensing and UAVs based applications and enthusiastically participated in the question and answer session followed by each talk.  
 
The Keynote talk for the workshop was given by Prof. Dr. -Ing. Hubert Roth on ‘Large Scale Aerial Mapping using Autonomous MAV(s)’. He is a full professor and chair of Mechatronics department at University of Siegen, Germany. He presented an application of UAV in precision forestry during his keynote speech and highlighted various issues involved in UAV path planning in complex environments.  
 
Dr -Ing. Ahmad Kamal Nasir who is an assistant professor at department of electrical engineering LUMS and also leads the Precision Agriculture and Forestry Research cluster at LUMS shared three example applications of UAV(s) for agriculture and forestry cases in Pakistan during his presentation. The first use-case was for maize crop monitoring with Nestle farms, the second was for Girdawari application in collaboration with Crop Reporting Service, Punjab Agriculture Department Pakistan. The third one was on precision forestry in collaboration with Uni-Siegen, Germany, to estimate carbon sink and stock in forest areas. According to him, Pakistan has already missed the remote sensing revolution of 80’s and now the world is moving towards the precision agriculture techniques. Therefore, the use of UAV is crucial for implementing Precision agriculture techniques. He stressed on the usability of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) to map crop health and fruit orchards for improved farm management.  
 
His presentation was followed by Dr Abubakr Muhammad who presented ‘Robotics and Automation Driven Precision Ag Solutions for Public Sector and Industry in Pakistan’. Dr. Abubakr is Director of Water Informatics Technology (WIT) center at LUMS and also an associate professor at electrical engineering department of LUMS. He shared information with audience related to various research projects going on at his research group and WIT-LUMS. Dr Ali Raza, who is an assistant professor at Mechatronics department of UET Lahore and also heads the AI and Robotics Lab at the department, shared his research work with the audience on ‘Multipurpose Robotic End-Effector for Crop Husbandry’. He presented his on-going research work incorporating robotics solutions in center pivot based farm setting in Pakistan.  
 
Dr Muhammad Anjum Ali, Member Plant Science Division at National Agriculture Research Council, shared his past experience as Director General Extension of Punjab Agriculture department and provided various suggestions to improve current agricultural practices in Pakistan. He also discussed with the audience various technology adaptation and diffusion challenges in Pakistan agriculture sector.  
 
Dr Maimoona Wali, Director of Forest Education division was also one of the invited speakers. She is the first female in Pakistan to get a Doctorate degree in Forestry. She shared with the audience her contributions at Peshawar Forest Research Institute (PFRI)’s in incorporating modern technology and advanced courses for development of precision forestry in Pakistan. The CEO of South Punjab Forest Company, Mr. Tahir Rasheed also attended the workshop.  
 
Dr Jehanzeb Masud Cheema, who is also the program chair of Precision Agriculture, USPCAS-AFS at University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, talked about the importance of aerial remote sensing technologies for the use of precision agriculture. He shared his research work on’ Crop Health Monitoring using UAV Multispectral Imagery’ and enlightened the audience with his experiences in the field.  
 
Another representation from the forestry department was by Mr Abdul Wahab of Punjab Forest Department, GIS Lab, Lahore, Pakistan. He discussed the current development of GIS based forest management information system in Punjab and the integration of UAV and web applications in order to facilitate forestry research studies.  
 
The presentations were followed by an interactive panel discussion on the topic of Robotics for Better Pakistan. The discussion was moderated by Dr. Abubakr while the panel members were Dr. Anjum Ali, Prof. Dr. Kastern Berns from University of Kaiserslautern, Germany, and Dr. Yasir Ayaz from National University of Science and Technology Islamabad, Pakistan. The discussion also highlighted the fact that the gap in government policy for the use and procurement of UAV is main challenge faced by researchers in various universities towards integrating UAVs for precision agriculture and forestry applications, hence government should take initiative to fill this policy gap.  
 
The workshop concluded that the state of the art technology such as UAVs and satellite based remote sensing are enabling farmers and agronomists to maximize production by improving plant health inspections. Precision farming offers the farmers and agronomists, an opportunity to gather more detailed information about variability in their fields for informed decision. Affordable access to commercial UAV equipped with specialized photographic equipment, opens a whole new realm of opportunities in agriculture sector.  
 
At the end participants of the workshop were given certificates and the invited speakers were presented souvenirs during the closing ceremony to acknowledge their contribution and to thank them for devoting their valuable time and effort in creating awareness about PAF in Pakistan.