Laboratory of Agricultural Engineering

 

Year of Endorsement: 1928

 

Number of Endorsement’s Act/Government’s Gazette Number (FEK): Α΄ 12/30.06.1928

 

Address / Communication: Faculty of Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Environment Building, 1st Floor

Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Campus

School of Agriculture, Postal Code 54124

 

 

Members – Teaching Staff

Vassilios Frangos, Professor

Tel.: +30 2310 998718

e-mail: fragos @agro.auth.gr

 

Xanthoula Eirini Pantazi, Associate Professor

Tel.: +30 2310 9988868

e-mail: xpantazi@agro.auth.gr

 

Evangelos Anastasiou, Assistant Professor

Tel.: +30 2310 998757

e-mail: ekanastasiou@agro.auth.gr

 

Other staff

–

 

Emeritus and retired professors

Savvas Gavriilidis, Professor Emeritus

Konstantinos Akritidis, Professor Emeritus

Konstantinos Tsatsarelis, Professor Emeritus

Moschou Dimitrios, Professor

Stavros Vougioukas, Assistant Professor

 

 

Collaborating Scientists

Marios Karagiovannidis

Mr. Marios Karagiovannidis is a Diplomate in Electrical Engineering and a PhD in Agricultural Engineering and Water Resources, School of Agriculture, Faculty of Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He has more than 15 years of experience in the field of control and automation systems and electromechanical systems in industrial and agricultural applications. He has experience in the construction and operation of water and waste treatment plants including the programming of PLC and SCADA systems with the help of sensors and actuators. In addition, he has extensive experience in modeling and simulation of dynamic systems using analog and digital signals, as well as in data analysis and processing. He specializes in the design, installation and operation of greenhouse and indoor cultivation systems, including climate control, irrigation and nutrition systems, Artificial Intelligence technologies, as well as the use of autonomous ground or airborne robotic systems and UAVs. He has extensive experience in national and European research projects.

Anastasia Denizopoulou

Mrs. Anastasia Denizopoulou is an Environmental Engineer, with studies in the United Kingdom and specialization in flow hydrodynamics, while she has specialized in the treatment of urban wastewater through wetlands in collaboration with the Hellenic Center for Biotopes-Wetlands. She holds a Master’s degree in Waste Management from the Hellenic Open University and a PhD (2021) from the Faculty of Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Environment on natural ventilation in livestock units. Since 2025, she has been a postdoctoral researcher at the School of Agriculture, focusing on biosystems modeling and poultry microclimate control. She has published 7 papers in international peer-reviewed journals and 5 in national conferences and speaks fluent English and French, as well as very good German.

 

Vasileios Laskos

Mr. Vasilios Laskos is an Agriculturist and Mathematician, a graduate of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (1998 and 2009 respectively), with specialization in Land Improvements and a particular research interest in mathematical simulation of fluid flows and aerodynamics. He holds a Master’s Degree from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki with a grade of Excellent (9.46/10.00), on the mathematical simulation of the effect of air on arched greenhouses, while since 2015 he has been working on a doctoral thesis on the study of three-dimensional turbulent air flow around structures through direct numerical simulation (DNS). He has a certification in computer science (EUCIP) and programming in C++, and excellent knowledge of English. He has many years of professional experience as an agronomist and damage assessor at the Hellenic Agricultural Insurance Organization (ELGA), as well as a head of the department of οlive fruit fly control at the Prefecture of Halkidiki, while at the same time he was active as a mathematics teacher in private education. Since 2025, he has been a postdoctoral researcher at the School of Agriculture specializing in the field of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) for the study of numerical and laboratory experiments on agricultural systems. He is a member of the Geotechnical Chamber of Greece (GEOT.EE) and has participated in scientific publications in international journals and conferences in the field of computational fluid mechanics.

 

Research Field

Agricultural Engineering – Pumps, Automation in Agriculture, Agricultural Mechanization

 

 

 

History

The Laboratory of Agricultural Engineering is one of the oldest laboratory units of the School of Agriculture of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Its establishment dates back to 1928, simultaneously with the establishment of the Department of Agriculture of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Government Gazette A’ 112/30.06.1928), with the aim of supporting education and research in the field of mechanization of agricultural production and the application of technologies in agriculture. Since 1981, it has operated as an independent laboratory within the framework of the Department of Land Improvement, Soil Science and Agricultural Engineering of the School of Agriculture.

The educational and research activities of the Laboratory are carried out at the facilities of the School of Agriculture, at the Farm of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Thermi, where infrastructures have been developed for experimental applications, testing of agricultural machinery and studies related to the mechanization and modernization of agricultural production. The Laboratory supports the educational process at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, as well as the preparation of diploma and doctoral theses, while at the same time developing significant research activity, having participated in more than 25 European and national research projects.

The Laboratory’s research activity focuses on the development and application of modern technologies for precision agriculture, digital agriculture and intelligent agricultural systems, with the aim of improving the efficiency of cultivation practices, the sustainable management of natural resources and enhancing the quality and traceability of agricultural products. In this context, decision support systems for the management of agricultural systems and the traceability of agricultural products, variable dose applications in plant protection and fertigation practices, robotic platforms for crop detection and phenotypic evaluation, as well as automated monitoring systems using sensors and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies are being developed.

At the same time, the Laboratory is developing methodologies for predictive maintenance of agricultural machinery, computer vision and artificial intelligence techniques for early disease diagnosis and weed detection, as well as advanced crop yield prediction models utilizing heterogeneous data fusion techniques and artificial intelligence architectures. In addition, post-harvest technology issues are being investigated, such as the determination of agricultural product quality and the optimization of drying processes through simulation and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) techniques.

Furthermore, the laboratory combines Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and parallel programming using high-performance computing (HPC) systems, enabling the solution of three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations for the study of laminar and turbulent flow around agricultural structures. Focusing on the optimization of the microclimate and natural ventilation in greenhouses and livestock facilities through wind tunnel experiments, the laboratory also integrates open-source software technologies for the study of complex phenomena, such as cavitation in pumps and the microclimate of agricultural constructions, promoting the technological upgrading of agricultural production.

Through these activities, the Laboratory contributes to the development of innovative technologies for the modernization of agriculture and the enhancement of sustainable agricultural production, while strengthening the connection of academic research with the needs of the agri-food sector.

 

Teaching Activities

The members of the Agricultural Engineering Laboratory, Vassilios Frangos, Xanthoula Eirini Pantazi and Evangelos Anastasiou, are responsible for teaching nine (9) undergraduate courses of the Department of Agriculture of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, which cover the subjects of agricultural engineering, automation, precision agriculture, management of agricultural machinery and pumping systems, as well as advanced modeling and computational fluid dynamics in agricultural applications. These courses are: Mathematics (N005Y), Principles of Automation – New Technologies (N225E, N447E), Farm Power and Machinery (N201Y), Farm Mechanization (N211Y), Drying – Storage of Agricultural Products (N221E), Precision Agriculture – Resource Saving (N075E), Agricultural Machinery Management (N209Y, N250Y), Electric Motors – Pumps (N236E) and Mechanical Harvesting of Agricultural Products (N238E). At the same time, the members of the Laboratory participate in the teaching of seven (7) postgraduate courses within the framework of the Graduate Programs of the Department of Agriculture: Big Data Processing – Internet of Things (RM119), Artificial Intelligence – Robotics (RM121), Simulation and Modeling of Biosystems (RM120), Precision Agriculture and Resource Conservation (RM105), Research Approach to the Postgraduate Thesis (RM106), Controlled Environment Systems (RM101) and Training in Analytical Instruments and Laboratory Devices (RM122). In addition, the members of the Laboratory actively participate in the supervision of undergraduate theses, postgraduate theses and doctoral dissertations, contributing to the education and training of young scientists in the fields of agricultural engineering, automation, precision agriculture, advanced modeling and computational fluid dynamics.

 

Research Activities

• Development of Decision Support Systems (DSS) for the assessment of land use suitability and traceability of agricultural products, including organic and Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) products.
• Applications of precision agriculture and variable input technologies in plant protection and fertigation practices.
• Development of robotic crop detection and phenotypic assessment platforms and automated crop monitoring systems using sensors and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies.
• Development of predictive maintenance methods for agricultural machinery and equipment using operational data and data analysis techniques.
• Crop yield prediction using advanced heterogeneous data fusion techniques and artificial intelligence architectures.
• Determination and evaluation of the post-harvest quality of agricultural products and study of their drying and processing processes.
• Modeling and simulation of agricultural systems and applications of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) for the study of transport phenomena, such as the optimization of hot air flow in agricultural product dryers.
• Development of systems for early diagnosis of crop diseases and weed detection using computer vision techniques and artificial intelligence methods.
• Evaluation of the use of agricultural machinery and equipment
• Evaluation of the use of agricultural machinery and equipment
• Study of the movement of real fluids and in particular of the laminar and turbulent flow around agricultural structures-obstacles established in wind tunnels. This study is based on laboratory and numerical experiments in wind tunnels, with the movement of air being carried out with special fans – writing of finite element code for the solution of the two-dimensional and three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations in the FORTRAN programming language – use of parallel programming and supercomputers.
• Study of natural ventilation in agricultural structures with the help of computational fluid mechanics.
• Study of the microclimate in livestock structures with natural ventilation conditions.
• Study of the use of small wind turbines for the energy needs of natural ventilation systems, heat pumps and water pumping.
• Study of the environment of agricultural constructions using open source devices and software.
• Study of cavitation in centrifugal pumps using open source devices and software.
• Control and optimization of centrifugal pump operating conditions.
• Study of the physicochemical properties of innovative substrates using computational fluid dynamics

 

Facilities and Equipment

• Drying test device (controlled drying air conditions)
• Steam heat treatment device for agricultural products and by-products (controlled steam quality, pressure, temperature conditions)
• Closed-cycle centrifugal pump test rig
• Seed dryer (commercial scale)
• Two agricultural tractors with various accessory tools
• Portable Fluorometer
• Innovative RFID-radar system for detection and geolocation of RFID tags
• Portable GPS and D-GPS
• 3D printer and scanner

 

Recent Research Projects

• 2023-2025 Innovative solutions for the sustainable and environmentally friendly protection of Greek horticultural crops in the context of the Europe of the future (European Union – NextGenerationEU)
• 2020-2023 Technological development and commercial implementation of a quality protocol for the export of Greek kiwifruit to major markets (Τ2ΕδΚ-03007, MIS 5072503. 2nd cycle RESEARCH – CREATE – INNOVATE)
• 2021-2023 Multimodal sensory perception for the phenotypic characterization of individual plants in agricultural robotics – ANTONIO (ERANET, ICT-AGRIFOOD)
• 2021-2023 Investigation of the potential of selective harvesting based on the assessment of mycotoxin content in cereal crops- -POSHMyCo (ERANET, ICT-AGRIFOOD)
• 2021-2023 Data-driven platform for spatially specific fertigation- ADDFerti (ERANET, ICT-AGRIFOOD)
• 2020-2024 Integrated and interconnected digital platform to ensure food integrity and traceability of relevant Mediterranean supply chains -MEDIFIT (PRIMA)
• 2019-2023 High Performance Computing (HPC) services for the prevention and control of pests in tree crops- GRAPEVINE (INEA)
• 2020-2023 Agricultural Data Interoperability and Analysis System- ATLAS (Horizon 2020)
• 2020-2023 Resilient agriculture with adaptive microclimate management- STARGATE (Horizon 2020)
• 2018-2020 European e-Infrastructure for Large-Scale Data Analysis in the Context of Sustainable Development-EUXDAT (Horizon 2020)
• 2018-2020 Evaluation of Defense Responses in Tomato Induced by Encapsulated Biological Plant Protection Agents and Organic Defense Inducers Using Artificial Neural Networks (ELIDEK)
• 2017-2023 Sino-European Soil Observatory for Smart Land Use Management-SIEUSOIL (Horizon 2020)
• 2019-2020 Remote Sensing of Surface Waters for the Rational Use of Insecticides in Large-Scale Mosquito Control Programs
• 2019-2021 Development of an Innovative System traceability for ensuring and controlling food safety in sustainable agri-food supply chains (ELIDEK)
• 2017-2022 Enhancing food security in African agri-food systems using remote sensing technologies-AfriCultuReS (Horizon 2020)
• 2014-2016 Multimodal data fusion for optimizing crop production systems-FarmFUSE (ICT-AGRI II)

 

Recent Theses

Post-Doctoral Theses:

• Laskos Vasilios, (in progress).Subject of Agricultural Engineering – Agricultural Engineering – Modeling and Simulation of Biosystems, in the field of computational fluid mechanics for the study of numerical and laboratory experiments of agricultural systems.
• Karagiovanidis Marios, (in progress).Subject of Agricultural Engineering – Agricultural Engineering – Modeling and Simulation of Biosystems, in the field of intelligent cultivation systems under cover and indoors and the drying and processing of agricultural products.
• Denizopoulou Anastasia, (in progress).Subject of Agricultural Engineering – Agricultural Engineering – Modeling and Simulation of Biosystems in the field of controlling the microclimate of a poultry farm and the feeding protocol of birds with simulation and modeling techniques.

 

PhD Theses:

• Lambridi Maria, 2025. “Development of a System for the Assessment of the Environmental Sustainability of Smart Agriculture Practices”.
• Karagiovanidis Marios, 2024. “Control and Optimization of Centrifugal Pump Operating Conditions, Using a Sensor Network and Speed ​​Regulation.”
• Laskos Vasilios 2024. “Numerical Study of the Effect of Wind Tunnel Walls on Laminar Three-Dimensional Flow over a Supported Obstacle.”
• Morellos Antonios, 2024. “Monitoring the Condition of Crops Using the Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence Methods.”
• Dantos Ioannis, 2018. “Solution of Turbulent Air Flow over Successive Obstacles or Agricultural Structures with Direct Numerical Simulation.”

 

 

MSc Theses:

• Salonikioti Afroditi, 2026. “Development of an Intelligent System for Predicting the Risk of Occurrence of Mycological Attacks on Grapevines under Conditions of Climate Variability”.
• Karamanlis Konstantinos, 2024. “Development of Deep Learning Algorithms for the Discrimination of Biotic versus Abiotic Stresses in Vineyards”.
• Tsitsopoulos Christos, 2025. “Development of an Intelligent System for Predicting Fusarium Attack for Preventive Field Spraying and Selective Harvesting”.
• Belitsa Athanasia, 2024. “Comparison of Numerical Approaches for Air Flow Around and Through an Agricultural Structure”.
• Tzimtalis Emmanouil, 2022. “Mathematical simulation of external airflow around consecutive agricultural amphirrhic structures”.
• Alexandridis Theodoros, 2021. “Effect of roof type on external airflow around two consecutive agricultural structures”.

 

 

 

Diploma Theses:

• Varvesiotis Kelaidi, 2025. “Creation of an intelligent system of irrigation recommendations in variable doses with the help of machine learning techniques”.
• Satrazemis Christodoulos, 2025. “Study of air flow around a rectangular agricultural structure”.
• Stasinis Konstantinos Raphael, 2025. “Creation of a computer vision system for the automatic detection and counting of fruits in apple orchards”.
• Anthis Eleftherios, 2025. “Creation of a computer vision system for the automatic detection and counting of fruits in apple orchards”.
• Magaliou Maria, 2025. “Irrigation event detection for the creation of a digital farmer’s calendar, using machine learning algorithms”.
• Koimtzoglou Maria, 2024. “Study of the air flow outside two agricultural structures for two Reynolds numbers”.
• Logothetidis Athanassios, 2024. “Creation of management zones for the application of field sprays to treat Fusarium Head Blight in wheat cultivation using hyperspectral imaging”.
• Tsitsopoulos Christos, 2021. “Detection of Black Nightshade weeds in tomato plant cultivation, using transfer learning and Generative Adversarial Networks”.
• Giakalis Vassilios, 2021. “Detection of Black Nightshade weeds in tomato plant cultivation, using transfer learning and Generative Adversarial Networks”.
• Antoniou Ifigenia-Paraskevi, 2021. “Computational fluid dynamics in agricultural structures and water pumps. Experimental diagnosis of pump operating conditions”.