Life cycle assessment of a telematics box with ICT impact allocation and quantification – Application to precision agriculture technology and robotics

摘要

Telematics are increasingly promising and adopted to augment the productivity and efficiency of systems in various industrial sectors. Although the potential environmental benefits of deploying telematics solutions are often highlighted, the proper quantification and allocation of added information and communication technology-related (ICT) equipment is a challenge that still needs to be addressed. To help address that gap, a life cycle assessment (LCA) is done on a telematics box equipped on an autonomous robot performing precision agricultural tasks. The LCA is conducted using primary industrial data and state-of-the-art life cycle data libraries. Particular attention is paid to how to model, allocate, and quantify the impact related to telematics data exchanges, through mobile networks (like 4G or 5G) and Wi-Fi, as well as the infrastructures needed to operate the telematics box. By having a complete picture and quantitative understanding of such additional impacts, the LCA results help determine the minimum improvement level, e.g., in terms of resource efficiency or yield, that the ICT solution needs to bring to be ecologically beneficial.