Hi-sAFe can simulate plot such as :
- Mix of trees and crops, whether trees are aligned, scattered or isolated (this is its founding purpose)
- Perennial row crops with soil cover crops
- Herbaceous mixtures, foot to feet, in lines or strips
- Multi-species forest stands
- Isolated trees (urban trees, hedgerows) with or without ground vegetation
- Plots of pure cultures with spatial heterogeneity (eg soil gradients)
- Precision farming (technical itineraries adapting to the spatial heterogeneity of the stand)
Hi-sAFe includes toric symmetry algorithms that avoid generating artificial edge effects for heterogeneous stands (the scene is virtually surrounded by identical scenes)
Hi-sAFe can be used on simple scenes (for example centered on an average tree) or on complex scenes (for example including many trees with various developments).
Discretization of a Hi-sAFe scene centered on an average tree
Virtual scene generated by Hi-sAFe
Hi-sAFe presents three original and exclusive modules for reporting interactions between plants:
- A competition module for light explicitly 3D but saving in computing time
- A competition module for water based on the concept of integration of the matrix flow potential that allows us to account for the behavior of different plants rooted in a heterogeneous medium
- A module of 3D root growth that accounts for the plasticity of perennial root systems (Mulia thesis)