Private 5G and AIoT in Smart Agriculture: A Case Study of Black Fungus Cultivation

Black fungus cultivation in bagged form requires frequent inspection of mycelial growth, a process that is labor-intensive and susceptible to subjective judgment. In addition, timely detection of contamination in low-light and high-humidity environments remains a significant challenge. To address these issues, this paper proposed an intelligent agriculture system for black fungus cultivation, with emphasis on practical deployment under real farming conditions. The system integrates a private 5G network with a YOLOv8-based deep learning model for real-time object detection and growth monitoring. Continuous image acquisition and data feedback are achieved through a multi-parameter environmental sensing module and an autonomous ground vehicle (AGV) equipped with IP cameras. To improve model robustness, more than 42,000 labeled training images were generated through data augmentation, and a modified C2f network architecture was employed. Experimental results show that the model achieved a detection accuracy of 93.7% with an average confidence score of 0.96 under live testing conditions. The deployed 5G network provided a downlink throughput of 645.2 Mbps and an uplink throughput of 147.5 Mbps, ensuring sufficient bandwidth and low latency for real-time inference and transmission. Field trials conducted over five cultivation batches demonstrated improvements in disease detection, reductions in labor requirements, and an increase in the average yield success rate to 80%. These findings indicate that the proposed method offers a scalable and practical solution for precision agriculture, integrating next-generation communication technologies with deep learning to enhance cultivation management.