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PRECISION AGRICULTURE Precision Ag RTK at West Hills Farm of the Future Photo Credit: Terry Brase SmartNet RTK Cellular Base Station: on the right is the antenna and mast set on a concrete pillar for stability; on the left is the waterproof box for the electronics. Page 24 Progressive Crop Consultant March/April 2017
Terry Brase Educational Consultant, Former Precision Agriculture Educator and Author Twenty years ago it was hard to convince some west coast growers that RTK was necessary. After all, that was just something that was used by those large Midwest growers that had thousand acre fields to manage. But the whole concept of RTK is high accuracy (possibly sub-inch) and precision; that applies to large and small fields alike. At West Hills College, the Farm of the Future was designed and built to serve as a practical learning farm for students but also to serve the agricultural community as a model demonstrating emerging technologies and how they could be applied to farms in the Central Valley. To do this and as part of the precision ag classes, we provide examples of RTK GPS. RTK stands for Real Time Kinematic and is a type of correction for GPS. The name comes from surveying and refers to its ability to maintain the calculation of a high accuracy position while on the move. Previously a surveyor would have to be in one position for an extended length of time to get a high accuracy position. Autonomous GPS (GPS without any corrections) at best has only 10 foot accuracy, not accurate enough to determine the location of specific trees, vines, tissue samples, irrigation controls, or pest locations. RTK provides the highest level of accuracy and repeatability for a position. There are many methods of correcting GPS; Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), satellites, AM beacon receivers, and others. They all work in a similar way. All correction is based on having at least two GPS units: one serving as a “base” and the other serving as a “rover”. The GPS used as a “base” station is at a fixed location in which the coordinates are known. Since the base GPS unit is on this known location, it is able to calculate distance and direction of the error included in the GPS calculated position. This difference between positions is known as an “error differential”. This Continued on Page 26 Author with the Trimble mobile RTK. Includes the tripod, GNSS antenna (large disk centered in tripod), receiver (Yellow box mounted on leg of tripod), SiteNet transmitting radio and antenna (tall antenna and yellow cylinder to the left of author), and display (held by author). Note abundance of cabling for data transfer between devices. March/April 2017 www.progressivecrop.com Page 25 Photo Credit: Terry Brase
Page 1 and 2: Progressive Crop Consultant The Lea
Page 4 and 5: Publisher: Jason Scott Email: jason
Page 6 and 7: CITRUS Managing Citrus Thrips is Es
Page 8 and 9: Continued from Page 6 citrus thrips
Page 10 and 11: BERRIES Photo Credit: Mark Bolda Ex
Page 12 and 13: Continued from Page 11 mustard seed
Page 14 and 15: GRAPES Photo Credit: Jack Kelly Cla
Page 16 and 17: Photo Credit: Jack Kelly Clark Cont
Page 18 and 19: WORKER SAFETY The Latest in Agricul
Page 20 and 21: UCCE - Kern County four-year trials
Page 22 and 23: Photo Credit: Inspect USA Continued
Page 26 and 27: Continued from Page 25 error differ
Page 28 and 29: IRRIGATION Integrating Key Water Ma
Page 30 and 31: Photo Credit: Dan Munk Water meters
Page 32 and 33: MATING DISRUPTION Photo Credit: Kat
Page 34 and 35: Having trouble finding Codling Moth
Page 36 and 37: WORKER SAFETY Photo Credit: Ben Sac
Page 38 and 39: IPM Applied Association of IPM Ecol
Page 40: Helping Crop Advisers feed the worl

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