Agriculture Mechanization – An Overview

A competitive technology for map-based precision farming is on-the-go sensing systems, based on the
concept of machine-based sensing of agronomic properties (plant health, soil properties, presence of
disease or weeds, etc). The immediate use of these data drives control systems for variable-rate
applications. These sensor capabilities essentially turn the agricultural vehicle into a mobile recording
system of crop attributes measured across the landscape. In fact, current production platforms are
increasingly becoming tools for value-added applications through ICT.
Precision Guidance
Around the turn of the 21st century, GNSS technology had become so precise and accurate that it had
outpaced the requirement for the early phases of precision farming and become commercially viable for
enabling a number of automatic-guidance applications (Han et al., 2004). Advances in GNSS technologies
include decimeter to centimeter accuracy by using signals from a geospatially known reference point to
correct satellite signals. One premium example is a real-time kine-matic global positioning system (RTK-
GPS) technology (Figure 3a) that reduces fatigue and lowers the skill level required to achieve highperformance
accuracy in field operations.
In short, in less than 20 years, GPS technology went from being an emergent technology to a robust,
mature technology that has optimal capabilities for production agriculture. A number of solutions are