Agriculture Mechanization – An Overview

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Until recently, automation has been focused on functions that depend on GNSS or direct sensing.However, processes that lend themselves to control based on the attributes of soil and crop propertiesare also being investigated. Some initial applications of these, which were coupled with GPS, mappedthe yield and moisture of harvested crop operations.It is also possible to use sensing of soil or crop properties—such as controlling the cut-length of a selfpropelledforage harvester (SPFH)—as part of a combination of techniques to increase machine systemproductivity. In this example, the cut-length is the section length into which a tree, or forage plant, iscut. When an SPFH is operated with static cutting settings, independent of the size of the forage plant, itcan consume a significant amount of energy in cutting forage for ensiling (storage in silos).HarvestLab, a sensing technology, uses near infrared (NIR) reflectance sensing to detect the moisturecontent of forage and adjust the cut-length of harvested material (Figure 3d). This control strategy cansignificantly reduce the energy consumption for harvesting forage with no degradation in the ensilingprocess. The results are a significant reduction in fuel consumption in the harvest operation and a highqualitycut, which enables proper forage preservation.NIR sensing has often been used in the laboratory and in grain processing and storage to measureproperties (e.g., moisture oil and protein content) of biological materials, which contributes to valueaddeduses of corn, cereal grains, and forage. As these technologies mature, ICT has the potential toconnect information about constituent properties to downstream processes.Machine CommunicationsThe automation methods described above generate massive amounts of data. However, the data arenot limited to on-vehicle storage or even to on-the-go decision making. Inter-machine communicationgreatly increases the potential of these systems.In the last few years, the commercial application of telematics devices on machines has been increasingin agriculture, thus empowering a closer connection between farmers and dealers in managing machineuptime and maintenance services. Other applications for machine communication systems include fleetand asset management.In addition, inter-machine communications are expanding machine system data applications, such asdiagnosing and prognosticating machine health. Inter-machine communications can also includeimplements and tools (e.g., monitoring seeding rate in tractor implement applications). Functionally, amodern, high-end agricultural machine system is effectively a mobile, geospatial data-collectionplatform with the capacity to receive, use, sense, store, and transmit data as an integral part of itsoperational performance.As we strive for higher TFP levels, these high-end applications are moving toward systems withincreasingly advanced ICT capabilities, including data communication management from machine to offmachinedata stores. Other ICT capabilities under development include vehicle-to-vehicle operationsmanagement in the field.
It is clearly within the vision of the industry to develop advanced capabilities (such as those listed below)that leverage these ICT innovations:• machine knowledge centers that enable improved design, faster problem resolution, and highersystem productivity, increased uptime, and lower operat-ing costs• stores of agronomic knowledge that can lead to optimization of farm-site production systems• stores of social knowledge related to customer or consumer value-driversAs ICT continues to penetrate production systems, a massive network is being developed of machinesystems that are platforms for value creation—well beyond productivity from agricultural mechanizationintended for the farmer or the farm site. These systems are collecting and managing information withpotential value in downstream value-chain operations that use crop or drive systems to achieveenvironmental sustainability.Worksite and Value Chain ProductivityThe next step in automation and control is to move beyond individual vehicle systems to theoptimization of production systems and farm worksites. To achieve this goal, we have developed thebeginnings of vehicle and machine systems that can both sense and control with precision. Thesesystems can be driven by data from a variety of sources to provide precision control. For example, theyare capable of collecting, storing, and transferring information about the crop, field, and machine stateat the time of field operation. They can also receive data from public and private data sources.Furthermore, data collected by machines can be transferred to farm-management systems as well as topublic and private sources that require information about production management for quality,compliance, or value-added purposes. Thus, we are entering an era of emerging field and farmoptimization systems that can drive up TFP of the worksite, including machines, geographies, andcropping systems.As intelligent mobile equipment for worksite solutions has evolved over the last 20 years, agriculturalmechanization has also evolved from a bottom-up integration of the foundations of ICT applied to basicmechanization systems required for crop production. The primary machine capabilities of precisionsensing, advanced control systems, and communications have created the potential for the emergenceof CPS from production agricultural systems.Although these advanced technologies are not uniformly distributed among platforms and productionsystems, where they exist, there are opportunities to leverage ICT to increase production systemscapabilities. Looking ahead, it is expected that the business value of ICT will expand to additionalplatforms.Technologies integrated on vehicles must work seamlessly with other systems. Drawbacks of someinitial attempts for ICT capabilities have been the significant time required for setup or management,the lack of a common architecture, the lack of standardization among industries, and the lack of
Page 2 and 3: AbstractThe shifting of society to
Page 4 and 5: The number of man-hours required in
Page 6 and 7: mechanised agriculture, for new and
Page 8 and 9: In the 19th century, as our society
Page 10 and 11: A competitive technology for map-ba
Page 14 and 15: standardization with the farmer in
Page 16 and 17: By doing this, we are adding value
Page 18: Increase in the status of the farme

Agriculture Mechanization – An Overview

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