GPS System Integration and Field Approaches in Precision Farming

Abstract

Two phases of a precision farming project are described. Phase I consists of the collection of data from four test fields across Alberta using differential GPS (DGPS) combined with crop yield monitors and electromagnetic (EM) ground conductivity meters for measuring salinity. A geographic information system (GIS) is used to analyze and combine various layers of information obtained from each field in order to analyze yield variation. Positions better than 50 cm horizontally and 1 m vertically are obtained in DGPS mode using a robust carrier‐phase smoothing of the code approach. The accuracy of the DGPS positions is verified independently through a crossover point analysis and a comparison with an ambiguity resolution on the fly (OTF) solution. DGPS positions are used to generate maps, which indicate that fields are not homogeneous in crop yield when they have been treated without consideration for variability of soil, salinity, topography, or field history. Phase II, which consists of the application of variable‐rate fertilizer based on the information gathered in Phase I, is summarized.

Mixed Integer Linear Models

“…Nowadays, the terminology GNSS system has been used to refer to any satellite-based positioning and navigation system and will be followed throughout this chapter. In precise positioning applications of GNSS systems, we mention deformation measurement and geodetic control (see, e.g., Feigl et al 1993;Yang et al 2009), aerospace automatic landing with the aid of pseudolites (see, e.g., Pervan et al 1994;Cohen et al 1995;van Graas et al 1995;Lee et al 2008;Petovello et al 2009), the determination of attitude of a platform (see, e.g., Lu 1995;Cannon and Sun 1996;Wang et al 2009), precise farming (see, e.g., Lachapelle et al 1994;Cannon et al 1994Cannon et al , 1997Vavoulidou et al 2009), and GPS meteorology (see, e.g., Bevis et al 1994;Duan et al 1996).…”

Automatic Steering of Farm Vehicles Using GPS

“…GPS-based systems are already being used in a number of land vehicle applications including agriculture. Meter-level code-differential techniques have been used for geographic information systems [5][6][7], driver-assisted control [8], and automatic ground vehicle control [9].…”

Soil heterogeneity and topography effect on winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) yield = Augsnes neviendabīguma un reljefa atšķirību ietekme uz ziemas kviešu (Triticum aestivum L.) ražu

“…Tas dod iespēju ātri un operatīvi izveidot ražošanas izmaksu kartes. Ražošanas pašizmaksu un citas ekonomiska rakstura kartes Ĝauj rast diferencētu tehnoloăiju pamatojumu katrā laukā (Lachapelle, Cannon, Gehue et al, 1994;Searcy, 1997).…”