Integrating Sensory/Actuation Systems in Agricultural Vehicles

Abstract

Abstract:In recent years, there have been major advances in the development of new and more powerful perception systems for agriculture, such as computer-vision and global positioning systems. Due to these advances, the automation of agricultural tasks has received an important stimulus, especially in the area of selective weed control where high precision is essential for the proper use of resources and the implementation of more efficient treatments. Such autonomous agricultural systems incorporate and integrate perception systems for acquiring information from the environment, decision-making systems for interpreting and analyzing such information, and actuation systems that are responsible for performing the agricultural operations. These systems consist of different sensors, actuators, and computers that work synchronously in a specific architecture for the intended purpose. The main contribution of this paper is the selection, arrangement, integration, and synchronization of these systems to form a whole autonomous vehicle for agricultural applications. This type of vehicle has attracted growing interest, not only for researchers but also for manufacturers and farmers. The experimental results demonstrate the success and performance of the integrated system in guidance and weed control tasks in a maize field, indicating its utility and efficiency. The whole system is sufficiently flexible for use in other agricultural tasks with little effort and is another important contribution in the field of autonomous agricultural vehicles.

Autonomous surveillance for biosecurity

“…For example, the problem of weeds [12,32,40] is viewed as one of weed management and not complete prevention or eradication. Both plant and animal pests can negatively impact crop output and need to be managed throughout the production cycle to minimize their impact on the final crop output.…”

Hybrid-Powered Autonomous Robots for Reducing Both Fuel Consumption and Pollution in Precision Agriculture Tasks

“…The controller synchronized and processed the information received from different sensors and the external operator and selected the best behavior for the entire system depending on the current working situation, the perceived environment and the general mission requirements. The controller also communicated with every other subsystem via diverse communication protocols (Ethernet, serial and CAN bus) [13,14]. The set of these systems (controllers, sensors and actuators) had an average power demand of approximately 170 W for 12-V devices and approximately 260 W for 24-V devices.…”

Integrating Autonomous Aerial Scouting with Autonomous Ground Actuation to Reduce Chemical Pollution on Crop Soil

“…The plan is mainly composed of a list of the way-points the vehicles have to cover and also contains the states for the spraying bar (that is, the nozzles that must be opened and closed) for each point and other mission parameters, such as the speeds. More details about the ground units and their capabilities, such as navigation and control techniques utilized, can be found in [18].…”