Route Planning for Agricultural Machines with Multiple Depots: Manure Application Case Study

Abstract

Capacitated field operations involve input/output material flows where there are capacity constraints in the form of a specific load that a vehicle can carry. As such, a specific normal-sized field cannot be covered in one single operation using only one load, and the vehicle needs to get serviced (i.e., refilling) from out-of-field facilities (depot). Although several algorithms have been developed to solve the routing problem of capacitated operations, these algorithms only considered one depot. The general goal of this paper is to develop a route planning tool for agricultural machines with multiple depots. The tool presented consists of two modules: the first one regards the field geometrical representation in which the field is partitioned into tracks and headland passes; the second one regards route optimization that is implemented by the metaheuristic simulated annealing (SA) algorithm. In order to validate the developed tool, a comparison between a well-known route planning approach, namely B-pattern, and the algorithm presented in this study was carried out. The results show that the proposed algorithm outperforms the B-pattern by up to 20.0% in terms of traveled nonworking distance. The applicability of the tool developed was tested in a case study with seven scenarios differing in terms of locations and number of depots. The results of this study illustrated that the location and number of depots significantly affect the total nonworking traversal distance during a field operation.

Novel Route Planning Method to Improve the Operational Efficiency of Capacitated Operations. Case: Application of Organic Fertilizer

“…The first stage of the proposed method concerns the geometrical representation of the field to generate predetermined fieldwork tracks by applying geometrical primitives such as points, lines, and polygons. The outputs of the first stage as showed in Figure 2 are a set of line segments or polylines representing the fieldwork areas and headland passes that can be followed by the vehicle [4].…”

“…Agricultural field area coverage planning enhances the efficiency of commercial autosteering or navigation-aid systems on agricultural machines [1][2][3]. Area coverage plans provide a path that visits all points of a targeted spatial environment under the criterion of minimization of unproductive time or traveled distance and avoiding machine maneuvering in the already worked area or cropping area [4,5]. The benefits of area coverage planning include optimized driving patterns, reduced overlaps and skips, reduced soil compaction, and overall enhanced efficiency of agricultural machines [6,7].…”

“…For instance, in the case of a fertilizing operation, when the distributer is positioned in the middle of a track and a reloading action is required (e.g., the tanker become empty and it is urgent to revisit the depot for refilling), then there are various options open to the machine's operator to either continue in the same direction in that track to reach to the headland part and then go back to the depot or the operator can do a U-turn (180-degree turn) and go to an adjacent unworked track to return to the depot. In these studies [1,4,13,14], the capacitated field operations casted into the examples of vehicle routing problem (VRP). They showed that the agricultural fleet management problem could be expressed as the traversal of weighted graphs under some operational constraints.…”

Complete Coverage Path Planning for wheeled agricultural robots

“…Considering one stationary service unit Jensen et al (2015a,b) proposed an approach based on the state-space search technique. Vahdanjoo et al (2020) proposed an approach based on simulated annealing while considering several stationary service units. Evans IV et al (2020) applied genetic algorithms to their approach while considering a mobile service unit.…”

Effects of varying field geometry and machine configurations on spatial field traffic intensity: A case study for winter wheat harvest

“…For example, Bochtis et al (2012) developed a decision support system (DSS) for route-planning targeting input material flow operations, which aims to reduce the risk of soil compaction. Vahdanjoo et al (2020) present a tool for track sequence selection aiming to minimize the nonworking distance travelled by the machine in a manure scenario with multiple depots. Edwards et al (2017) present a route planner for neutral material flow operations aimed to minimize the distance travelled by the machine.…”