Free Essay on John Deere GPS Systems

Precision Agriculture (AP), seeks to optimize farms through a precise knowledge of the barracks, farm, or the irrigation areas that require attention. Precision agriculture, unlike the traditional one, is based on the permanent, quantitative, and qualitative monitoring of determining variables of the development results of crops. The PA uses mainly remote sensing and geomatics tools, which provide accurate and immediate information, allowing rapid detection of a problem in a particular area, to then attack and correct it (Reid, Zhang, Noguchi & Dickson, 2000). The technology available for precision agriculture allows, for example, to know in detail the condition of a population of a particular crop. That is, the degree of detail is far superior to the traditional modalities of property management and management, as it is now possible to work by an individual (for example, by plant).

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The benefits that the PA can provide to a farmer correspond to the quality and timely information for an adequate decision making, which translates into an increase of productivity and income (Reid et al., 2000). One of the agricultural items where the use of precision agriculture has effected is the wine industry, where its use has helped national vineyards in making decisions such as allocating the grapes. To one tank or another. This process allows improvement of quality of the agricultural products and, with this, prices of the harvest. Several countries have made significant advances in the field of precision agriculture, enhancing its incorporation and use in areas such as wheat, corn, and soybeans. This paper is a research on the John Deere GreenStar GPS systems, indicating their impact on PA.

John Deere GreenStar GPS System

To carry out precision agriculture requires the use of several tools technologies, among which the Global Positioning System (GPS) stands out, remote sensing, aerial and/or satellites and drone images, together with Geographical Information Systems (GIS), which are used to estimate, evaluate and understand variables that influence the behavior of crops. The GPS allows locating and locating at any point of a farm, people, and objects in real time. The accuracy obtained by the system varies between 5 and 20 meters (Reid et al., 2000). In the agricultural activity there is innumerable the amount of situations in which we need to know the surface of a paddock; sowing a crop, distributing fractions of grazing, preparation of a silo, liquidation of works to contractors or customers.

GreenStar GPS System automatically recognizes the fields it is being operated in, thereby documenting the data of a specific area is possible. The device through the field locator notifies the user upon changing the location and gives the option of choosing particular regions. In doing this, it helps field owners in the management of the farms as it guides the operator to the areas not yet taken covered. The device display allows the machine to interface several controllers hence enabling optimum control of the machine.

The GreenStar monitor is a piece of equipment making the operator to control the efficiency and capacity of farm equipment from the cabin. The GreenStar monitor gives the equipment operator greater visibility of its operation and promotes high levels of performance both the machine and the operator, higher efficiency in the expenditure of fuel and inputs with the maximization of yields. With a GreenStar monitor, the documentation applications can be used to convert data in smart business decisions. Precision yielded is developed to all measurement needs. GreenStar accuracy increases the gross productivity on the farm (Rovira-Mas, Zhang, & Reid, 2008).

John Deere Satellite technology allows one to record the route of the area to be calculated, and then report the value on the computer screen. Among other things, GPS measures the heights of every point of that route concerning sea level. Some models have a built-in barometer that allows you to give a more accurate height value. These values are used to draw water lines and channels. At least three points of the perimeter are necessary to perform the calculation of the area. As more reference points arise the error that usually has this type of measurement tends to decrease.

Precision agriculture is one of the benefits attained by the application of GreenStar GPS. The app integrates various technologies to optimize the productivity of a crop, same time that minimizes its environmental impact. This discipline recognizes spatial variability inherent associated to each plantation or lot intended for agricultural production. Once I know it identifies, locates, quantifies, and records the variability spatial and temporal of each rustic unit; it is possible to provide differentiated agronomic management in each specific site.

In oil palm cultivation, the final goal of the precision agriculture is that agronomic management is as specific as possible; that is, at the level of each lot and, in some cases, at the level of each palm. For that this goal can be met, an essential requirement is the creation of an information system for the agronomic management whose main components includes the use of satellite global positioning equipment (GPS), and mobile capture devices which usually consists of the use of a program for the management of geographic information (GIS). This system supports activities such as monitoring the health of the palms, tracking the production, the application of fertilizers and, eventually, the programming of risks, taking into account the spatial and temporal variability of each unit of the culture.

Since precision farming focuses on the exact location of the variations within the plot, it is essential to use a system that allows univocally identify the position of machinery working in the field about the terrestrial coordinates (latitude, longitude). This tracking is possible through the use of Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and satellite communications. The farm machine in use like a tractor harvester will have a receiver through which the signals arrive from several satellites, and the electronic system calculates the corresponding coordinates.

There are two satellite networks of this type, the American (GPS-Navstar) and the Russian (GLONASS). Twenty-four satellites orbiting around the Earth forms both, and both were born for military purposes, although they applied in public purposes like aviation and engineering. The important thing is that the precision in locating a point of the land provided by these systems issues is low (diminished on purpose) and only reaches +/- 100 m or +/- 35 m respectively, which is insufficient for agricultural use (Rovira-Mas et al., 2008). This problem got solved through the implementation of the DGPS system or Differential GPS, which links installation of auxiliary transmitting antennas at strategic locations so that the joint signal from these and the satellites allow to correct the errors to precisions close to the centimeter.

Efficient water management occurs with the proper utilization of technology. Through the John Deere GreenStar Rate controllers, the display can integrate nutrient applicators, sprayers, and fertilizer applicators. The technique mainly applies during planting and map-based farm operations. The use of sensors, especially thermal sensors, allow estimating the water needs of each plant, helping to know the quantity more adequate that each crop may need. The cereal harvesters can go equipped with a series of devices that work together to generate the performance maps.

One of the methods is the Production sensor, generally located on the top of the elevator grain from the screens to the hopper. There exist various types of sensors, depending on the physical principle of functioning. In general, a distinction is made between those that measure volume and those that measure mass and can function by load cells, sensors of strength, impact or interference electromagnetic radiation (Rovira-Mas et al., 2008). In systems that measure grain mass, it is essential that the content gets weighed at the same time in grain moisture since the otherwise important would be incurred errors when calculating performance after grain drying. Additionally, they must exist grain loss sensors in the exit of the separation organs.

Working width and feed speed measurement sensor, in more advanced combine harvesters provides information automatically, if the operator will have to make adjustments at times, such as when the actual width of the work does not correspond to the useful width or when a skid is observed that the harvester is not able to measure. These systems will be complemented with information provided by the DGPS. The devices involved include, GPS receiver antenna and data visualization system through an electronic monitor like the GreenStar monitor. The monitor integrates all the information visually and can create the performance map.

It also functions as a data storage system, while in advanced precision agriculture systems, the monitor is required to be able to save the performance maps in a support electronic transferable to another computer, or well send them over the radio (Rovira-Mas et al., 2008).

Quality indicators in crops apply the John Deere GreenStar GPS devices. The captured multispectral images, in combination with parameters measured in the field, allow, within the framework of a GIS, to obtain indicators of quality or production of crops. With such precision, it is possible to detect pests and diseases in early stages, avoiding that affect the entire property. The availability of geo-referenced information has allowed the design of insect trapping networks defoliators at the regional level. These networks are established in the perimeter of the plantations at a distance regular, in order to create health slots that allow control of insect populations.Conclusion

From the economic point of view, the potential savings in inputs due to precise applications and the best development of the crop leads to economic gains (Yule, Crooks, 1996).

Likewise, the fact of having more and better information can have favorable effects important on the economy of production. A way to visualize this information is generate a map of net income (total income less total costs), based on the maps of yields, knowing the total costs of the product. The use of GPS is very broad. It is a simple management tool, useful for all person who is linked to the agricultural activity, either for location, or for knowing the surface of a property, whatever its magnitude. Its cost is relatively low, with respect to the innumerable possibilities that it offers.

References

Reid, J. F., Zhang, Q., Noguchi, N., & Dickson, M. (2000). Agricultural automatic guidance research in North America. Computers and electronics in agriculture, 25(1-2), 155-167.

Rovira-Mas, F., Zhang, Q., & Reid, J. F. (2008). Stereo vision three-dimensional terrain maps for precision agriculture. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 60(2), 133-143.