Centimeter-Precision Guidance of Agricultural Implements in the Open Field by Means of Real Time Kinematic Dgps

Multi-year precision guidance of agricultural implements in the open field enables the exact placing of inputs, and to grow crops on predetermined spots. The on-line system proposed here, uses a digital map that contains all co-ordinates to describe the intended path of the implement in the field, a sensor to measure the actual position of the implement, a comparator to calculate the position error, a controller to generate a correction signal and an actuator, mounted between the tractor and the implement to side-shift the implement onto the intended path. On a test track a tractor was driven at a speed of 5.2 km h-1, what resulted in a repeatable sideways sway of the tractor plus and minus ±10 cm. The implement, mounted on the backside of the actuator, was side-shifted to a straight path programmed in the digital map. The true path of the implement was recorded and showed a deviation from the straight line of less than ±2 cm.