Tag Archives: crop growth models

797-806 M. Hakojärvi, M. Hautala, J. Ahokas, T. Oksanen, T. Maksimow, A. Aspiala, A. Visala
Platform for simulation of automated crop production
Abstract |

Platform for simulation of automated crop production

M. Hakojärvi¹, M. Hautala¹, J. Ahokas¹, T. Oksanen², T. Maksimow², A. Aspiala², A. Visala²

¹University of Helsinki, Department of Agricultural Sciences
²Helsinki University of Technology, Department of Automation and Systems Technology

Abstract:

During  the  last  few  decades  technology  used  in  crop  production  has  developed noticeably.  The  work  of  farmers  has  decreased  and  continues  decreasing  by  means  of technology and automation. The aim of this research project was to find out requirements for methods and automated machines needed in automated crop production. Agricultural  machines  capable  of  utilizing  variable  rate  application  (VRA)  technology enable  considering  spatial  variability  in  agricultural  fields  during  different  field  operations. Agricultural  field  robots  are  the  next  step  in  technology,  capable  of  utilizing  sensor  and actuating  technologies,  without  human  driven  tractors.  However,  agricultural  field  robots  are stil  under research, and commercial products do not exist. The next generation of crop farming, in the vision of authors, is based on automatic crop farming, which incorporates stationary and moving sensors systems, robots, model based decision making, automated operation planning which are adapting to spatial variability according to the measurements as wel  as to weather conditions. This article presents a top-down approach of automated crop farming  using simulation, trying  to  cover  the  most  important  pieces  on  a  ful y  automatic  farm  and  the  environment  is model ed. The developed simulation environment is presented as wel  as preliminary simulation results.  The  environment  simulator  is  based  on  a  col ection  of  models,  including  models  for crop  and  weed  growth,  soil  water  flow  and  generators  for  spatial  variation  and  statistical y varying weather.

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