Efficiency of GNSS-based Tractor Auto Steering for the Uniformity of Pass-to-Pass Plant Inter-Row Spacing

Öz

Precision agriculture (PA) includes advanced technologies to increase efficiency and profitability of agricultural operations from tillage to harvest and offers sustainability of the natural resources and the environment. Automatic steering (AS) is the mostly-used PA technology in the world and in Türkiye providing many benefits. It has potential for efficient and sustainable agronomic practices including soil ridge tillage and sowing. Adequate spacing is needed to provide equal living area for each plant in sowing. Thus, in mechanized planting, pass-to-pass plant inter-row spacing (PIRS) should be equal in parallel passes. Research on the benefits of the AS for providing uniform PIRS in sowing is very limited. This work aimed to appraise the pass-to-pass PIRS deviations in planting with GNSS-based AS with three signal correction sources (RTK, CORS, SBAS) and without AS (manual steering) for comparison. The data were obtained from 24 farmer fields (cotton and corn) with PIRS set values of 70-75 cm located in the Cukurova region of Türkiye. Pass-to-pass PIRS values were manually measured and the deviations from the set value were analyzed in terms of root mean square error (RMSE). The mean PIRS variations in sowing by manual steering (7.4 cm) were found as significantly higher than the AS based soil ridge tillage and / or sowing (CORS: 5.0 cm, SBAS: 5.9 cm, RTK: 6.7 cm) (p<0.05). In sum, it was found that the AS technology offers benefits in lowering the pass-to pass PIRS variations but the level of benefit changes from farmer to farmer; hence, the AS should be used cautiously with proper settings for greater benefits.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Precision agriculture
• Auto steering
• GNSS
• Sowing
• Plant inter-row spacing

Destekleyen Kurum

Scientific Research Project Office (BAP) of the Hatay Mustafa Kemal University

Proje Numarası

Project no: 18.M.079

Teşekkür

The authors thank the farmers who took part in this study by allowing data collection from their fields. They also thank Dr. Sait M. Say for his assistance in field data collection.

GNSS Esaslı Traktör Otomatik Dümenleme Sistemlerinin Ekim İşleminde Paralel Geçişlerde Sıra Arası Mesafe Düzgünlüğüne Etkisi

Öz

Hassas tarım (HT), toprak işlemeden hasada kadar tarımsal faaliyetlerin verimliliğini ve kârlılığını artırmayı, doğal kaynakların ve çevrenin korunmasını ve böylelikle sürdürülebilirliği hedefleyen ileri teknolojileri içerir. Otomatik dümenleme (OD), dünyada ve Türkiye'de en yaygın kullanılan ve birçok fayda sağlayan HT teknolojisidir. OD; sırta toprak işleme ve ekim dâhil olmak üzere tarımsal işlemlerde verimli ve sürdürülebilir uygulamalara imkân sağlar. Makinalı hassas ekimde, her bitkiye eşit yaşam alanı sağlamak için bitki sıra aralarında yeterli boşluk gereklidir. Bu nedenle makinalı ekimde paralel yan yana geçişlerde bitki sıra arası mesafesi (BSAM) eşit olmalıdır. Ekimde eşit BSAM sağlamak için OD'nin faydalarına ilişkin yapılan araştırmalar oldukça sınırlıdır. Bu çalışma, üç farklı sinyal düzeltme kaynağı (RTK, CORS, SBAS) kullanan GNSS esaslı OD ile ekimde yan yana paralel geçişlerdeki PIRS sapmalarını karşılaştırmak amacıyla yapılmıştır. Çalışmada OD kullanılmayan (manuel yönlendirmeli) tarlalardaki BSAM değerleri de karşılaştırma amacıyla incelenmiştir. Veriler, Çukurova bölgesinde, sıra arası mesafe değerleri 70-75 cm olan 24 çiftçi tarlasından (pamuk ve mısır) elde edilmiştir. Paralel yan yana geçişlerdeki BSAM değerleri manuel olarak ölçülmüş ve ayarlanan değerden olan sapmalar hata kareler ortalamasının karekökü (RMSE) değeri ile analiz edilmiştir. Manuel dümenlemeli ekimde ortalama BSAM sapmaları (7.4 cm), OD ile yapılan sırta toprak işleme ve/veya ekime göre daha yüksek bulunmuştur (CORS: 5.0 cm, SBAS: 5.9 cm, RTK: 6.7 cm) (p<0.05). Özetle, OD teknolojisinin yan yana paralel geçişlerde BSAM değişimlerini azaltmada fayda sağladığı ancak fayda düzeyinin çiftçiden çiftçiye değiştiği belirlenmiştir. Bu nedenle, ileri düzeyde faydalar elde edebilmek için OD sistemleri uygun ayarlarla dikkatli bir şekilde kullanmalıdır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Hassas tarım
• otomatik dümenleme
• GNSS
• ekim
• bitki sıra arası mesafe

Proje Numarası

Project no: 18.M.079

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