Automation in Agricultural Equipment & Technology
In the industrial revolution period, synthesized fertilizers, pesticides together with lots of new machinery like tractors, cultivators and harvesters were introduced and later, irrigation systems, high yielding variety crops and chemical fertilizers are inaugurated with the 3rd Agricultural revolution (the Green revolution in 1960’s). They have made a big impact and superseded the so-called traditional practices of farmers very quickly.
Then, the term “Precision agriculture “revolutionized which automated almost everything to reduce human efforts. What does this particular term mean is the management of special and time-changing variances related with all features of agriculture with the implementation of numerous modern technologies. Here, the Geographical Information System (GIS), the Global Positioning System (GPS) and Auto-steer systems are used impeccably to survey the field, collect data and for the processing and analysis of map data of the fields. These systems help much in utilizing sensing devices, controlling equipment for monitoring a farm’s machinery, such as motors, hand movement modules, etc., so that, crop cultivation productivity is improved by a lot and done with more accuracy. Engineers and agronomists suggest that the use of new sensing equipment, remote-sensor controls and autonomous mobile robots in the areas of agriculture is certainly the best. And also, the studies conducted on the topic of the pros and cons of precision agriculture, are most ended up saying it is profitable, environmentally and economically.
When we consider about GPS, Navigation Satellite Timing and Range GPS (NAVSTAR GPS) is one of them, which is designed and maintained by the US Department of Defense. It provides extremely accurate information about the real-time 3D location of fields, weather conditions throughout the world as it is operated with a minimum of 24 satellites revolving around the earth in a particular design of arrangement. At first, it was designed for the military purposes but then farmers are allowed to use this system (but with some restrictions) in order to enhance the productivity of farming . It gives a lot of information like watering systems, areas in which crops are affected by environmental conditions and diseases, crop conditions, the quality of the soil and fertility.
With these, a large variety of unmanned robots like drones are used nowadays. Aerial robots are the most suitable tools for detecting and curing of diseases in agriculture farms. Airborne cameras connected in aerial robots can take multispectral pictures, capturing data from the infrared as well as the visual spectrum based on needs and conditions. These can help to analyze the study of distressed plants. Aerial vehicles are used in checking the crops to predict the day of yield, for the calculation of the amount of fertilizers and pesticides required. Ground robots are given special attention in the field because, unlike aerial robots, these could easily interact with the environment. But the capillary motions and constraints of wheels seemed to be the limitations at first, but then replaced with the development of sphere robots which overcome the movement problems. Spherical robots can be used to measure moisture and soil temperatures. Some special robots are also present. For example, university students of Harvard designed some robots named “RoboBees” (Autonomous Flying Microbots - Hexapods) which help to do the actions of a bee and artificial pollination.
Next to these robots, sensors are able to give more information like changes in soil, the sudden increase in temperatures, less water availability and wind patterns, etc. Some factors in the environment such as soil air permeability, soil compaction, pH and soil nutrition levels, temperature, and moisture along with other significant factors which changes from time to time need to be monitored by farmers. Therefore, quite several sensors monitor these kinds of changes in real-time using the merits of the embedded system. And farmers use these data obtained from them for the optimization of crops and their swift adaptation to environmental changes. The collective data are stored, analyzed, and then sent to the client who is a farmer and tells him what the procedures are to do to get maximum efficiency from the field. The sensors include location sensors, optical sensors, temperature sensors, humidity sensors, electro-chemical sensors, acoustic sensors and dielectric soil moisture sensors.
As agriculture is the science of studies in not only the crops but also the animals, technology advancements are used in the livestock also. There are so many modern technologies implemented to get the maximum use which can be mentioned as follows. “Milking pipeline method” is used to transfer milk from cows to storage tanks and “grain crimping” is an advanced tech used to preserve food of animals by using fermentation. RFID (Radio-frequency identification) uses electromagnetic waves to track the details of cattle to which it is attached. So that, it is very helpful in disease management.
Due to the above automation techniques of equipment and human effort-less procedures like robotics and sensors, agriculture is improved by many means. We, humans, are not at the zenith of technological advancement in agriculture as the need of more new technologies to improve productivity is apparent. We could say that the advancements in agriculture will go on till human race is present in this earth, eternally.
Reference Books/Papers (Not referenced in APA style due to word limitations)
• Precision Agriculture Requires precise tuning.
• Agriculture Ground Truthing GPS, GIS, system.
• Agricultural robots - system analysis and economic feasibility.
• Review of research on agricultural vehicle autonomous guidance.
• Precision agriculture- worldwide overview, Computers and Electronics in Agriculture.
• Agricultural sustainability and improved production practices.
• The Role of Information and Communication Technology in Agriculture.
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