GPS World

Tag: Precision Planting

  • Slow but steady robots take to the field

    Slow but steady robots take to the field

    Photo: Advanced Navigation
    Photo: Advanced Navigation

    Intelligent navigation-based automation is redefining the farmer’s humble tractor to robotic status. This results in significantly faster field preparation and cropping and dramatically reduced labor costs.

    Any autonomous vehicle requires the highest levels of navigational accuracy, control and safety. For farming applications, this typically means maintaining exact heading at very low speeds, often over bumpy terrain. These requirements make using the right navigational equipment critical to success. The key challenge is maintaining precise placement and movement of the tractor relative to crop rows and field boundaries. Failure to maintain precision can cause rows to be damaged or planted seedlings to be uprooted. The typical accuracy required for precision farming is position to within a decimeter (10 cm) — well beyond basic GNSS. This requires real-time kinematic (RTK) positioning and advanced signal processing.

    Sabanto, a U.S.-based farming as a service (FaaS) start-up, was facing this exact challenge. The company needed a precise and reliable navigation solution for its fleet of driverless tractors deployed in a growing number of U.S. states, including Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska and Minnesota.

    “The reliability of Advanced Navigation’s GNSS Compass gave us the peace of mind required to operate fully autonomously from Spring to Fall of 2020,” explained Craig Rupp, CEO of Sabanto.

    Thanks to its dual-antenna GNSS and RTK corrections, the GNSS Compass can offer high-accuracy heading. Accurate position is maintained using real-time correction data, delivered from nearby ground base stations, resulting in near-centimeter accuracy under the most demanding conditions.

    Furthermore, the GNSS Compass includes an integrated inertial navigation system (INS) to ensure consistent position accuracy of the tractor in the event of degraded or lost signals from GNSS satellites from heavy canopy or steep terrain. Roll, pitch and heading data also improve the stability of the autonomous platform over difficult terrain.

    Sabanto engineers can now deploy and remotely monitor their fleet of autonomous tractors 24/7. Operators can simply pre-program the itinerary and field boundaries, as well as when to lift and lower tillers, resulting in the tractors planting up to two hectares (five acres) per hour.

  • John Deere to acquire Monsanto subsidiary Precision Planting

    Deere & Company and The Climate Corporation, a subsidiary of Monsanto, have signed definitive agreements for Deere to acquire Monsanto’s Precision Planting LLC equipment business and to enable near real-time data connectivity between John Deere farm equipment and the Climate FieldView platform.

    This news comes after a Nov. 2 announcement that the company had acquired Monosem, a European precision planting company. John Deere said it will work with Monosem’s existing engineers to further develop its precision planting technology.

    The agreements represent the industry’s first and only near real-time in-cab wireless connection to John Deere equipment by a third party.

    “To maximize the value of digital agriculture, farmers need solutions for simple and seamless collection of in-field agronomic data,” said Mike Stern, president and chief operating officer for The Climate Corporation. “As a result of these milestone agreements, farmers will experience the fastest, most frequent and highest resolution third-party connectivity between John Deere’s equipment and the Climate FieldView platform.”

    “The agreements we are announcing allow John Deere to extend the range of retrofit options available from Precision Planting to many more products and into new geographies,” said John May, president, agricultural solutions and chief information officer at Deere. John Deere strengthens its position as the most open platform in the industry both in our equipment and the cloud-based data management solution known as the John Deere Operations Center.”

    Under the terms of the agreements, Deere will purchase Precision Planting while Climate will retain the digital agriculture portfolio that has been integrated into the Climate FieldView platform. The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions, including the approval of the relevant antitrust authorities to the extent required.

    Stern said, “Our agreements enable farmers to combine the industry-leading technology of John Deere equipment with Climate FieldView, the platform that offers farmers the broadest equipment connectivity in the industry backed by data science. This connectivity allows farmers to collect and directly share data to the Climate cloud, enables data visualization in the cab and supports the development of customized data science-driven insights.”

    “This strategic acquisition expands the John Deere precision agriculture business and accelerates our momentum as a market leader,” May said. “Strategic use of information is an important factor in successful agriculture. Today’s actions demonstrate John Deere’s ongoing investments to enhance the product and service solutions we offer our customers.”

    The companies said customers will have the option to share their current and historical agronomic data between the John Deere Operations Center and the Climate FieldView platform and seamlessly execute agronomic prescriptions with John Deere equipment.