USING PRINCIPAL GAINS FOR EVALUATING AND OPTIMIZING THE PERFORMANCE OF SPRAYERS

Chemical crop protection belongs to the most important field operation s. Unwanted rolling and vertical translations of tractor and spray boo m create local under- and overapplications of spray. The principal gai ns of the system equations of the sprayer can be used as a reliable me asure to quantify the mechanical performance of the sprayer. They desc ribe how disturbances will be transmitted through the machine as a fun ction of the frequency. The principal gains of a transfer function mat ric can also be utilized in a mathematical programming problem with wh ich the mechanical performance of the sprayer is optimized.