Integrated control of agricultural tractors and implements: a review of potential opportunities relating to cultivation and crop establishment machinery

The quality of work and the output of a tractor-implement combination relie s heavily upon the concentration and skill of the operator. Electronic syst ems are used increasingly to control tractor sub-systems, i.e. engine, tran smission, implement hitch, external hydraulics, and driveline, and to monit or or control certain implements. However, current systems operate autonomo usly, relying entirely upon the operator for coordination. An integrated hi erarchical control system could potentially monitor operating parameters pe rtinent to both the tractor and attached implements and use this informatio n to control relevant tractor and implement sub-systems in a coordinated ma nner, thereby improving machine performance. Potential opportunities for th e application of real-time. integrated, hierarchical control techniques to certain cultivation and crop establishment implements currently in use on E uropean farms are reviewed. Specific implements (and their parameters) cons idered include primary cultivation machinery (control of working depth and working width), secondary cultivation machinery (control of working depth a nd seedbed quality) and crop establishment machinery (control of seeding de pth and seed rate). Outline control strategies are proposed for these appli cations. and sensors and other hardware required to implement the control s ystems are identified. It is speculated that the agronomic and economic ben efits which are likely to result from the implementation of the proposed te chnology, will enable economic justification of the proposed control system s in two to four operating seasons. These savings are likely to result from greater operational efficiency and more precise control of agronomic input s. Copyright (C) 2001 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserve d.