Advance automation technologies for sustainable agricultural production

Summary

To advance the generic science of advanced automation in agriculture with a view to providing the underlying science necessary for increasing productivity, lowering inputs and reducing environmental impact.
To solve the generic scientific problems associated with precision vision guidance spanning multiple drill/planter bouts.
To verify our hypothesis that the proposed sensing and tracking technologies will when developed and integrated form a robust basis for crop protection based on mechanical and chemical precision-banded treatments.
It is our ambition to make vision guided banded treatment the preferred technique for most post emergence crop protection operations.
Objective
1. To develop generic integrated image analysis and Kalman filter based guidance systems allowing multiple independently guided toolframe sections to be operated from a single tractor.- (SRI, Robydome)
2. To develop a cereal hoe with three independently guided 4m wide sections operating on 12m tramlines. Performance validation under commercial conditions will deliver up to 10kph with an accuracy of S.D.10mm and “cruise control” tractor steering. - (SRI, Garford, Robydome, AGCO, Sheepdrove, Unilever)
3. To assess energy use for 12m inter-row hoe for comparison with a conventional hoe, a harrow and herbicide treatments. - (SRI, Garford, Robydome, AGCO)
4. To develop a row crop band spraying system capable of spanning five or more drill/transplanter bouts. Performance validation under commercial conditions will deliver up to 12kph with an accuracy of S.D 25mm. - (SRI, Micron, Robydome, AGCO, Monkton