Development of Automatic Guidance for Agricultural Tractor Based on GPS navigation

Abstract

Research about the application of automatic navigation system on agricultural tractors has become one of the important research topics in the last two decades especially in the developed countries where the issue of ‘Precision Farming’ application is considered. GPS has been commonly used as the navigation system of vehicles including tractors. The objective of the research was to develop smart tractor that would work automatically based on GPS navigation for cultivation activity in precision farming. Mechatronic navigation control system for agricultural riding tractor including tractor steering, accelerator, clutch, brake system, and hydraulic control had been successfully developed using microcontrollers. GPS interfacing and data processing were also developed using Visual Basic 6.0 and functioned as the main control system. Field test was done on 40 x 20 m area with tractor velocity 0.6 m/s. The average error of control system was 17.9 cm.