• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.301-310
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• 2000

An autonomous tractor system was developed and its performance was evaluated. The system consisted of a tractor system of and a remote control station. The tractor and the remote control station communicated each other via wireless modems. The tractor had a DGPS(differential global positioning system), sensors, a controller and a modem. The DGPS collected position data and the tractor status was estimated. The information of tractor status and sensors was transferred to the remote control station. Then, the control station determined the control data such as steering angles using a fuzzy controller. The fuzzy controller used the information from the DGPS, sensors, and GIS(geographic information system) data. The control data were obtained by remote signal processing at the control station The control data for autonomous operation were transferred to the tractor controller. The performances of an autonomous tractor were evaluated for various speeds, different initial positions and different initial headings. About 1.3 seconds of time lag was occurred in transferring the tractor status data and the control data. Compensation the time lag, about 27cm deviation was observed at the speed of 0.5m/s and 37cm at the speed of 1m/s. Error caused mainly by the time lag and it would be reduced by developing a full-duplex radio module for controlling the remote tractor.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.113-121
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• 2010

Land consolidation ratio for rice paddy fields reached to 64.7% as of 2008 in Korea, and this also accelerated automation of field machinery. Especially, research on autonomous tractors has been continuously conducted. Tillage is one of the labor-, energy-, and time-consuming field operations. Most important requirements for autonomous tractors would be travelling path planning and electronic system to control the tractor to follow the path. The instruction of computer was required to conduct the tillage operation in field with unmanned traveling tractor. This instruction was coincidently used in the control of the traveling path and the motion of tractor. The objectives of the study were 1) to characterize and model tillage operating sequence, turning pattern, and 2) to develop tillage path formation programs for autonomous tractor and evaluate the performance.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.55-62
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• 2000

Autonomous farm operation needs to be developed for safety, labor shortage problem, health etc. In this research, an autonomous tractor for tillage was investigated using machine vision and a fuzzy logic controller(FLC). Tractor heading and offset were determined by image processing and a geomagnetic sensor. The FLC took the tractor heading and offset as inputs and generated the steering angle for tractor guidance as output. A color CCD camera was used fro the image processing . The heading and offset were obtained using Hough transform of the G-value color images. 15 fuzzy rules were used for inferencing the tractor steering angle. The tractor was tested in the file and it was proved that the tillage operation could be done autonomously within 20 cm deviation with the machine vision and the FLC.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.123-130
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• 2010

A steering control system based on CAN(Controller Area Network) for autonomous tractor was developed to reduce duty of a central processing computer and to improve performance of steering control in terms of reduced control interval and error. The steering control system consisted of a SCU (Steering Control Unit), an EHPS system, and a potentiometer. The SCU consisted of an MCU (Micro Controller unit), an A/D converter, and a DC-DC converter, and a PID controller was used to control steering angle. The steering control system was communicated with the computer by CAN-bus. Each actuator and implement was connected to a multi-function board interfacing with the computer through a USB cable. Without CAN, control interval of the autonomous tractor was 1.5 seconds. When the CAN-based steering control system was combined with the autonomous tractor, however, control interval of the integrated system was reduced to those less than 0.05 seconds. When the autonomous tractor was operated with 1.5-s and 0.05-s control cycles at a 0.63-m/s travelling speed, the trajectories were close to straight lines for both of the control cycles. For a 1.34-m/s traveling speed, tractor trajectory was close to sine wave with a 1.5-s control cycle, but was straight line with a 0.05-s control cycle.

• Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.22-27
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• 2003

An autonomous tractor requires not only automatic steering (automatic guidance) but also automated control of tractor functions and implement operations. Examples of tractor functions include engine throttle, transmission speed, and 3-point hitch position. Implement operations include tillage, planting, and cultivating. This article provides an overview of a map-based methodology used for the implementation of autonomous field operations of agricultural tractors. The procedure for developing autonomous field operation maps were presented, and several important issues in the implementation of map-based autonomous operations were discussed. These issues included combining field operation maps, position offset, and real-time sensing and update of field operation maps.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Agricultural Machinery Conference
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• 2000.11c
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• pp.690-697
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• 2000

The objective of this study is to develop a method that is able to realize autonomous traveling for tractor-like robot on the slope terrain. A neural network (NN) and genetic algorithms (GAs) have been used for resolving nonlinear problems in this system. The NN is applied to create a vehicle simulator that is capable to describe the motion of the tractor robot on the slope, while it is impossible by the common dynamics way. Using this vehicle simulator, a control law optimized by GAs was established and installed in the computer to control the steering wheel of tractor robot. The autonomous traveling carried out on a 14-degree slope had initial successful results.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.63-71
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• 2015

Path planning is an essential part for traveling and mowing of autonomous lawn mower tractors. Objectives of the paper were to analyze operation patterns by a skilled farmer, to extract and optimize waypoints, and to demonstrate generation of formatted planned path for autonomous lawn mower tractors. A 27-HP mower tractor was operated by a skilled farmer on grass fields. To measure tractor travel and operation characteristics, an RTK-GPS antenna with a 6-cm RMS error, an inertia motion sensing unit, a gyro compass, a wheel angle sensor, and a mower on/off sensor were mounted on the mower tractor, and all the data were collected at a 10-Hz rate. All the sensor data were transferred through a software program to show the status immediately on the notebook. Planned path was generated using the program parameter settings, mileage and time calculations, and the travel path was plotted using developed software. Based on the human operation patterns, path planning algorithm was suggested for autonomous mower tractor. Finally path generation was demonstrated in a formatted file and graphic display. After optimizing the path planning, a decrease in distance about 13% and saving of the working time about 30% was achieved. Field test data showed some overlap, especially in the turning areas. Results of the study would be useful to implement an autonomous mower tractor, but further research needs to improve the performance.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.343-347
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• 2011

Precise traveling and tillage operation using an autonomous tractor is difficult with the data from the Geographic Information System(GIS) because it does not include the data of the width and inclination of the field to work. The minimum turing radius of the tractor could be different from the value presented by the tractor maker due to the moisture content of the field soil or operators' skill. Two programs were developed to process data obtained with the tillage path measuring system: one for recognizing coordinates of the 4 field corners, and the other for recognizing the minimum turning radius of the tractor.

• Journal of Positioning, Navigation, and Timing
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.123-130
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• 2013

Autonomous agricultural machines that are operated in small-scale farmland frequently experience turning and changes in direction. Thus, unlike when they are operated in large-scale farmland, the steering control systems need to be controlled precisely so that travel errors can be minimized. This study aims to develop a control algorithm for improving the path tracking performance of a steering system by analyzing the effect of the setting of the waypoint, which serves as the reference point for steering when an autonomous agricultural machine moves along a path or a coordinate, on control errors. A simulation was performed by modeling a 26-hp tractor steering system and by applying the equations of motion of a tractor, with the use of a computer. Path tracking errors could be reduced using an algorithm which sets the waypoint for steering on a travel path depending on the radius of curvature of the path and which then controls the speed and steering angle of the vehicle, rather than by changing the steering speed or steering ratio which are dependent on mechanical performance.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.179-186
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• 1998

This study was conducted to sense posture of an autonomous tractor using a DGPS, a gyro compass, and a potentiometer. Posture sensing system was constructed and its accuracy was evaluated. The accuracy of DGPS was evaluated under stationary and moving conditions, and the performance of the gyro compass and the potentiometer was investigated by measuring bearing and steering angles, respectively. Also, the effect of DGPS interference by obstacles was evaluated experimentally. The position accuracy was about 6.6cm(95%) under the stationary condition and 10 cm at sharp turning condition. Steering angle of the tractor could be related linearly to the output of the potentiometer that was installed on the rotating center of a knuckle arm. The positioning accuracy of the DGPS varied significantly according to the number of visible GPS satellites, but was good with more than 7 satellites. The DGPS gave bad solutions for sensing the posture of tractor when signals from satellites or the correction data from the base were interfered by obstacles.