• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.98-103
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• 2017

Purpose: Precision agriculture includes determining the right amount of nitrogen for a specific location in the field. This work focused on developing and validating a model using variable rate nitrogen application based on the estimated SPAD value from the ground-based image sensor. Methods: A variable rate N application based on the decision making system was performed using a sensor-based variable rate nitrogen application system. To validate the nitrogen application decision making system based on the SPAD values, the developed N recommendation was compared with another conventional N recommendation. Results: Sensor-based variable rate nitrogen application was performed. The nitrogen deficiency level was measured using the image sensor system. Then, a variable rate application was run using the decision model and real-ti me control. Conclusions: These results would be useful for nitrogen management of corn in the field. The developed nitrogen application decision making system worked well, when considering the SPAD value estimation.

• Journal of Information Processing Systems
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.1131-1140
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• 2019

Characteristics of fruit tree canopies are important target information for adjusting the pesticide application rate in variable rate spraying in orchards. Therefore, the target detection of the canopy characteristics is very important. In this study, a canopy volume measurement method for peach trees was presented and a variable rate spraying system based on canopy volume measurement was developed using the ultrasonic sensing, one of the most effective target detection method. Ten ultrasonic sensors and two flow control units were mounted on the orchard air-assisted sprayer. The ultrasonic sensors were used to detect the canopy diameters and the flow controls were used to modify the flow rate of the nozzles in real time. Two treatments were established: a constant application rate of $300Lha^{-1}$ was set as the control treatment for the comparison with the variable rate application at a $0.095Lm^{-3}$ canopy. The tracer deposition at different parts of peach trees and the tracer losses to the ground (between rows and within rows) were analyzed in detail under constant rate and variable rate application. The results showed that there were no significant differences between two treatments in the liquid distribution and the capability to reach the inner parts of the crop canopies.

• Journal of agriculture & life science
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• v.52 no.6
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• pp.111-125
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• 2018

In this study, we evaluated the uniformity of deposition rate and particle size distributions of the variable rate application technique using the unmanned rotorcraft by measuring the spray pattern according to path location in the range of spraying flight. The coefficient of variation (CV) of the lateral coverage rate for the overlapped distribution with the spray swath of 3.6 m in both guidance and auto-pilot flight modes maintaining constant flight speed was about 30% and the CV of the coverage rate by the flight path location was extremely small. Therefore, it was assessed that the variable rate application technology compensating for the variation of ground speed was superior in terms of spray uniformity. In addition, the droplet size distributions in both volume median diameter(VMD) and number median diameter(NMD) were adequate for aerial application and uniform in terms of lateral distribution. Thereafter, we intend to contribute to a precise application on small-scaled fields using the unmanned agricultural rotorcraft by the variable rate application.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.132-137
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• 2010

Site-specific N application for corn is one of the precision crop management. To implement the site-specific N application, various nitrogen stress sensing methods, including aerial image, tissue analysis, soil sampling analysis, and SPAD meter readings, have been used. Use of side-dressing, an efficient nitrogen application method than a uniform application in either late fall or early spring, relies mainly on the capability of nitrogen deficiency detection. This paper presents map-based variable rate nitrogen application based using a multi-spectral corn nitrogen deficiency(CND) sensor. This sensor assess the nitrogen stress by means of the estimated SPAD reading calculated from the corn leave reflectance. The estimated SPAD value from the CND sensor system and location information form DGPS of each field block was combined into the field map using a ArcView program. Then this map was converted into a raster file for a map-based variable rate application software. The relative SPAD (RSPAD = SPAD over reference SPAD) was investigated 2 weeks after the treatments. The results showed that the map-based variable rate application system was feasible.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.383-388
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• 2007

In precision farming, proper calibration and operation of a variable rate machine are critical to reduce input of agrochemicals and to ensure productivity and quality of agricultural products. As an effort to introduce precision farming to rice production in Korea, a pneumatic granular applicator was developed. This investigation intended to evaluate the application performance such as application accuracy, application uniformity and to suggest how to adjust the blow-heads to get uniform application pattern, and to suggest a practical way of adjustment of the blow-heads for uniform application. Tests to evaluate the application performance were conducted. The application uniformities (CV) in both transverse direction and longitudinal direction were less than 15% and application accuracy was greater than 81%. A simple method for adjusting the inserting length of blow-heads was suggested.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.15-22
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• 2011

An experimental variable rate nursery sprayer was developed to adjust application rates for canopy volume in real time. The sprayer consisted of two vertical booms integrated with ultrasonic sensors, and variable rate nozzles coupled with pulse width modulation (PMW) based solenoid valves. A custom-designed microcontroller instructed the sensors to detect canopy size and occurrence and then controlled nozzles to achieve variable application rates. A spray delivery system, which consisted of diaphragm pump, pressure regulator and 4-cycle gasoline engine, offered the spray discharge function. Spray delay time, time adjustment in spray trigger for the leading distance of the sensor, was measured with a high-speed camera, and it was from 50 to 140 ms earlier than the desired time (398 ms) at 3.2 km/h under indoor conditions. Consequently, the sprayer triggered 4.5 to 12.5 cm prior to detected targets. Duty cycles of the sprayer were from 20 to 34 ms for senor-to-canopy (STC) distance from 0.30 to 0.76 m. Outdoor test confirmed that the nozzles were triggered from 290 to 380 ms after detecting tree canopy at 3.2 km/h. The spray rate of the new sprayer was 58.4 to 85.2% of the constant application rate (935 L/ha). Spray coverage was collected at four areas of evergreen canopy by water sensitive papers (WSP), and ranged from 1.9 to 41.1% and 1.8 to 34.7% for variable and constant rate applications, respectively. One WSP area had significant (P < 0.05) difference in mean spray coverage between two application conditions.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.31 no.6 s.119
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• pp.474-481
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• 2006

In this paper, a new type blow head was developed and pneumatic application system was evaluated. The blow head had one operating factor, inserting length of collecting plate, that was directly related to discharge rate and application pattern. To determine Proper blow head arrangement and application height, a blow head set was tested. Three-way ANOVA was conducted to investigate relationships between CV value, the discharge rate and inserting length of collecting plate. The discharge rate and inserting length of collecting plate were statistically significant at p=0.01, affecting uniformity of application pattern. The best CV value among the application tests was 23.3% when the application rate and application height was 23.5 g/sec and 80 cm respectively. The worst CV value was 63.3% in 111.4 g/sec. Therefore, it is necessary to increase number of blow head in a section of the boom in improve application uniformity.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.31 no.6 s.119
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• pp.482-488
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• 2006

Application of precision farming technology to rice cultivation could be an effective measure for rice quality improvement and environment-friendly agriculture. This study was conducted to develope a variable rate pneumatic granule applicator. Previous study reported that application uniformity of the prototype machine (C.V. = 23.3%) was not satisfactory. To improve the uniformity, increase of blow-head number from 12 to 16 was suggested. Analysis of the pneumatic conveying system showed that increase of number of blow-head was possible. Three-way variance analysis of the modified applicator showed that inserting length should be changed according to granule metering rate. The range of metering rate from 27.3 to 417.9 g/s were divided into 4 levels and 4 sets of inserting lengths were determined to ensure CV values less than 15%. The revised applicator showed satisfactory C.V. values of 9.4 to 14.6% in the metering rate. Granule conveying pattern was observed using a high speed camera and judged as the homogeneous flow pattern.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.202-210
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• 2005

Since understanding on spatial variability of a field is essential to pursue precision agricultural technology, a field study for field variability and variable rate fertilization of nitrogen in a direct seeding paddy was attempted. Variable rate application of nitrogen was designed with soil test, and field application was tested in a direct seeding paddy in the Kimje, Jeonbuk, Korea. The grid samples of soil was collected from the field of which unit size was 35 m by 112 m on February before irrigating of the field. Soil organic matter, available phosphate and silicate, and extractable potassium were analyzed. Variable rate fertilizer recommendation maps of nitrogen for high yielding, HY, and low input sustainable agriculture, LISA, were derived based on the soil analysis. Direct seeding of rice was performed for variable rate treatment, VRT, for the experimental plot in 2001 and 2002, and so did for three volunteer farmers' field in 2003. Yield mapping was performed by harvesting. Economic feasibility of direct seeding of rice by variable rate fertilization was evaluated. Though increased yield of variable rate application and benefit of reducing fertilizer use and environmental impact, the cost for soil test exceeded the total reduced fertilizer cost.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.31 no.2 s.115
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• pp.108-114
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• 2006

This study was conducted to design and fabricate a controller for variable-rate application of granular fertilizer based on physical and chemical information, to analyze the performance of the controller and characteristics of a discharger. The result of the study are summarized as follows: 1. The charge ratios of discharger by accumulation heights of fertilizer in hopper were examined, and the variations in charge ratio were $72.58{\sim}93.33%$ and $63.14{\sim}94.42%$ for the fertilizers Super 21 and Sinsedae, respectively. The charge ratio also decreased as the rotational speed of discharger increased. 2. The coefficient of variation of discharge amount by rotational speed and discharge time of discharger were in the range of $2.94{\sim}11.23%$ and $2.82{\sim}10.80%$ for the fertilizer of Super 21 and Sinsedae. Except the rotational speed of 12 rpm, the coefficient of variation for discharge amount were relatively small with 4% more or less 3. In order to evaluate the rotational speed of discharger, the control signal in the range of $0{\sim}5V$ was subdivided into the 50 steps by 0.1V. The regression equation for the rotational speed of discharger was Y=55.984X-79.174(X: input voltage, V, Y: discharger speed, RPM) and the $R^2$ was 0.99. 4. In order to evaluate the performance of the controller for variable-rate application of granular fertilizer, settling time to unit step input was examined. The settling time varied from 0.8sec to 1.4 sec.