Abstract
The evaluation and prediction of the agricultural machinery field efficiency is essential for agricultural operations management. Field efficiency is affected by unpredictable (e.g., machine breakdowns) and stochastic (e.g., yield) factors, and thus, it is generally provided by average norms. However, the average values and ranges of the field efficiency are of limited value when a decision has to be made on the selection of the appropriate machinery system for a specific operational set up. To this end, in this paper, a new index for field operability, the field traversing efficiency (FTE), a distance-based measure, is introduced and a dedicated tool for estimation of this measure is presented. In order to show the degree of the dependence of the FTE index on the operational features, a number of 864 scenarios derived from the consideration of six sample field shapes, three conventional fieldwork patterns, four driving directions, and twelve combinations of machine unit kinematics and implement width were evaluated by the developed tool. The test results showed that variation of FTE was up to 23% in the tested scenarios when using different operational setups.
Highlights
Introduction of a New Index ofFieldOperations EfficiencyKun Zhou 1,2, Dionysis Bochtis 3, Allan Leck Jensen 2, Dimitrios Kateris 3, *Claus Grøn Sørensen 2 * andResearch & Advanced Engineering, Global Harvesting, AGCO A/S, Dronningborg Alle 2, Department of Engineering, Aarhus University, Blichers Allé 20, P.O
An operational system in agricultural field operation consists of tangible entities, implementing entities, and operating features
In this paper we propose a new more objective and measurable index for the field efficiency based on the travelled distance of an agricultural machinery during a field operation, the field traversing efficiency (FTE), as a function of well-quantified operational specifications
Summary
An operational system in agricultural field operation consists of tangible entities (i.e., a field), implementing entities (i.e., machines), and operating features (i.e., driving direction, fieldwork pattern, etc.). Are factors that are not predictable and highly depended on the operator’s abilities and experience, current field conditions, and on factors that are highly stochastic (e.g., breakdowns) This is the reason that the field efficiency is generally provided by average norms. Sci. 2020, 10, 329 up (i.e., fieldwork pattern, driving direction, operating width, machine maneuverability, and field shape), especially in the case of precision agriculture practices that requires specific and specialized operational configurations [8,9,10]. For the purposes of calculating the FTE, a dedicated tool that generates a continuous field area coverage path was developed to estimate the total travelled distance and the various distance elements (e.g., turnings) this path consists of, and to categorize the path’s various segments to productive and non-productive ones. In the third module a continuous path is generated based on an undirected graph converted from the field geometrical representation
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