Reduction of environmental pollution by using RTK-navigation in soil cultivation

Damijan Kelc,Peter Berk,Miran Lakota,Denis Stajnko,Jurij Rakun,Peter Vindiš

doi:10.25165/j.ijabe.20191205.4932

Abstract

The concept of precision farming is wide, and it represents the efficiency which is achieved with the help of precision. For the navigation of field machines, the RTK (Real Time Kinematic) navigation is needed. In order to verify the positive effects in practice, RTK navigation system equipped with Fentd 828 was applied to test the width of overlap, and fuel and time that could be saved compared with manual driving. The experiment was conducted on two areas of land size of 172 m × 58 m with two working machines width 3 m and 6 m. Results indicated that 15.7% of the time and 8.66% of the fuel were saved on a working machine of 3 meters width, and 12.6% of the time and 8.28% of the fuel were saved on a working machine of 6 m width. The width of the overlap represent 10% of the working width of the machine, and with the method of turning, which RTK navigation allows, additional time was saved. Ecological footprint, CO2 emissions and global warming potential (GWP) was estimated under different guiding systems. The largest footprint was related to manual tillage with 3 m width working machine, while estimation on CO2 (kg) emissions and GWP obtained the same result. The use of precision agriculture technologies allows better planning and analyzing of working procedures. The air, water and soil pollution are less intensive. Keywords: precision farming, RTK technology, ecological footprint, environmental pollution, tillage DOI: 10.25165/j.ijabe.20191205.4932 Citation: Kelc D, Stajnko D, Berk P, Rakun J, Vindiš P, Lakota M. Reduction of environmental pollution by using RTK-navigation in soil cultivation. Int J Agric & Biol Eng, 2019; 12(5): 173–178.

Highlights

Precision farming is becoming increasingly important in all agricultural sectors
Created was by the European Union (EU) through the European global navigation satellite system (GNSS) Agency (GSA)
To tillage the entire surface (1 hm2), 5.4 L of fuel in rounds at RTK mode and 5.9 L of fuel in rounds at manual driving were spent. 8.28% of the fuels were saved from RTK mode

Summary

Introduction

Precision farming is becoming increasingly important in all agricultural sectors. It describes the efficiency that can be achieved with precision. The field of precision farming is wide. One part of precision farming is so called ‘digital farming’. In practice digital farming uses modern technologies such as sensors, robotics, and data analysis for shifting from tedious operations to continuously automated processes. Agricultural robotics is important in autonomous weed control, soil tillage and harvesting[1]. Production conditions are changing and plants need nutrients in different quantities and qualities. Technique for precision farming (satellites, receivers ...) allows farmers to adapt the working parameters of agricultural machines (large and small) for each square meter according to changing conditions and requirements. The use of precision farming technologies is an acquisition for farmers, consumers, the environment and nature

Methods

Results

Conclusion