Networked Control System for the Guidance of a Four-Wheel Steering Agricultural Robotic Platform

A current trend in the agricultural area is the development of mobile robots and autonomous vehicles for precision agriculture (PA). One of the major challenges in the design of these robots is the development of the electronic architecture for the control of the devices. In a joint project among research institutions and a private company in Brazil a multifunctional robotic platform for information acquisition in PA is being designed. This platform has as main characteristics four-wheel propulsion and independent steering, adjustable width, span of 1,80 m in height, diesel engine, hydraulic system, and a CAN-based networked control system (NCS). This paper presents a NCS solution for the platform guidance by the four-wheel hydraulic steering distributed control. The control strategy, centered on the robot manipulators control theory, is based on the difference between the desired and actual position and considering the angular speed of the wheels. The results demonstrate that the NCS was simple and efficient, providing suitable steering performance for the platform guidance. Even though the simplicity of the NCS solution developed, it also overcame some verified control challenges in the robot guidance system design such as the hydraulic system delay, nonlinearities in the steering actuators, and inertia in the steering system due the friction of different terrains

Mapeamento de produtividade, retorno econômico, condutividade elétrica do solo e zonas de manejo de milho irrigado para silagem

The objective of this work was to evaluate the spatial and temporal variability of the dry matter yield of irrigated corn for silage, as well as its economic return. The study was conducted in an irrigated silage corn field of 18.9 ha in the municipality of São Carlos, in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. The spatial variability of the yield of three crop seasons, normalized yield indexes, production cost, profit, and soil electrical conductivity (EC) were modeled using semivariograms. Yield maps were obtained by kriging, and management zones were mapped based on average yield, normalized index, and EC. The results showed a structured spatial variability of corn yield, production cost, profit, and soil EC within the irrigated area. The adopted precision agriculture tools were useful to indicate zones of higher yield and economic return. The sequences of yield maps and the analysis of spatial and temporal variability allow the definition of management zones, and soil EC is positively related to corn yield.O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar a variabilidade espacial e temporal do rendimento de milho irrigado para silagem, bem como seu retorno econômico. O estudo foi conduzido em área de 18.9 ha de produção de silagem de milho irrigado, no Município de São Carlos, no Estado de São Paulo. Foram modelados, por meio de semivariogramas, variabilidade espacial da produtividade em três safras, produtividade normalizada, custo de produção, lucro e condutividade elétrica (CE) do solo. Os mapas de produtividade foram obtidos por krigagem, e as zonas de manejo foram mapeadas com base na produtividade média, no índice de normalização e na CE. Os resultados mostraram estrutura da variabilidade espacial do rendimento de milho, do custo de produção, do lucro e da CE do solo dentro da área irrigada. As ferramentas da agricultura de precisão adotadas foram úteis para indicar zonas de maior rendimento e retorno econômico. As sequências de mapas de rendimento e a análise de sua variabilidade espacial e temporal permitem a definição de zonas de manejo, e a CE do solo relaciona-se positivamente à produção de milho

Assessment method of the business process model of EKD

Apresenta o método de avaliação do modelo de processos de negócio do Enterprise Knowledge Development (MPN-EKD) e um exemplo de aplicação. Para criar o método de avaliação, foi desenvolvida a formalização do modelo de processos de negócio do EKD (MPN-EKD) e o mapeamento de sse modelo em redes de Petri. Por meio desse método, é possível verificar se o modelo tem erros de construção e travamentos. O EKD é uma metodologia que fornece uma forma sistemática e controlada de analisar, entender, desenvolver e documentar uma organização. A metodologia EKD não possui uma sintaxe e uma semântica bem definidas, dificultando análises mais complexas dos modelos e a verificação da consitência do modelo. Essa dificuldade motivou um estudo baseado em redes de Petri. O formalismo de redes de Petri a torna uma importante técnica de modelagem para a representação de processos. Além disso, redes de Petri permitem rastrear cada etapa da operação sem ambigüidade e possuem métodos eficientes de análise que garantem que o modelo está livre de erros.The EKD - Enterprise Knowledge Development - is a methodology that offers a systematic and guided process to analyze, understand, develop, and document an Enterprise. Unfortunately, its grammatical structure and context formation are not clear nor easy to understand and interpret making the analyses of more complex models difficult. As a result, the Enterprise Process model of EKD can be ambiguous and hard to analyze, especially regarding more complex systems, and so it can also be difficult to verify the consistency and entireness the model. In this work, these problems will be studied based on the Petri Nets approach. Due to the Petri Nets formalism, this is an important modeling technique to process representation. Furthermore, Petri Nets allows the tracking of every step of the operation with no ambiguity, and it offers efficient methodology for the analyses, which can guarantee the accuracy of the model. Therefore, the objective of this study is to develop an evaluation methodology of the business process model of EKD (MPN-EKD). Such methodology will allow the verification of possible building and locking model errors. This methodology can be applied to information systems or workflow. It can also be used to study strategies of work and workflow simulations.Coordenacao de Aperfeicoamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior (CAPES

Application of modeling and Petri net concepts in the productive process of the sugarcane industry

A modelagem, como meio de análise de processos do agronegócio, bem como de cadeias produtivas, atende à demanda por métodos apropriados. O presente trabalho objetivou avaliar a aderência dos conceitos de modelagem e de rede de Petri aplicados ao complexo agroindustrial da cana-de-açúcar. Utilizou-se uma empresa real para a aquisição das informações. Os modelos das cadeias de atividades foram validados com o uso da rede de Petri, por meio de um método de análise em que são simulados todos os caminhos possíveis e os estados que o sistema modelado pode atingir. O estudo resultou em 14 conjuntos de etapas de produção, englobando todas as operações unitárias das cadeias produtivas do açúcar e do álcool, desde o plantio da cana até o armazenamento do açúcar e do álcool.The modeling, as a tool of analysis of agribusiness processes as well as of productive chains, supplies the demand for appropriated methodological tools. The present work aimed to evaluate the adherence of modeling and Petri net concepts applied to the sugarcane agroindustrial complex. A real company was used for the acquisition of the information. Models of the chains of activities were validated with the Petri net tool, through an analysis method where all possible paths and all states that the modeled system can reach are simulated. The study resulted in 14 groups of production stages, including all unitary operations of the sugar and alcohol productive chains, from the planting of the cane to the storage of the sugar and alcohol

Desenvolvimento de um VANT totalmente configurado para aplicações em Agricultura de Precisão no Brasil

Interest in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) is growing worldwide and several efforts are underway to integrate UAV operations routinely and safely into civil applications. This document describes a new UAV applied in precision agriculture. It is shown the description of the system, softwares and first results in agriculture. The paper concludes with recommended actions for moving forward. The intent in describing the issues and first results in precision agriculture at Embrapa was to show the better results of an UAV in agriculture until now described.Pages: 399-40

Development of CAN-based distributed control system for variable rate technology in agricultural machinery

The number of electronic devices connected to agricultural machinery is increasing to support new agricultural practices tasks related to the Precision Agriculture such as spatial variability mapping and Variable Rate Technology (VRT). The Distributed Control System (DCS) is a suitable solution for decentralization of the data acquisition system and the Controller Area Network (CAN) is the major trend among the embedded communications protocols for agricultural machinery and vehicles. The application of soil correctives is a typical problem in Brazil. The efficiency of this correction process is highly dependent of the inputs way at soil and the occurrence of errors affects directly the agricultural yield. To handle this problem, this paper presents the development of a CAN-based distributed control system for a VRT system of soil corrective in agricultural machinery. The VRT system is composed by a tractor-implement that applies a desired rate of inputs according to the georeferenced prescription map of the farm field to support PA (Precision Agriculture). The performance evaluation of the CAN-based VRT system was done by experimental tests and analyzing the CAN messages transmitted in the operation of the entire system. The results of the control error according to the necessity of agricultural application allow conclude that the developed VRT system is suitable for the agricultural productions reaching an acceptable response time and application error. The CAN-Based DCS solution applied in the VRT system reduced the complexity of the control system, easing the installation and maintenance. The use of VRT system allowed applying only the required inputs, increasing the efficiency operation and minimizing the environmental impact

Cesta Para Colheita De Figos

CESTA PARA COLHEITA DE FIGOS. O objeto da presente invenção consiste de uma cesta para colheita de figo utilizada para transportar o produto pós-colheita, minimizando os impactos negativos atribuídos ao transporte, garantindo a qualidade e segurança do processo. Seu formato é ergonômico, em células individuais e anatômicas, o que permite uma boa acomodação dos frutos, de modo que os pedúnculos ficam projetados para baixo, evitando lesões e manchas. Preferencialmente de plástico, a cesta é higiênica, pois foi construída com material totalmente lavável, evitando contaminação por microorganismos. A cesta para colheita de figo compreende uma bandeja plástica (1) com formato anatômico para acomodação dos figos, uma bandeja plástica (2) que serve de depósito do látex que escorre dos pedúnculos e um suporte (3) com alça de metal para o transporte manual.BRPI0603870 (A)B65D85/30BR2006PI03870B65D85/3