Modeling of Soil Compaction Beneath the Tractor Tire using Multilayer Perceptron Neural Networks

Introduction Soil compaction is one of the most destructive effects of machine traffic. Compaction increases soil mechanical strength and reduces its porosity, plant rooting and ultimately the yield. Nowadays, agricultural machinery has the maximum share on soil compaction in modern agriculture. The soil destruction may be as surface deformation or as subsurface compaction. Any way machine traffic destructs soil structure and as result has unfavorable effect on the yield. Hence, soil compaction recognition and its management are very important. In general, soil compaction is the most destructive effect of machine traffic. Modeling of ecological systems by conventional modeling methods due to the multitude effective parameters has always been challenging. Artificial intelligence and soft computing methods due to their simplicity, high precision in simulation of complex and nonlinear processes are highly regarded. The purpose of this research was the modeling of soil compaction system affected by soil moisture content, the tractor forward velocity and soil depth by multilayer perceptron neural network. Materials and Methods In order to carry out the field experiments, a tractor MF285 which was equipped with a three-tilt moldboard plough was used. Experiments were conducted at the Agricultural research field of University of Mohaghegh Ardabili in five levels of moisture content of 11, 14, 16, 19 and 22%, forward velocity of 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 km/h, and soil depths of 20, 25, 30, 35 and 40 cm as a randomized complete block design with three replications. In this study, perceptron neural network with five neurons in the hidden layer with sigmoid transfer function and linear transfer function for the output neuron was designed and trained. Results and Discussion Field experiments showed three main factors were significant on the bulk density (

Potential Assessment of Wind Power as a Source of Electricity Production in the City of Parsabad, Iran

Introduction Considering the low cost of the wind power production and its relatively good compatibility with the environment, wind farms have shown extensive growth in the past few years. Considering the importance of using the wind power and its advantages, the careful planning is needed to identify the available generation potentials in a region or a country to facilitate its increased use. By the end of 2009, the capacity of wind turbines installed in the wind farms of Iran was 92 MW, which demonstrates the significant potential for additional wind farms in the country and suggests investments in the wind power industry are likely cost effective. The main purpose of this research is to assess the potential of wind power for the city of Pars Abad in northwestern Iran. Materials and Methods In order to measure wind power density and wind energy potential, wind speed data collected every 3 hours at a height of 30 m above the ground for 11 consecutive years are analyzed; the data are provided by the Iranian Meteorological Organization and are used in the assessment of electricity production potential in the area chosen for the wind turbines installation. To determine the wind energy potential at a site and estimate the energy output from this site, statistical functions like probability functions are used. There are many probability functions but the Weibull distribution function is usually considered the most useful function for wind speed data analysis due to its simplicity and good accuracy. The Weibull probability density function is defined with two parameters of k and c as follows: (1) f (v) = k/(c ) 〖( v/c )〗^(k-1) exp (- 〖( v/c )〗^k ) After calculating the Weibull function parameters, status of a location for wind energy potential can be assessed. A good way to assess the available wind resources is by calculation of the wind power density. This parameter indicates how much energy can be converted to electricity at a site and can be calculated as follows: (2) P/A=1/2 ρc^3 Г ( (k+3)/k) Wind energy density expresses the wind power density for a given time period T.The wind energy density for a definite site and in a given time period (one month or one year) (T) can be calculated as: (3) E/A=1/2 ρc^3 Г ((k+3)/k) T Results and Discussion In this study, wind speed data collected in Parsabad, Iran, over a ten-year period (2005-2015) are analyzed, and the Weibull distribution parameters c and k, average wind speed, and average wind power and wind energy densities are determined. According to Table 1, the minimum and maximum standard deviations of the average monthly indicators during 11 years in November and July are 0.63 and 2.51, respectively, and the minimum and maximum wind speeds of the average monthly indicators during 11 years in November and June are 2.09 ms-1 and 4.87 ms-1, respectively. The average annual Weibull scale parameter (c) is 3.84 while the average annual Weibull shape parameter (k) is 2.61. The average annual wind power density (P/A) during 11 years is 45 Wm-2, while the average annual wind energy density (E/A) during 11 years is 389 kWhm-2/year. Pars Abad in terms of generation potential of wind energy and based on quantitative classification for wind resource is located in weak to average region. Conclusions Pars Abad with an average wind power density of 45 Wm-2 and average wind speed of 3.41 ms-1 is not a good candidate for wind power plants and it is just suitable for off-grid electrical and mechanical applications such as charging batteries and pumping water for agricultural and livestock uses

Path Planning for On-Farm Machinery in Rectangular Fields using Genetic Algorithm

Introduction Today, most of the agricultural machines for doing agricultural operations and covering the entire farm, must move in the farm, and travel a certain distance without doing anything useful. Common agricultural machines are controlled by human beings using habits, machinery models, and personal experiences without using computer-based tools. This trend leads to repetitive patterns and affect farm efficincy. Therefore, applying optimization techniques in determining the optimum pattern and track for on-farm machinery would be very effective. One of the main problems of conventional movement patterns on farms is the time wasted on moving towards the end of the field, which will have a big impact on field efficiency. The purpose of this study is to reduce the useless distance traveled by agricultural machines using genetic algorithm while moving on the farm and going from one track to the next, and, consequently, increase farm efficiency. Materials and Methods In this study, the rectangle farm that was 80 meters wide and had an arbitrary length was selected for simulation, and different types of turning methods were tested. The calculations and simulation were based on genetic algorithm using the MATLAB 2013 software. In this case, the minimum traveled distance was set as solution evaluation criterion. The solutions were applied and simulated according to these assumptions: Each gene was considered a track number, and the algorithm’s chromosomes were produced by connecting all the tracks to each other,. The width of each track was considered equal to the width of the machine, and based on reproduction parameters such as population size and the number of repetitions, a percentage of the children were produced through point intersection and another percentage were produced through mutation. In determining the distance between the tracks, Ω or T or U were used for two adjacent tracks, U was used for two tracks that had a track between them, and a longer U was used for tracks that had more than one track between them. Based on the number of the initial population, the chromosomes that were supposed to be parents at the beginning were selected. The children produced new population was created and the above steps were repeated. During the last repetition, the best child chromosome was introduced as the answer. In order to calculate the effects of different methods of turning on the non-working distance covered during agricultural operations, the non-working distance traveled during 5 orders of movement, including 4 traditional orders (continuous, spiral, all-around, and blocked) and 1 smart order were compared to each other. In the continuous pattern, because movement continues in the next track at the end of each track, all the turnings are inevitably done in the Ω way, and thus a greater distance is travelled compared to the U way. In the spiral pattern, the distance travelled in turnings between different tracks on the farm is equal. In the all-around pattern, movements are done from the sides and the operation is concluded at the center of the farm; therefore, the long U method of movement is used at the end of all the tracks, and Ω turning is used for the last track at the center of the farm. In the blocked pattern, the farm is devided into two or more blocks, and the all-around movement pattern is used in each block as an independent farm. In the smart movement pattern, the beginning and ending of the agricultural operations are considered in the vicinity of the hypothetical road which, in addition to facilitating access to the road, had a significant impact on reducing the useless distance traveled on the farm. Results and Discussion The final optimum pattern was compared to traditional patterns in the form of charts. The optimum pattern of movement which uses smart genetic algorithm and avoids long turning methods (such as, Ω and T) leads to reduced wasted time and distance traveled by agricultural machines and increased field efficiency and also, decreasing the non-working traveled distance and waste time approximately, 45 % and 47 % respectively. This is due to avoiding turning methods of Ω and T (compared to the U method). Also, the fatigue resulting from these approaches and their wasted time is greater than U method used in the genetic algorithm pattern. Conclusions The optimum pattern of movement which uses smart genetic algorithm was compared to conventional patterns that showed significant saving in non- working distance and waste time in farm. This optimum pattern can be implemented in automatic navigation but there is the possibility of its implementation by operators in common navigation