The popularization of smart agriculture is mainly attributed to the combination of high technology and machinery. By adopting GPS, geographic information systems, remote sensing technology, smart agriculture can greatly improve the efficiency of farmers and save the cost. Let’s see some applications of GPS in agricultural machinery.

1. Agricultural machinery transportation and navigation
In the processing of transportation or harvesting,  agricultural machinery can be programmed to follow the set route for farming fertilization or pest control if it is installed GPS tracker, improving work efficiency and saving costs. At present, some countries in Europe and the United States have tested a new type of combine harvester, which is equipped with GPS tracking device and geographic information system, and can analyze whether the yield of a certain area is improved or not in real time. GPS technology can provide the combine harvester with information about the maturity of different farm areas, upload the related location data, and then use GPS positioning technology to guide the combine harvester to reap the mature crops and to conduct the harvest according to the distribution area of different products, which can effectively improve the work efficiency and reduce the work cost.

2. Pest and weed disaster monitoring
In the past, most of the researches on crop disasters was reported and summarized by researchers distributed in different regions. The pest and weed disaster has the characteristics of short cycle and fast transmission, and it is very easy to cause large-scale epidemics. Today, thanks to smart agricultural, we can use GPS to find the accurate disaster area that suffers pest and weed, pinpoint the seriousness of different areas, and then transmit corresponding information to the cloud. Based on cloud data, the amount of medicine to be administered in different disaster areas is determined, and realize accurate drug delivery. By using GPS to administer medicine, accurate disaster management can not only save time, labor and cost, but also reduce the chemical environmental pollution.

3. Application of seeding and fertilization
The distribution of seeds and fertilizers plays a key role in increasing crop yields, but it is difficult to spread the seeds exactly where they are needed. GPS technology can improve the accuracy of distribution, prevent the occurrence of omission or repeated delivery, so as to reduce waste. Using agricultural machinery and equipment can rationalize the layout of sowing routes, greatly save operating costs. The application of GPS technology can save the fee of chemical fertilizers and herbicides, and prevent harming the growth and development of crops due to excessive doses. It can also reduce the repeated spread, avoid waste and save resources. For spraying at night, it has more advantages. With less evaporation and open stomata at night, it is easier to absorb herbicides and fertilizers, improving the efficiency of weeding and fertilization. In particular, it can use GPS to combine with driving information, realizing intelligent control of the sowing and fertilization on different lands.

4. Application of self-driving tractors
The autonomous tractors are farm machines that use GPS to work in the field and controlled by operating stations. This technology can achieve continuous accurate operation, not only save time, but also reduce the input of human and material resources. A Finnish company makes a self-driving tractor that can farm 24 hours a day. A team of three farm workers can take turns monitoring dozens of unmanned tractors day and night in a control room. The tractors use U.S. military satellite signals to determine their location on the ground. Video from the tractor’s camera is shown on the monitor, and the operator can navigate the tractor remotely by watching the screen. The onboard computer on the tractor stores a digitized map of the field and then uses GPS to navigate automatically until the task is complete. The best accuracy of manual driving can only reach an error within 10CM, of course, the accuracy is much lower after fatigue. However, the error of the autonomous tractor is within 3CM.

The autonomous tractor saves fuel and reduces the amount of fertilizer used, weighing just 1.5t. The heavier the tractor, the tighter the soil, and the more difficult it is for the roots of the crops to grow. As a result, people tend to plow deeper with more powerful tractors, whose weight creates deeper layers of compactified soil meantime. However, lighter and self-driving tractors break this vicious cycle, and can increase crop yields by as much as 10 percent.

5. Cross-regional management of agricultural machinery
With the help of GPS technology and the establishment of monitoring center, the agricultural machinery equipped with GPS modules can be monitored in real time. The driving route, direction, speed, and the starting or stopping state of the tractor can be fed back to the control center. Also, agricultural machinery can be remotely controlled, such as cutting off oil, power or locking. If the agricultural machinery in the process of work happens to an emergency, it can send out alarms, bringing a lot of convenience for the better operation of tractor. Agricultural machinery departments also can respond according to the feedback, intelligently get the situation of agricultural machinery.

Agricultural machinery equipped with GPS equipment and combined with the Internet management platform can save time, cost and labor for farmers. Jimi has tractor GPS tracker and smart agriculture solution that can help boost your business, please contact us if interested.