An automatic mapping system of agricultural productivity

• Grant number: 05/04485-2
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Innovative Research in Small Business - PIPE
• Start date: September 01, 2006
• End date: May 31, 2007
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agricultural Engineering
• Principal Investigator: Rafael Alexandre Ferrarezi
• Grantee: Rafael Alexandre Ferrarezi
• Company: AGX Tecnologia Ltda
• City: São Carlos

Abstract

Given the importance of agribusiness to the Brazilian economy, it is of great interest to develop new technologies that generate advantages and benefits for this sector. The most advanced technological resources are present in this sector through precision farming, which is a method of management of the production system which aims to improve the productivity of crops as well as the quality of the products. One of the tools used in precision agriculture is the generation of productivity maps, which involves the instrumentation of farm machines for the collection, downloading and processing of data. This method considers the spatial variability of parameters in the cultivated areas as a source of information vital in helping make decisions for a better management of the production process. Important agricultural crops, such as sugarcane, have still to benefit from these possible technological advances. Thus the present project aims to develop a productivity system for these crops which use transport vehicles, being able to detect automatically the moment and the position of the crop gathering throat and to quantify the load gathered in each cycle in a precise manner. It will also be necessary to develop a technological platform for the farm machines, where the automatic download will be effected, with communication via a wireless network, of geo-referenced data and the software necessary for the drawing up of productivity maps. Due to its economic importance to the State of São Paulo, the system will be developed initially for the cultivation of sugarcane. Nevertheless, as it possesses a versatile architecture, it will be able to incorporate new functionalities and be easily adapted to other crops which in a similar manner use transport vehicles for the harvesting of the production. (AU)