Abstract: | The agricultural industry has been a major new adopter of GPS precise positioning technology. The relatively low cost of GPS positioning capability, combined with advances in processing and display technology, have resulted the development of radical new techniques for monitoring and controlling many aspects of the agricultural process. Initial uses of GPS included yield monitoring, soil sampling and field mapping. Data derived from these activities could be used to control chemical input and maximize crop yields by varying the rate of chemical application across a field based on position data from an onboard GPS receiver. Evolving from this, the implementation of DGPS for steering guidance has been enthusiastically accepted as providing both economic and agronomic advantages. Single frequency L1 DGPS has been used extensively to provide sub-meter positioning information for light-bar based systems to replace foam markers for guidance of chemical application equipment. A number of steering requirements, such as those used in planting, no-till and strip-till operations, require a higher level of accuracy than code phase L1 DGPS can provide. RTK techniques are being used in agriculture, particularly on high value specialist crops such as those found in California. For more generalized farming operations the capital expenditure and logistic considerations associated with RTK operations militate against their acceptance. Recent developments in satellite based wide area high accuracy techniques provide a cost-effective alternative to RTK for a range of agricultural needs. Two techniques have been developed . a wide area network carrier phase service (OmniSTAR HP) and .orbits and clocks. services. Both techniques deliver improved accuracy at acceptable cost with comparative ease of use and are being introduced by most of the major equipment manufacturers. This paper outlines the background of GPS use in agriculture and presents data showing the levels of accuracy currently being achieved using the wide area network carrier phase solution and the .orbits and clocks. solution. |
Published in: |
Proceedings of the 60th Annual Meeting of The Institute of Navigation (2004) June 7 - 9, 2004 Dayton Marriott Hotel Dayton, OH |
Pages: | 340 - 345 |
Cite this article: | Pointon, John G., "GPS Correction Techniques for Machine Guidance and Auto-Steer in Agriculture," Proceedings of the 60th Annual Meeting of The Institute of Navigation (2004), Dayton, OH, June 2004, pp. 340-345. |
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