• Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.22-27
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• 2003

An autonomous tractor requires not only automatic steering (automatic guidance) but also automated control of tractor functions and implement operations. Examples of tractor functions include engine throttle, transmission speed, and 3-point hitch position. Implement operations include tillage, planting, and cultivating. This article provides an overview of a map-based methodology used for the implementation of autonomous field operations of agricultural tractors. The procedure for developing autonomous field operation maps were presented, and several important issues in the implementation of map-based autonomous operations were discussed. These issues included combining field operation maps, position offset, and real-time sensing and update of field operation maps.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.617-627
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• 2021

In the field of on-road motor vehicles, the level for autonomous driving technology is defined according to J3016, proposed by Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) International. However, in the field of agricultural machinery, different standards are applied by country and manufacturer, without a standardized classification for autonomous driving technology which makes it difficult to clearly define and accurately evaluate the autonomous driving technology, for agricultural machinery. In this study, a method to classify the autonomy levels for autonomous agricultural machinery (ALAAM) is proposed by modifying the SAE International J3016 to better characterize various agricultural operations such as tillage, spraying and harvesting. The ALAAM was classified into 6 levels from 0 (manual) to 5 (full automation) depending on the status of operator and autonomous system interventions for each item related to the automation of agricultural tasks such as straight-curve path driving, path-implement operation, operation-environmental awareness, error response, and task area planning. The core of the ALAAM classification is based on the relative roles between the operator and autonomous system for the automation of agricultural machines. The proposed ALAAM is expected to promote the establishment of a standard to classify the autonomous driving levels of self-propelled agricultural machinery.

• Journal of Drive and Control
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.27-36
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• 2020

The aim of this study is to design a simulation model for an electric All-Wheel-Drive (AWD) tractor to evaluate the performance of the selected component and agricultural work ability. The electric AWD tractor consists of four motors independently for each drive wheel, and each motor is combined with an engine generator, a battery pack, and reducers. The torque data of a 78 kW-class tractor was measured during plow tillage and driving operation to develop a workload cycle. A simulation model was developed by using commercial software, Simulation X, and it used the workload as the simulation condition. As a result of simulation analysis, the drive system, including an electric motor and reducers, was able to cope with high load during plow tillage. The SOC (State of Charge) level was influenced by the output power of the motor, and it was maintained in the range of 50~80%. The fuel consumed by the engine was about 18.23 L during working on a total of 8 fields. The electric AWD tractor was able to perform agricultural work for about 7 hours. In the future study, the electric AWD tractor will be developed reflecting the simulation condition. Research on the comparison between the simulation model and the electric AWD tractor should be performed.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.367-375
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• 2003

The aim of this study was to investigate the soil physical properties and the traction characteristics of paddy field before tillage by a computer simulation. Soil physical properties, such as soil moisture content, bulk density, soil hardness, and soil texture were measured in the twelve rice production area. Mathematical model based on dimensional analysis which include soil physical properties and vehicle factors was used for the computer simulation. Most of the soil texture of the investigated area was silty loam, loam and silty clay loam. Soil moisture content ranged between 20 and 40% mostly. Soil bulk density was in the range of 1,500 to $1,700kg\;m^{-3}$. Soil hardness ranged between 2 to $12kg\;cm^{-2}$ mostly. Soil hardness incorporates the effects of many soil physical properties such as moisture content, texture and bulk density, and so the range of soil hardness was greater than that of any other physical properties. The predicted net traction was in the range of 70 to 1,500 kgf depending on the area, but it was above 1,000 kgf for most of the investigated area. Thus it was concluded that 50 HP tractor can pull the four row moldboard plow considering the conventional tillage depth and width. But for the soft soil area such as Andong and Namyang, tractor itself may have mobility problem and show high slip during plowing operation.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.427-438
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• 1998

In Korea, rotary implements are mainly utilized in the tillage operation. The attitude control system for rolling phenominon of tractors, which in caused due to uneven ground surfaces and sinkage of tractor wheels, is one of the most important control systems in agricultural tractors. The attitude control system of a rotary implement, attached on tractors, was designed and fabricated in this study. The control system was largely composed of four main units; a setting unit, a detection unit, a controller and a hydraulic unit. The implement was controlled by control signals from a computer proportional to controlled errors, on/off action of two directional solenoide valve and lift cylinder on the right lift rod. Response characteristic experiments for the control system fabricated in this study were carried out indoors and outdoors. The results of experiments showed the response characteristics sufficient to use as the attitude control system of rotary implements for agricultural tractors.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Agricultural Machinery Conference
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• 1993.10a
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• pp.1013-1025
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• 1993

Agriculture in Swaziland is the most important sector of the economy from the stand point of export earning, rural employment and dependency for family food. But, inspite of 65.5 percent of the household being busy in food production for family consumption in Swaziland, the import bill of food and live animals is rising from E119.7268 million in 1987/90 (An.St.Bul.1988) . A typical farm size, based on holding's growing crops, is only 1.93 ha which may prohibit owning a four wheel tractor for farm operations. The traditional hand tools are just not efficient and comfortable to operate in order to exploit full potential of the land. There are over 120.000 draught animals which have potential to be utilized in farming. The two wheel-tractor is another energy source which can be used for many farm-operations.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.239-245
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• 2015

In order to control the hybrid power system efficiently, the knowledge for the required load of the system is important. The agricultural tractor performs various farm works such as plow, rotary, and baler. When it performs rotary tillage and baler operation, the generated work load is analyzed. To analyze trend of work load, moving average technique is applied to the measurement data. Optimal control inputs for the two works are obtained from simulation using the dynamic programming. The novel fundamental control strategy for parallel hybrid tractor called Max. SOC is proposed.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.71-77
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• 1993

This study was conducted in order to figure out the energy consumption pattern in rice production system of Korea, with literature investigation focused on energy requirement in rice production system in worldwide. The investigation reveals that 24,994 MJ/ha was needed to produce 4,500kg of rice production or 5.55 MJ/kg was consumed. The major enegry consumptions are resulted from the application of nitrogen fertilizer, fuel for farm machinery, and farm machinery embodied energy, which showed somewhat different energy consumption pattern than that of the developed country, like, U.S.A. Based on the machinery chosen in this investigation, it was found that 32.7% of the fuel energy, 2,431.8MJ, was consumed in drying operation, 32.2%, 2.402MJ, in tillage and land preparation. 25.8%, 1.923.6MJ in harvest. A linear relationship was found in pre harvest energy input and output of rice production.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.219-227
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• 1991

This paper concerns with experimental verification of the theory on the safe VHP positions presented in the first part of this study. In the experiment, tillage operation was conducted using a plow mounted to the threepoint hitch and the forces acting on the hitch points were measured. Using the data from the test tractor and plow, computer simualtion was also conducted and its results were compared with those obtained from the field experiment. The comparison showed a reasonable agreement between the two results, by which the theoretical method for the determination of safe VHP positions for steering control can be verified. Some guidelines for expanding the safe VHP region were finally proposed.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.79-89
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• 2022

With the wide use of greenhouses, the working hours have been increasing inside the greenhouse for workers. In the closed ventilated greenhouse, the internal environment has less affected to external weather during making a suitable temperature for crop growth. Greenhouse workers are exposed to organic dust including soil dust, pollen, pesticide residues, microorganisms during tillage process, soil grading, fertilizing, and harvesting operations. Therefore, the health status and working environment exposed to workers should be considered inside the greenhouse. It is necessary to secure basic data on particulate matter (PM) concentrations in order to set up dust reduction and health safety plans. To understand the PM concentration of working environment in greenhouse, the PM concnentrations were monitored in the cut-rose and Hallabong greenhouses in terms of PM size, working type, and working period. Compare to no-work (move) period, a significant increase in PM concentration was found during tillage operation in Hallabong greenhouse by 4.94 times on TSP (total suspended particle), 2.71 times on PM-10 (particle size of 10 ㎛ or larger), and 1.53 times on PM-2.5, respectively. During pruning operation in cut-rose greenhouse, TSP concentration was 7.4 times higher and PM-10 concentration was 3.2 times higher than during no-work period. As a result of analysis of PM contribution ratio by particle sizes, it was shown that PM-10 constitute the largest percentage. There was a significant difference in the PM concentration between work and no-work periods, and the concentration of PM during work was significant higher (p < 0.001). It was found that workers were generally exposed to a high level of dust concentration from 2.5 ㎛ to 35.15 ㎛ during tillage operation.