Autonomous farming: modelling and control of agricultural machinery in a unified framework

Abstract

There are significant challenges faced by the farming industry, including a reduced labour workforce and a corporate style of farming. Such factors demand an increase in farming efficiency and productivity. This paper describes future autonomous farming producing globally competitive farming communities. The autonomous farm is described as a complex system-of-systems, bringing together robotics for autonomous farming, and precision agriculture. We initially describe a system-of-systems architecture, the heart of which is two data sets providing links between the various subsystems. These data sets include a precision farming data set, containing spatially precise navigation data, and a precision agriculture data set, consisting of spatially oriented agronomy data. Secondly, research undertaken in autonomous farm machinery is highlighted, where we present a foundation for the autonomous and robust trajectory-tracking control of articulated farm vehicles in the presence of uncertain conditions.