An integrated cloud system based serverless android app for generalised tractor drawbar pull prediction model using machine learning

Abstract

Knowing tractor drawbar pull is crucial to ensure the tractor can handle the required workload efficiently and safely, preventing soil damage and optimising field productivity. The present study proposes a novel approach for tractor drawbar pull prediction by utilising the tractor's geometric parameters and forward speed to develop a cloud-infused, server-less, machine learning-based real-time generalised tractor drawbar pull prediction model for any tractor between the 6-58 kW power range. The drawbar pull prediction models from ANN and six ML algorithms were developed, and the data analysis with hyperparameter tuning concluded that the Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGB) ML model outperformed the other ML models. A reasonable accuracy with R2 = 0.93 and MAPE = 6.77% was achieved using the XGB ML model for a separate validation dataset, which was not used for training. Furthermore, a cloud-based serverless Android App integrated with the XGB ML-based drawbar pull prediction model was developed for real-time tractor drawbar pull prediction and monitoring during tillage operations. The field validation demonstrated the XGB ML model's generalisation ability and effectiveness, with R2 = 0.90 and maximum MAPE of 9.86%. It can be used to simulate and optimize tractor performance, guiding manufacturers in selecting geometric parameters for tractor design.

Keywords

• Tractor drawbar pull prediction
• generalised model
• machine learning
• extreme gradient boosting algorithm
• cloud-based serverless android app