Design and Development of a Low-cost Wireless Control Kit for Field Sprayers

Abstract

In recent years, agricultural machinery for precision agriculture has made extensive use of information and communication technologies. An Android-based module was developed in this study to allow the nozzles on the field sprayer booms to be opened and closed as a group. The developed module was tested on a 24 m working width field sprayer, controlling 48 pairs of nozzles in 4-8 groups based on GPS position data. For control, an electronic control unit and an application developed in the Android operating system were used. Wireless communication between the electronic control card and the developed software is provided via Bluetooth. The module, which was created through laboratory and field trials, was successfully tested.

Keywords

• smartphone application
• android
• section control
• electro-hydraulic control
• field sprayer
• pesticide