Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Agricultural
Infotronic Systems
3
Qin Zhang, Yongni Shao, and Francis J. Pierce
CONTENTS
3.1 Introduction .................................................................................................... 41
3.2 Definition of Agricultural Infotronic Systems................................................ 42
3.3 Electronic Hardware ....................................................................................... 43
3.3.1 Overview............................................................................................. 43
3.3.2 Data Collecting Elements ................................................................... 43
3.3.3 Data Computing Elements .................................................................. 46
3.3.4 Data Transmitting Elements ............................................................... 47
3.4 Data Management Software ........................................................................... 49
3.4.1 Overview............................................................................................. 49
3.4.2 Data Collection ................................................................................... 50
3.4.3 Data Integration .................................................................................. 51
3.4.4 Data Mining........................................................................................ 52
3.4.5 Data Visualization .............................................................................. 53
3.5 Precision Farming Services ............................................................................ 54
3.5.1 Overview............................................................................................. 54
3.5.2 Examples of Products and Services.................................................... 54
3.5.3 Information Management Tools ......................................................... 55
3.6 System Integration and Applications.............................................................. 55
3.7 Summary ........................................................................................................ 57
References ................................................................................................................ 57
3.1 INTRODUCTION
Recent technological advances in production agriculture, such as yield monitor-
ing, information management, and geographical information systems, have offered
U.S. producers a new way of farming in the information age—precision farming.
Precision farming can help producers realize higher efficiency and better profitabil-
ity through managing their production, by addressing special needs in small grids of
a field rather than the entire field (Zhang et al., 2002). For example, supported by pre-
cision technologies, producers are now capable of fertilizing grids at different rates,
to maximize the yield with minimal fertilizer consumption. However, there are still
some bottlenecks limiting the benefit to producers from precision agriculture tech-
nologies, and one of them is providing operators with appropriate task instructions
41
