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We have developed a software framework (SF) for agricultural vehicle navigation. The SF is software that can perform various vehicle navigation tasks for route guidance to achieve efficient operation, and it is offered as a class library of software running on a personal computer (PC). Also, the SF can be used as a model for application software (AS) to aid precision farming (PF) or to control autonomous vehicles.

In the SF, elements of (1) PC interfaces, (2) external devices, (3) agricultural vehicles and implements, and (4) geographical information elements such as area, crop field, work trace, and yield-map were modeled as objects (modules). The module inherits the class of base module so that it will be easy to expand. The module has a message handler interface, the SF and the AS based on the SF consist of various modules in a dynamic tree structure. The module can be displayed by using module view and managed by using module controller which performs integrated management of module generation, edition and storage.

Using the developed SF, the prototype AS to aid agricultural vehicle based precision farming and to control autonomous vehicle were made. We have confirmed the features and performance of the SF through testing these AS features.