Influencing Factors on Infield Path Planning of different Farm Types

Abstract. Besides increasing engine power or working widths, especially organization and pre-planning of production processes will considerably contribute to efficiency improvements in future agriculture. Exceedingly machine complexes with several interacting vehicles, such as harvest process chains, provide lots of optimization potential. One way to achieve this increasing efficiency is to optimize infield path planning.

Preliminary studies in Germany and North America show that there are reasons why farmers often do not apply the infield strategy suggested by mathematical route planning tools. This study focuses on these influencing factors by expert interviews to make the computational optimization more useful and practice-oriented for farmers.

Some concrete examples for influencing factors on infield logistics are direction giving obstacles, such as natural hedges or power lines, as well as the cultivation of row crops like corn, soybeans or sugar beets with all their particularities concerning the cultivation system. Furthermore, several machines working in the same field simultaneously influence each other, regardless whether or not they are of the equal type.

Especially regarding the management of process chains, entire machine fleets or even autonomous vehicle control, these decision criteria provide valuable knowledge to be embedded in infield optimization tools.