Telemetry: machine connectivity and data management

With the expansion of agriculture and the growing need to produce more and more with fewer resources, we can see the advancement of technology embedded in agricultural machines, making them increasingly efficient and generating data sources that assist in management and decision-making. decisions on properties.

In this sense, we have telemetry, a system that connects machines via the internet from the field to the office, making it possible to send tasks and guidelines for the operator to carry out, as well as receive data from agricultural operations and identify possible anomalies and act in time to correct them. these problems.

Commercial agriculture has made considerable advances in recent years, triggered mainly by the use of technology in the field, aimed at the mechanization of processes, direct seeding systems, biotechnology and precision agriculture. The consequences of the use of these technologies are observed in national agricultural grain production, which, in recent years, has seen a large increase in productivity. Among the precision agriculture tools that contributed to the evolution of production levels, the following stand out: the use of satellite navigation instruments on agricultural machines, mapping of soil fertility variability, application of inputs at variable rates, monitoring snapshot of plant conditions, georeferenced control of input applications and the use of productivity maps.

Digital agriculture, also called Agriculture 4.0, consists of the use of technological solutions linked to information technology to manage crops with the aim of optimizing agricultural production, due to the automation provided to agricultural production processes.

Therefore, this technological revolution has increasingly incorporated technology into agricultural machinery and the rural environment. The embedded technology consists of several sensors, controllers, displays and receivers of the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) that allow increasing the precision of work, standardizing operations in the field. This set of technological innovations is being inserted into agriculture and connecting agricultural machines.

These systems generate a large amount of data and information regarding machines and agricultural operations, such as productivity maps, fuel consumption reports, among others, which can be analyzed on specific agronomic management platforms and software, helping rural producers in farm management.

Remote monitoring

With sophisticated electronic systems that make up the machines, large amounts of data can be collected and transmitted remotely through telemetry to a storage center (cloud), aiming for monitoring, evaluation and control. Therefore, telemetry consists of the transfer and use of data from one or more remote machines, allowing instant communication via 4G cellular network or Wi-Fi.

Telemetry allows operations to be managed from anywhere, as it is possible to make machine, operations and agronomic data automatically available on digital platforms and receive feedback on equipment, easily and quickly in an area with good connectivity.

Furthermore, the use of a telematics system on the machines allows dealers to connect with the machine through the remote diagnostic system to monitor fault diagnosis codes, read and record machine parameters and remotely reprogram the electronic controller software, identifying the that needs to be done to correct problems and keep the machine running. Another important tool is remote access to the monitor, where it is possible to access the equipment's display and see exactly what the operator sees on the screen, allowing him to help him solve simple problems, without the need to travel to the machine, reducing costs and downtime.

In this way, dealerships monitor connected machines in their region, monitoring alerts, carrying out diagnostics and tests remotely, so that technicians can carry out interventions to solve problems remotely, avoiding unnecessary trips to the property.

Information management

The behavior of machines, observing details such as fuel consumption, operating speed and information related to field work, is the objective to be sought in agriculture. The use of sensor networks in an agricultural machine, connected to a data management system, makes it possible to measure a series of previously unknown parameters.

Information management includes solutions to help producers manage field data, monitor and extract maximum performance from their machines, as well as manage their fleet, ensuring maximum operational performance.

Digital agriculture platforms gather all information about machines, operations and agronomic data in the cloud, which is transferred directly from the field via telemetry modem for subsequent analysis and decision-making. Through these platforms it is also possible to remotely send jobs containing maps, prescriptions and configuration files (limits, guidance lines, implement configuration, etc.) to the machines.

The technologies embedded in the machinery generate a large amount of data and information regarding machines and agricultural operations, which can be analyzed on specific digital platforms for fleet and agronomic management, helping rural producers to make more assertive decisions. In the same way that dealers receive alerts about machine fault codes, being able to assist the producer with proactive interventions to carry out preventive maintenance, even before the equipment stops at crucial moments in the operation, thus increasing operational efficiency and mechanical availability of equipment.

By Leandro Pieper Mota, Angelo Vieira dos Reis, Fabrício Ardais Medeiros e Mauro Fernando Ferreira (NIMeq/Faem/UFPel). Article published in issue 242 of Revista Cultivar Máquinas