A unified result for variable-rate linear network coding

Fong et al.analyzed variable-rate linear network coding for linear broadcast.However,the authors didn't investigate it for the other three types of linear network codes.In this paper,by simple and clear proofs,it is found that there are similar results for variable-rate linear generic and linear dispersion if the field size is large enough.It means that linear generics and linear dispersions of different dimensions can be implemented on the same network,while each non-source node is required to store only one copy of the local encoding kernel within a session.Moreover,an example is given to show that there isn't a similar result for linear multicast.

Design and Experiment of Slave Computer Control System for Applying Variable-rate Liquid Fertilizer

In order to increase the applying rate of liquid fertilizer and reduce environmental pollution, a slave computer control system for applying variable-rate liquid fertilizer was designed. The system used SMC as core processor and electrically controlled pressure regulator as execution component. The characteristic equation of the system was obtained by using classical control theory. Results indicated that the characteristic equation met the requirements of routh-criterion, which indicated the working process of the system was stable. Performance of the slave computer was verified via bench tests. Results demonstrated that there was no significant influence on the response from interclass error. The fertilization error was less than 0.9, and the fertilization accuracy was larger than 97%. The liquid fertilizer emitted by the fertilizing devices had no significant difference in uniformity, which met the demands of the slave computer control system for applying variable-rate liquid fertilizer.

Development of real-time laser-scanning system to detect tree canopy characteristics for variable-rate pesticide application

Improving pesticide application efficiency is increasingly important in orchard spraying.In this study,a laser-scanning system was designed to acquire gridding volumes of a tree to quantify the geometry characteristics of the tree canopy in real-time.A laser-scanning sensor mounted on a linear guide was utilized to measure the structure of a target tree canopy.A computer was used to receive measurement data from the laser scanner and obtain the movement distance of the laser-scanning sensor from a controller.An algorithm written with VC#program was designed to calculate gridding volumes of trees by recognizing valid measurement data from the laser scanner.Laboratory evaluations were conducted on three kinds of regular objects,and the maximum relative errors of section volumes of the cuboid,triangular prism and cylinder objects were 3.3%,7.9%and 9.4%,respectively,which illustrated that the algorithm could calculate the section volumes in different parts of the objects with high accuracy.A conifer tree and an apple tree were chosen to verify detecting accuracy of the laser-scanning system at variable speeds and grid sizes.The variation coefficients of total volumes for each kind of the tree were 0.078 and 0.041,respectively,which indicated that the laser-scanning system could be applied to provide the gridding volumes of different canopy densities in real-time with good reliability for guiding a variable-rate sprayer.

Design of precision variable-rate spray system for unmanned aerial vehicle using automatic control method

In order to reduce the use of chemical pesticides in crop plant protection and improve the utilization efficiency of pesticides,it is necessary to study advanced application machinery and application techniques.The use of unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV)for pesticide spraying has the characteristics of less application,strong penetrability,wide applicability and flexible operation scheduling,and has gradually become one of the important development directions in the field of aviation plant protection.However,the operation process of the UAV is often affected by meteorological factors and human manipulation,resulting in poor actual operation with inaccurate spray volume and uneven application.Therefore,to improve the stability and uniformity of the application of the plant protection UAV under variable operating conditions,in this paper a real-time control method was proposed for the application flow rate,and a precision variable-rate spray system was designed based on single-chip microcomputer and micro diaphragm pump that can controls the flow rate of the pump in real time with the changes of the operating state.The response s-peed of the variable-rate spray system was tested.The average control response time of the system was 0.18 s,and the average stability time of the pump flow change was 0.75 s.The test results showed that the system has a quick response to the working state and the adjustment of the target flow of the pump can be quickly completed to realize the variable-rate spray function.The research results can provide a reference for the practical application of plant protection UAV variable-rate spray system.

Evaluation of droplet deposition and effect of variable-rate application by a manned helicopter with AG-NAV Guía system

The variable-rate application is an important aspect of precision agriculture.In order to determine the regular patterns of droplet deposition and compare the actual variable-rate spraying effect of the AS350B3e helicopter with the AG-NAV Guía system,spray tests were conducted with different operating parameters and operating methods.In this study,the deposition distribution of droplets in the effective swath area was evaluated for six single-pass applications at four different flight velocities.The effects of adding adjuvant on droplet deposition,drift and droplet size were compared,and the actual variable effect of the forth-back application was verified.The analysis results showed that the position of the effective swath area was affected by natural wind velocity and wind direction,and would shift to the downwind direction area from the helicopter route of a different degree.The effective swath width increased slowly and then decreased sharply with the increase of flight velocity.It was found that flight velocity of 100 km/h was the peak inflection point of effective spray width variation.Moreover,the effect of flight velocity on the distribution uniformity of droplet deposition in the effective swath area was not significant.In the single-pass application of 90 km/h,adding adjuvant could increase droplet size in the effective swath area.The deposition increased by 8.98%,and the total drift decreased by 28.65%,of which the upwind drift decreased by 28.31%and the downwind drift decreased by 29.06%.In the forth-back application of 90 km/h,the error between actual application volume and system setting dose was 12%.The results of this study can provide valuable references for future research and practices on variable-rate aerial applications by manned helicopters.

Fertilization strategy and application model using a centrifugal variable-rate fertilizer spreader

With the sustainable development of precision agriculture and the steady progress of variable-rate fertilization technology,the centrifugal variable-rate fertilizer spreader has attracted research attention due to its lower incidence of crush damage,high efficiency,and low cost.To improve fertilization accuracy and uniformity,spreading performance tests were conducted using this spreader in accordance with the test methods specified in ISO 5690 and ASAE S341.2,in which particle mass was weighed in a two-dimensional matrix of collection boxes.The effects of fertilization strategies that control the feed gate flow rate and the disc rotation speed on particle distribution,and application rate per unit area and effective swath width,were investigated.A variable-rate fertilization model was developed by analyzing the variation characteristics resulting from an increasing and decreasing application rate,and field experiments were conducted to verify its accuracy.The results indicated that when the feed gate flow rate was 300 g/s,the mean application rate was 26.47 g,the standard deviation is 2.81,and the coefficient of variation of particle distribution is at its minimum value of 14.25%.When the disc rotation speed was 600 r/min,the fertilizer was most evenly distributed with a coefficient of variation of 13.86%,and an average effective spreader swath width of 24.51 m.The proposed variable-rate fertilization model showed a high fitting degree with an S-shaped function curve for both increasing and decreasing distribution rates and the yielding coefficients of determination were more than 0.82 and 0.71,respectively.The average error between the model predictions and the test results was 9.47%,and the coefficients of determination for the increasing and decreasing distribution rates were 0.91 and 0.82,respectively,which confirmed the accuracy of the proposed variable-rate fertilization model.This investigation provided a theoretical basis for traditional empirical fertilization using centrifugal variable-rate fertilizer spreaders,and guides the selection of a multiple trajectory,variable-rate fertilization strategy.

Design and performance evaluation of a variable-rate orchard sprayer based on a laser-scanning sensor

To improve the precision spraying strategy and reduce excessive pesticide application in orchards,an air-assisted sprayer integrated with a laser-scanning system was developed to realize the toward-target variable-rate spraying.In the spray control system,a method of calculating canopy gridding volumes was designed to ensure that the canopy was divided into a uniform grid size,a variable-rate spray model was used in the flow rate decision software to control the spray output according to the canopy gridding volumes and travel speed,and a method of saving and accessing spray data was used to control the spray delay.The effects of different grid sizes and travel speeds on the spray performance were evaluated by quantifying spray coverage uniformity inside tree canopies.The results showed that spray coverage uniformity declined with increasing grid width from 0.14 to 0.28 m although the mean spray coverage on each target location showed no significant differences.Additionally,there were no significant variations in mean spray coverage at speeds of 1.0,1.2 and 1.4 m/s for a tested tree of 1.6 m width and at any experimental speeds for a tested tree of 1.3 m width,which indicated that the variable-rate sprayer could provide good spray coverage uniformity under various travel speeds with a canopy size limitation.Compared with the same sprayer without the variable-rate spray function,the intelligent sprayer prototype realized effective toward-target spraying and avoided overspraying while providing sufficient spray coverage.

Spatial distribution visualization of PWM continuous variable-rate spray

Pesticide application is a dynamic spatial distribution process,in which spray liquid should be able to cover the targets with desired thickness and uniformity.Therefore,it is important to study the 2-D and 3-D(dimensional)spray distribution to evaluate spraying quality.The curve-surface generation methods in Excel were used to establish 1-D,2-D,and 3-D graphics of variable-rate spray distribution in order to characterize the space distribution of the variable-rate spray.The 1-D,2-D,and 3-D distribution graphs of Pulse-Width Modulation(PWM)-based continuous variable-rate spray were developed to provide a tool to analyze the distribution characteristics of the spray.The 1-D graph showed that the spray distribution concentrated toward the center of the spray field with the decreased flow-rate.The 2-D graph showed that the spray distribution always spread as the shape of Normal Probability Distribution with the change of the flow-rate.The 3-D graph showed that the spray distribution tended to be uniform when the sprayer travelled forward at the appropriate speed.This study indicated that the visualization method could be directly used for analysis and comparison of different variable-rate spray distributions from different experimental conditions and measuring methods.

Design of variable-rate liquid fertilization control system and its stability analysis

Variable-rate technology(VRT)has been paid more attentions by farmers in an attempt to match inputs to local growing conditions efficiently.Farmers in every country are highly encouraged to adopt this practice rather than uniform-rate application(URA).However,the standard methods and design used to quantify application accuracy for VRT remain lacking.Therefore,a variable-rate liquid fertilization control system was designed to meet accurate fertilization demand.The designed control system could enable the real-time proportion and mixture of three kinds of liquid fertilizers,namely,N,P and K,in accordance with decision support subsystem.The task controller reads related information and sends such data to the control system,which is responsible for fertilization operation.The controller could realize liquid fertilizer adjusting through the electromagnetic flow control valves.A high-precision flow meter could measure the fertilization amount,which is sent as feedback to the controller to form a closed-loop control system based on the improved proportional-integral-derivative(PID)control algorithm that could enhance the stability and accuracy of precision variable-rate liquid fertilization control systems.Comparisons between the actual and planned application rates indicated good performance for both static and field experimental trials.Mathematical models and transfer functions for some functional modules were then constructed by classical theories to derive a system characteristic equation.To verify the static and dynamic performances,the control system was simulated using the Simulink module on Matlab.Results showed that the variable-rate fertilization was in accordance with the planned data and that the signal trace effect was good.The error was less than 5%for fertilization amount and fertilizer proportion,respectively,and the control response time was 6 s.

Image processing based real-time variable-rate chemical spraying system for disease control in paddy crop

The agrochemical applicationwith conventional sprayers results inwastage of applied chemicals,which not only increases the economic losses but also pollutes the environment.In order to overcome these drawbacks,an image processing based real-time variable-rate chemical spraying systemwas developed for the precise application of agrochemicals in diseased paddy crop based on crop disease severity information.The developed system comprised ofweb cameras for image acquisition,laptop for image processing,microcontroller for controlling the system functioning,and solenoid valve assisted spraying nozzles.The chromatic aberration(CA)based image segmentation method was used to detect the diseased region of paddy plants.The system further calculated the disease severity level of paddy plants,based onwhich the solenoid valves remained on for a specific timeduration so that the required amount of agrochemical could be sprayed on the diseased paddy plants.Field performance of developed sprayer prototype was evaluated in the variable-rate application(VRA)and constant-rate application(CRA)modes.The field testing results showed a minimum 33.88%reduction in applied chemical while operating in the VRA mode as compared with the CRA mode.Hence,the developed systemappears promising and could be used extensively to reduce the cost of pest management as well as to control environmental pollution due to such agrochemicals.

Generalized Minimum Rank Distance of Variable-Rate Linear Network Error Correction Codes

By extending the notion of the minimum distance for linear network error correction code(LNEC), this paper introduces the concept of generalized minimum rank distance(GMRD) of variable-rate linear network error correction codes. The basic properties of GMRD are investigated. It is proved that GMRD can characterize the error correction/detection capability of variable-rate linear network error correction codes when the source transmits the messages at several different rates.

Analysis of Water Stress Prediction Quality as Influenced by the Number and Placement of Temporal Soil-Water Monitoring Sites

In an agricultural field, monitoring the temporal changes in soil conditions can be as important as understanding spatial heterogeneity when it comes to determining the locally-optimized application rates of key agricultural inputs. For example, the monitoring of soil water content is needed to decide on the amount and timing of irrigation. On-the-go soil sensing technology provides a way to rapidly obtain high-resolution, multiple data layers to reveal soil spatial variability, at a relatively low cost. To take advantage of this information, it is important to define the locations, which represent diversified field conditions, in terms of their potential to store and release soil water. Choosing the proper locations and the number of soil monitoring sites is not straightforward. In this project, sensor-based maps of soil apparent electrical conductivity and field elevation were produced for seven agricultural fields in Nebraska, USA. In one of these fields, an eight-node wireless sensor network was used to establish real-time relationships between these maps and the Water Stress Potential (WSP) estimated using soil matric potential measurements. The results were used to model hypothetical WSP maps in the remaining fields. Different placement schemes for temporal soil monitoring sites were evaluated in terms of their ability to predict the hypothetical WSP maps with a different range and magnitude of spatial variability. When a large number of monitoring sites were used, it was shown that the probability for uncertain model predictions was relatively low regardless of the site selection strategy. However, a small number of monitoring sites may be used to reveal the underlying relationship only if these locations are chosen carefully.

Real-Time, Variable-Depth Tillage for Managing Soil Compaction in Cotton Production

Cotton root growth is often hindered in the Southeastern U.S. due to the presence of root-restricting soil layers. Tillage must be used to temporarily remove this compacted soil layer to allow root growth to depths needed to sustain plants during periods of drought. However, the use of a uniform depth of tillage may be an inefficient use of energy due to the varying depth of this root-restricting layer. Therefore, the objective of this project was to develop and test equipment for controlling tillage depth “on-the-go” to match the soil physical parameters, and to determine the effects of site-specific tillage on soil physical properties, energy requirements, and plant responses in cotton production. Site-specific tillage operations reduced fuel consumption by 45% compared to conventional constant-depth tillage. Only 20% of the test field required tillage at recommended depth of 38-cm deep for Coastal Plain soils. Cotton taproot length in the variable-depth tillage plots was 96% longer than those in the no-till plots (39 vs. 19.8 cm). Statistically, there was no difference in cotton lint yield between conventional and the variable-depth tillage. Deep tillage (conventional or variable-rate) increased cotton lint yields by 20% compared to no-till.

Improved fluid search optimization-based real-time weed mapping

In the field of agriculture,variable-rate herbicide spraying(VRHS)technology has been used to solve the low efficiency of pesticides and crop chemical residues.The key of VRHS is the quick and precise identification of weeds from field images,which forms a weed map.Fluid search optimization(FSO)was able to simplify the threshold optimization process to create a weed map,which simulated the fluid flowing from high pressure to low pressure,but it is time consuming and often converges prematurely.So,an explosion mechanism and a twophase optimization were introduced to improve the FSO-based segmentation algorithm.Experiments of segmentation weeds from a corn field at seedling growth stage showed that the IFSO algorithm obtained the best accuracy of 93.3%and the least running time of 0.019 s,compared with the standard PSO,GA,and FSO algorithms.