Skip to main content
ARS Home » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #220433
Title: Development of a data acquisition and processing system for precision agriculture

Author
item ZHANG, SHUHUI - TEXAS A&M UNIV
item Lan, Yubin
item WU, WENBO - JILIN UNIV, CHINA
item Hoffmann, Wesley
item CHEN, GUIFEN - JILIN UNIV, CHINA

Submitted to: ASABE Annual International Meeting
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/22/2007
Publication Date: 12/22/2007
Citation: Zhang, S., Lan, Y., Wu, W., Hoffmann, W.C., Chen, G. 2007. Development of a data acquisition and processing system for precision agriculture. ASABE Annual International Meeting. Paper No. 07-1067.

Interpretive Summary: Commercial geographic information system (GIS) software often needs to be modified when applied to specific agricultural fields. New software is needed to adapt GIS for precision (site-specific) agriculture. A data acquisition and processing system was designed for variable rate technology (VRT) application. This system was based on electronic prescription maps for VRT application provided by an expert system for data management and processing, analysis of thematic data maps, and guidance in sampling. The data acquisition and processing system will provide a useful tool for farmers and researchers who want to apply precision agricultural technologies for enhanced crop protection and production.

Technical Abstract: A data acquisition and processing system for precision agriculture was developed by using MapX5.0 and Visual C 6.0. This system can be used easily and quickly for drawing grid maps in-field, creating parameters for grid-reorganization, guiding in-field data collection, converting data between different formats, managing databases, and drawing thematic maps for VRT (variable rate technology) application in-field. Experimental results have shown that the system works well for data acquisition of variable rate fertilizer application used in precision agriculture and for generating output field maps. This paper describes the design and implementation of the software programs using MapX5.0 and Visual C 6.0 for data acquisition and processing for precision agriculture.