Computers and Electronics in Agriculture

24 (1999) 153 – 163

www.elsevier.com/locate/compag

A driver’s steering aid for an agricultural

implement, based on an electronic map and
Real Time Kinematic DGPS
R.P. Van Zuydam *
Institute of Agricultural and En6ironmental Engineering IMAG-DLO, PO Box 43,
6700 AA Wageningen, the Netherlands
Received 19 March 1999; received in revised form 1 July 1999; accepted 4 August 1999

Abstract

A co-ordinate system was introduced to make it possible to describe, in a simple but fast
way, the intended route that an agricultural implement should follow in the open field. The
co-ordinate system was also used as a reference to compare the actual position of the
implement with its intended path, and to calculate lateral position errors of the implement.
To measure the actual position of the implement, Real Time Kinematic DGPS was used. The
calculated error was used to control a correction device that moved the implement to its
predetermined path, within a control band of 9 20 cm, thereby providing a steering aid for
the driver. Field tests with a full-size tractor that followed a winding guide rail with 9 12 cm
lateral undulations, while the implement was programmed to cover a straight track, showed
an average error of 2 cm, when moving at a speed of 5.2 km/h. In a second series of
experiments, a small four-wheeled cart was pushed along a concrete road, being swung left
and right at random. An electrical side-shift actuator was used to write a chalk line on the
road that represented the actual path of the imaginary implement. The straight, programmed
path to be followed by the implement was represented by a permanent line on the road
surface, to be compared with the line of chalk. These tests showed an average error of 1 cm
at an average speed of 3.6 km/h. © 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Implement guidance; GPS; Route planning; Automatic steering; Steering aid

* Tel.: + 31-3-1747-6300; fax: + 31-3-1742-5670.

0168-1699/99/$ - see front matter © 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 1 6 8 - 1 6 9 9 ( 9 9 ) 0 0 0 4 7 - 2
154 R.P. Van Zuydam / Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 24 (1999) 153–163

1. Introduction

In an agricultural field, the routes followed by an implement are determined by

field size and shape, working width of the implement, terrain conditions, and the
requirements of the crops. The position of these routes in the field is sometimes
important, e.g. to position the crop rows of the current year between the positions
of previous rows, or when successive machine operations within 1 year need to
follow the same route, e.g. ridging over the position of seed potatoes (to prevent
off-centre potato nests, which result in green potatoes) or hoeing between crop
rows. Adjacent passes of machine operations also demand the best possible fit, to
prevent positive or negative overlap.
The accurate steering of an implement over the field requires a high rate of
concentration from the driver, is demanding, wearisome and often not as accurate
as wanted. That is why steering aids, to lighten the duty of the driver, have been
developed over many years. These aids often refer to the crop row or to markings
in the field that are specially made for this purpose. However, reference to the
position of the previous year crop is hardly ever possible (Muhr and Auernhammer,
1992).
Differential and phase carrier GPS make it possible to determine the position in
the field very accurately with respect to field unbound references (satellites). A
position fix with an average error of typically 1–2 cm at a rate of 5–20 Hz is
possible nowadays by manufacturer specifications, so using this technique for
on-line steering of the implement is an obvious application.
Computation of the steering correction, however, is limited in time because of the
high refreshing rate of the positioning sensor used here (typically 5 Hz). This
demands smart algorithms and reference data (look-up tables) in order to be fast
enough for controlling the steering of the implement, or of the vehicle itself.
Route planning software is available from commercial companies for use in
automobile, aviation, marine and geodetic survey. Off-line planning, with user-
friendly graphics, make these programs very attractive. However, they are currently
far too slow for supporting on-line steering purposes.

2. Method and materials

2.1. Na6igation data

All positional data refer to a co-ordinate system (a datum). The accuracy of

co-ordinates is always related to a specified datum, since data differ from each other
in position. When navigating at the centimetre level of precision, the choice and
relative position of the datum is particularly important.
Positional data obtained by GPS are expressed in co-ordinates referring to World
Geodetic System 1984 (WGS 84), which is the most precise datum available.
Nevertheless, a local co-ordinate system, or grid, can have characteristics that are
better suited to a specific purpose. The origin of such a local grid can be placed
 R.P. Van Zuydam / Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 24 (1999) 153–163 155

anywhere, e.g. at the position of the base station of a DGPS navigation system,
although it can be of advantage to use a local grid with X and Y axes correspond-
ing to the north and east axes of WGS 84. Also, the units of the co-ordinates can
be in metres in the limited, local X–Y grid, rather than the degrees of longitude and
latitude in WGS 84. Within the limited dimensions of an agricultural field, earth
rounding can be neglected (tangent plane co-ordinates). Furthermore, errors caused
by undulations in the field, are not of serious concern, since repeatability of the
route is the main requirement. Constant errors that occur every time in the same
way hardly affect the overall result.
At field level, in addition to the two co-ordinate systems outlined, a third
co-ordinate system has been used in this work. This is the so-called ‘Rotating Grid’.
Its purpose and characteristics will be described hereafter.

2.2. The Real Time Kinematic DGPS na6igation system

The Real Time Kinematic (RTK) DGPS equipment (Trimble 7400 Msi) used a
base station located on a known and constant position to calculate the errors due
to, among other things, the selective availability and a real time carrier phase
comparison to achieve a sub-centimetre position fix. The format of the output
signal of this receiver could be programmed almost at will, although in order to
increase speed, the output string was limited. The output string contained time, X
co-ordinate, Y co-ordinate, and quality indicator, in the format
HHMMSS.SSS,XXXXX.XXX,YYYYY.YYY,Q
where time was given in milliseconds, X and Y co-ordinates in millimetres, and
quality as a code number ranging from 0 to 4 indicating the type and the quality
of the position fix. The X and Y co-ordinates indicated the distance in the directions
north and east from the base. Note that the high resolution of X and Y co-ordinates
have no physical meaning.
In this application, using only the X and Y information, position errors were
introduced due to the varying height of the field surface. However, it was not
thought necessary to use information in the Z direction in order to obtain optimal
accuracy, for reasons already stated. The consequences of this assumption were not
investigated in this study because the trial field used was in a Dutch polder and flat
within 5 cm, according to existing soil maps.

2.3. The electronic map

The electronic map was a data file containing all information on the trial field
and the working width of the specific implement to allow the steering system to
guide the implement over the field. The format of this file must allow a very fast
access. The demands for operation were as follows.
“ The system must automatically detect if the implement’s position relative to its
desired position is within the range of adjustment of the correction system at any
point in the field.
156 R.P. Van Zuydam / Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 24 (1999) 153–163

“ The system must automatically detect the direction of travel. It must also be
possible to follow the route in reverse direction or to follow or repeat any part
of the route.
“ The system must automatically switch on or off when (part of) the field is being
cultivated, or when operation is terminated.
The route that describes the predetermined path over the field for the implement
to follow was made as a list of numbered co-ordinates. It was assumed to be an
array of adjacent, straight lines, which built up the total route (polygon) and which
were connected by headland turns (Fig. 1). The co-ordinates were more closely
spaced at the turns. Each set of co-ordinates also had a code attached, that defined
if the line to follow (in numerical order) was a crop row or a turn. At the headland,
the correction system was disabled, while the implement is lifted out of the working
position by the driver. The co-ordinates were expressed in the local grid, as X–Y
co-ordinates (in metres) with respect to the origin, the position of the base station.
Therefore, each line of the ‘map’ had a number, X and Y co-ordinates and a code.
In the experiments, the correction of the position of the implement was done by
means of a side-shift device between the tractor and the implement. This was a
composition of two frames, one mounted to the tractor and the other to the
implement, which could move in lateral direction with respect to each other,
controlled by an actuator. In this specific test, a side-shift from a fork-lift was used.
It had a lateral adjustment range (capture range) of 9 20 cm. Only when a
measured position was within reach for the side-shift, correction of the position of
the implement to the correct one, by activating the side-shift, was potentially
possible (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1. Field plot, route of the implement and the band of tolerance for the tractor driver (any scale, any
co-ordinate system).
 R.P. Van Zuydam / Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 24 (1999) 153–163 157

Fig. 2. The prescribed route in the field, the ‘Rotating Grid’ R – S, the local grid X – Y and the global grid
northe–east (WGS 84).

2.4. The Rotating Grid

One of the features to make the calculation of the error sufficiently simple and
fast was the introduction of the ‘Rotating Grid’. This third co-ordinate system, with
axes labelled R – S, was crop-row oriented. It had its origin at the same point of the
electronic map as the origin of the X–Y grid (so the position of the base), but its
R axis was oriented parallel with the actual (part of) the route to cover, so parallel
to the straight line connecting the immediate passed point (IPP) and the next point
to pass (NPTP) (Fig. 2). When the NPTP was reached, the Rotating Grid rotated
to its next orientation, its origin still at the position of the base station, but its R
axis parallel with and pointing in the direction of the next part (line) of the
trajectory. The line to travel is then easily described by

S =Srow

Transformation of any measured position expressed in the X–Y grid to the R –S

grid gives the error in position immediately by subtraction of the constant value
Srow from the value of the S co-ordinate of the measured position. This results in
fast calculations.

2.5. The look-up algorithm

When a position fix was transferred from the GPS sensor to the comparator, the
latter had to:
“ check if the fix was valid, i.e. within a certain range from the previous fix;
158 R.P. Van Zuydam / Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 24 (1999) 153–163

“ check if the fix was within one of the tolerance bands of the ‘electronic map’;
“ calculate the error of the position fix from the desired path;
“ transfer the error to the controller for further processing.
This all had to be executed within 200 ms, the time span between two position
fixes.
The electronic map should contain as few information (points) as are necessary
for a good description of the route. Especially, the assumption that straight lines
exist between two adjacent points saved a lot of superfluous information.
2.6. Positioning the Rotating Grid

As stated, the rotating grid R –S is positioned at any moment with its positive R
axis parallel to the actual driven, thus ‘valid’, part of the route, and its origin at the
position of the DGPS base station. Therefore, the S co-ordinate of the actual
position, minus an integer times the working width, is related to the position error
of the implement in the S direction.
The procedure followed by the computer can be summarised as follows (Fig. 2).
Let Pk =(Xk, Yk ) = (Rk, Sk ) be the IPP and Pk + 1 = (Xk + 1, Yk + 1)= (Rk + 1, Sk + 1)
the NPTP. The position of the rover is measured by the GPS receiver, and
transferred to the system in the X–Y format, so the co-ordinates Xm and Ym of the
measured point Pm are known. The computer then searches for the valid part of the
map, in other words the part of the route where Xk B Xm B Xk + 1 and Yk B Ym B
Yk + 1. Then the actual part of the route to follow is known, i.e. the line Pk –Pk + 1.
The next step is to calculate f, i.e. the angle between line Pk –Pk + 1 and the X
axis, and to create and position the grid R–S, its origin ORS coinciding with the
origin of the X– Y grid. Next, the X–Y co-ordinates of the three points Pk, Pk + 1
and Pm are transformed to the R –S grid.
When the value of the co-ordinate Sm is decreased with the maximal possible
value times the working width of the implement, the residual value corresponds
with the error in the S direction, so the deflection from the required path. For fields
where the position of the origin of the X–Y and R–S grids do not coincide with the
field corner, an extra correction has to be made.
This cycle was repeated five times a second, although the look-up procedure for
the actual trajectory is simplified as long as point Pk + 1 is not yet passed. Also, the
calculation of f could be terminated when a stable value is reached: this was not
executed, however.
2.7. Data processing

The comparison of the positional data from the position sensor with the
electronic map was done by a 486 processor with 50 MHz clock speed. The
program was written in Delphi, and compiled to an executable file. Once initialising
of the GPS receivers was completed, and the position on the electronic map was
found, the look-up algorithm was speeded up because the computer knew where to
look in the file, and started to look for a next position in the proximity of the
previous one.
 R.P. Van Zuydam / Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 24 (1999) 153–163 159

2.8. The filtering of the data

As the position fixes all had minor measurement errors, reaction to every one
could result in erratic behaviour of the implement. Therefore, a moving average was
calculated. This average was also used to check if a next position fix was valid, i.e.
within a certain reach (5 cm in the S direction in this case) from the average. If not,
that fix was rejected and the controller disabled. In the calculation of the average,
weighting was applied to realise a faster response to the deflections as the last fixes
have more importance (weight) than the earlier ones.
Each error was calculated as follows:

mn w + en − 1(100 −w)
en =
100

where en is the calculated error at moment n, mn is the measured error at moment

n, and w is a weight factor.

2.9. The generation of the correction signal

The correction signal that controlled the hydraulic valve of the side shift device
was derived from the digital error signal that was transferred every 200 ms by the
comparator. The error signal had 256 possible values (0–255), the value 128
corresponding to the correct position of the implement and therefore setting the
hydraulic valve to its neutral position. The correction signal, however, had to be an
analogue voltage, generated by the controller, and with a dedicated relation to the
error signal. This relation still has to be tuned and optimised to the dynamic
behaviour of the side shift-implement combination to obtain optimal results.

2.10. Transformation of error signal to correction signal

The digital error signal is fed into a digital to analog (D/A) converter with the
following features:
“ adjustable dead band in the centre of the correction range: output constant at
50% of supply voltage (nominal 12 VDC);
“ adjustable bias, both positive and negative;
“ adjustable slope;
“ adjustable gain or progressivity.
The characteristic of the adjustable dead band in the centre of the correction
range is shown in Fig. 3. The bias (the step change of the analogue control signal
at the end of the dead band) was employed to overcome the mechanical ‘stick slip’
and the positive overlap of the hydraulic valve at low levels of the control signal.
The slope is defined as the angle that the curve has at its bias point, and
progressivity is used to influence the characteristics of the controller at its extremi-
ties. The width of the dead band can be adjusted manually, say from 120 to 136.
160 R.P. Van Zuydam / Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 24 (1999) 153–163

3. Experimental

For the first set of experiments, a test set-up was built to evaluate the system. A
tractor was equipped with an extra nose-wheel that was run over a steel rail, bolted
to a concrete road surface. Lateral undulations in the rail forced the tractor to
swing left or right as it travelled along the rail. The three-point linkage of the
tractor was locked and the side-shift device was mounted rigidly to it. On the
moving part of the side-shift, an imaginary implement was mounted, i.e. an
extension carrying the satellite antenna of the rover GPS receiver. A piece of chalk
was attached to the same part, to record the path of the imaginary implement by
marking a track on the concrete surface of the road. With a laserbeam, and a
hand-held laser receiver, the deviation of this chalk track from the laserbeam was
measured at metre intervals.
A weighting factor of 85 was chosen as the initial setting. The dead band was set
to 8 U, and the latch time to 210 ms. The latter value means that, after calculation
of the error, this signal is supplied for 210 ms (10 ms longer than the refreshing
period of the control data) to the controller. After 200 ms, when the next error is
calculated, this over-rides the old value. If this latch is set to a value less than 200
ms, the output error will return to zero when the latch time has elapsed, to slow
down the reaction of the controller (duty cycle principle).
For the second set of experiments a small, desk-size vehicle was built, that could
be pushed by hand over a road surface. All positioning equipment was placed on
this table, and the satellite antenna was mounted over the centre of the rear axle,
approximately 2 m above road level. In this set-up, the position of the rear axle
centre was measured. On the back of the vehicle was an electrically driven side-shift
device. Its position relative to the vehicle was monitored by a 10-turn precision
potentiometer. This feedback signal from the potentiometer was, together with the
input signal, connected to a differential amplifier, to provide a simple closed-loop
control. In this way, the imaginary implement was brought to the correct position

Fig. 3. Output voltage (V) of the D/A converter as a function of the error signal. Dead band, bias, slope
and progressivity are adjustable.
 R.P. Van Zuydam / Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 24 (1999) 153–163
Fig. 4. Graph of the recorded tracks (1997). ‘Disabled’, with the correction system switched off; ‘run 1–4’, four repetitions with the system working.

161
162 R.P. Van Zuydam / Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 24 (1999) 153–163

Fig. 5. Recorded tracks from the test carriage (1999). Three repetitions of tracks while the cart is driven
at random.

(assuming that there was no angular error, i.e. that the vehicle was parallel to the
predetermined path).

4. Results

When the tractor drove the rail trajectory, this resulted in a lateral movement of
the GPS antenna (Fig. 4, line ‘disabled’). When the control system was enabled, and
the predetermined trajectory that the implement should follow was defined as a
straight line, the recorded line of the true path of the GPS antenna showed a big
decrease in the lateral movement (in Fig. 4, four repetitions chosen at random are
shown, ‘run 1,2,3,4’). The average error from the straight line of the measurements
was 2 cm, the average standard deviation 1.5 cm (n = 38, four repetitions).
For the second set of experiments, comparable experiments were carried out,
resulting in a bundle of chalk lines (of different colour) and a permanent paint line
indicating the programmed path. The results of some random trial runs are given
in Fig. 5. In this case, the lateral movement of the vehicle was not the same for
every run (and not recorded either) because the vehicle was propelled by hand (at
approximately 3.6 km/h) and swerved at random with an amplitude of approxi-
mately 20 cm. In this case, the average error was 1 cm and the average standard
deviation was 1 cm (n =46, three repetitions).

5. Conclusions and discussion

The system described gives good possibilities for fast calculation of position
errors of an agricultural implement in the open field. The use of RTK DGPS is a
 R.P. Van Zuydam / Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 24 (1999) 153–163 163

satisfactory way to measure its actual position. The correcting system is, within its
limitations on capture range, capable of correcting the implement’s position within
a few centimetres from the intended path, at a reasonable forward speed.
The presented results show a big decrease of the lateral movement of the
implement. Although the steel rail forced the tractor to change its course suddenly,
resulting in fast and sometimes jolting lateral movements of the implement-
mounted GPS antenna with an amplitude of about 10 cm, the side-shift succeeded
in correcting the position of the implement within 2 cm from the intended straight
line. It is not likely that a tractor, driven by an operator’s hand, would swerve so
jerkily. Tests with a specially built hand-propelled vehicle gave comparable results.
Processing the data from the comparator before feeding them into the controller,
and optimising the controller itself, could possibly improve the accuracy.
Further improvements of the system could be achieved by incorporating the
actual heading of the vehicle by calculating the regression line from the last few
position errors. Filtering the error data in a way that trends will become more clear
could cause the system to become less jerky. Dijksterhuis et al. (1998), however,
have already shown in simulation experiments that the system can become too slow.
Some optimization still remains to be done.

References

Muhr, T., Auernhammer H., 1992. Technische Möglichkeiten zur Ortung landwirtschaftlicher Fahrzeuge
im Feld. In: Ortung und Navigation landwirtschaftlicher Fahrzeuge. VDI/MEG Kolloquium
Agrartechnik, Düsseldorf, pp. 49–56.
Dijksterhuis, H.L., Van Willigenburg, L.G., Van Zuydam, R.P., 1998. Centimetre-precision guidance of
moving implements in the open field: a simulation based on GPS measurements. Computers and
Electronics in Agriculture 20, 185–197.