Design World

  • Home
  • Technologies
    • 3D CAD
    • Electronics • electrical
    • Fastening & Joining
    • Factory automation
    • Linear Motion
    • Motion Control
    • Test & Measurement
    • Sensors
    • Fluid power
  • Learn
    • Ebooks / Tech Tips
    • Engineering Week
    • Future of Design Engineering
    • MC² Motion Control Classrooms
    • Podcasts
    • Videos
    • Webinars
  • LEAP AWARDS
  • Leadership
    • 2022 Voting
    • 2021 Winners
  • Design Guide Library
  • Resources
    • Subscribe!
    • 3D Cad Models
      • PARTsolutions
      • TraceParts
    • Digital Issues
      • Design World
      • EE World
    • Women in Engineering
  • Supplier Listings

John Deere on Bringing the IoT to the Farm

By Megan Crouse | May 25, 2016

Share

A self-propelled John Deere forage harvester, which requires a driver but also features satellite guidance and control systems. Image credit: John Deere

With the IoT making its way into businesses and vehicles of all kinds, it makes sense that agriculture would be one of the fields that can benefit from a network of connected “things.”

Ron Zink, director of On-Board Applications for John Deere’s Intelligent Solutions Group, talked to Computerworld about deploying sensors, wireless communications, and autonomous driving technology onto farm systems.

One of the most exciting technologies is a steering system that can be added to vehicles in order to create more precise rows of seeds and calculate the optimum gap between rows. The Autotrack Universal 200 doesn’t make a vehicle completely autonomous, but it does allow the driver more control over the vehicles around them. For example, it can match speeds between a tractor and a combine, allowing the driver of the tractor to unload material without having to worry about stopping the combine or driving along side.

John Deere also uses field sensors that can measure the exact amount of pressure with which a seed is pressed into the ground, or determine how many seeds are planted in a particular field. In order to support it, John Deere uses its own cloud-based Operations Center that can coordinate the data and display it on a tablet.

From a development perspective, Zink said that John Deere experiments with new products but makes the “minimum viable product,” leaving room for error but also for products that will take off. The idea of creating a spiderweb of services that branch off one another seems particularly appropriate to the IoT because of the focus on connectivity, and because the company can receive up-to-date feedback about how its users are utilizing the product. John Deere uses IoT and mobile platforms – especially iPad apps – to piggyback on either existing technologies and allow the company to develop IoT systems for its users’ particular needs.


Filed Under: M2M (machine to machine)

 

Related Articles Read More >

Part 6: IDE and other software for connectivity and IoT design work
Part 4: Edge computing and gateways proliferate for industrial machinery
Part 3: Trends in Ethernet, PoE, IO-Link, HIPERFACE, and single-cable solutions
Machine Learning for Sensors

DESIGN GUIDE LIBRARY

“motion

Enews Sign Up

Motion Control Classroom

Design World Digital Edition

cover

Browse the most current issue of Design World and back issues in an easy to use high quality format. Clip, share and download with the leading design engineering magazine today.

EDABoard the Forum for Electronics

Top global problem solving EE forum covering Microcontrollers, DSP, Networking, Analog and Digital Design, RF, Power Electronics, PCB Routing and much more

EDABoard: Forum for electronics

Sponsored Content

  • Industrial disc pack couplings
  • Pushing performance: Adding functionality to terminal blocks
  • Get to Know Würth Industrial Division
  • Renishaw next-generation FORTiS™ enclosed linear encoders offer enhanced metrology and reliability for machine tools
  • WAGO’s smartDESIGNER Online Provides Seamless Progression for Projects
  • Epoxy Certified for UL 1203 Standard

Design World Podcasts

July 26, 2022
Tech Tuesdays: Sorbothane marks 40 years of shock and vibration innovation
See More >
Engineering Exchange

The Engineering Exchange is a global educational networking community for engineers.

Connect, share, and learn today »

Design World
  • Advertising
  • About us
  • Contact
  • Manage your Design World Subscription
  • Subscribe
  • Design World Digital Network
  • Engineering White Papers
  • LEAP AWARDS

Copyright © 2022 WTWH Media LLC. All Rights Reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media
Privacy Policy | Advertising | About Us

Search Design World

  • Home
  • Technologies
    • 3D CAD
    • Electronics • electrical
    • Fastening & Joining
    • Factory automation
    • Linear Motion
    • Motion Control
    • Test & Measurement
    • Sensors
    • Fluid power
  • Learn
    • Ebooks / Tech Tips
    • Engineering Week
    • Future of Design Engineering
    • MC² Motion Control Classrooms
    • Podcasts
    • Videos
    • Webinars
  • LEAP AWARDS
  • Leadership
    • 2022 Voting
    • 2021 Winners
  • Design Guide Library
  • Resources
    • Subscribe!
    • 3D Cad Models
      • PARTsolutions
      • TraceParts
    • Digital Issues
      • Design World
      • EE World
    • Women in Engineering
  • Supplier Listings