Sustainable and so additionally economical farming needs precise adaptation to the natural and economic conditions. The irradiation of the sun, the natural water system, the soil properties and the demand of the market simply are not uniform in any respect.

Thus, sustainable and economical farming needs precise adaptation to the varying soil and plant properties within fields. Consequently, farming operations must be adjusted to this in a site-specific way.

Before jumping to the smart farming techniques, let’s read What is Smart Farming — Everything you want to know about it.

1. Electromagnetic Radiation Sensing

Electromagnetic radiation lends itself to wireless sensing of varied soil and crop properties. The premise is often in theory — as well as constituents of soils and crops — can be known by an electromagnetic field index that is derived from its radiation. This electromagnetic index will act as an optical fingerprint of the matter or constituent.

Sensing from satellites or from aerial platforms permits getting maps that gives an outline at intervals regarding roughly a similar time about soil or crop properties from field or wide areas for tactical science inspections. Sensors that are located on farm machines never will do that, not to mention owing to the time it takes to hide a large space.

Yet once it involves the management of site-specific field operations, sensors on farm machines will offer the simplest spatial and temporal exactitude that is attainable. Their glorious spatial exactitude results from the low distance to soils or crops. The high temporal exactitude is feasible since the signals square measure recorded simply in time. this can be vital for those soil- and crop properties that change quick in time.

2. Farm machinery precision

Georeferencing by Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) has opened new possibilities for precise steering of farm machinery on virtual lines within the fields. The guidance takes place either manually with the help of lightbar indications or an automatic approach.

In earlier pass direction, each keeps running over the field pursues the individual earlier way balanced by the working width of the machine. In opposition to the present, in fixed-line direction, the courses over the field are not characterized by the individual earlier way but rather exclusively by the principal pass. Earlier pass direction is essential in unpredictably formed fields, while in rectangular fields fixed-line direction ought to be liked.

On declines and uneven territories, utilizing more than one GNSS receiving antenna permits to adjust for roll, pitch or yaw of the tractor. Descending drifting on side slants can be checked by latent or dynamic direction rectifications.

3. Soil properties sensing

Site-specific sensing and detecting of varying soil properties is an essential control for many field tasks. Geology can be mapped rather effectively as a result of other cultivating activities by methods for RTK-GPS (Real Time Kinematic-Global Positioning System). Important data regarding dampness and salinity of soils in a combined mode can be obtained by means of electric conductivity sensing. In humid and damp areas usually, salinity can be left out. So here the electric conductivity is characterized mainly by a mix of clay and water content of the soil. The consolidated impact of these factors is very much identified with the yield capability of soils. Henceforth in humid regions, electric conductivity sensing can supply data that is required for the control of ranch activities as indicated by yield desires.

Electric conductivity detecting depends on soil volumes that may incorporate the topsoil just as the subsoil. In contrast, infrared light reflectance senses only soil surfaces and thus may be less illustrative. However, reflectance detecting may send flag at the same time around a few soil properties, for example, surface, carbon content, cation-trade limit and water content.

4. Crop properties sensing

Detecting of yield by visible and infrared reflectance permits evaluating the chlorophyll concentration within leaves as well as the leaf-area-index. The result of the chlorophyll focus inside leaves and leaf-area-index provides the chlorophyll content per unit field area. Recording this paradigm over and over amid the season gives dependable assessments of the site-explicit yield potential as dependent on past developing conditions.

Fluorescent light too can detect the chlorophyll absorption within leaves or the working of the photosynthetic contraption of yields. Infrared reflectance just as warm radiation can be utilized to get data about the site-explicit water supply of harvests. From the backscatter of radar waves, data about the biomass, the leaf-area-index and particularly about the yield species for vegetation arrangement inside expansive farming regions can be obtained.

Proximal detection and sensing from farm machines permit direct site-specific control of ranch activities continuously. Then again, remote sensing from satellites offers itself for repetitive recording of fields or bigger areas amid the growing season. However remote sensing and detecting needs radiation that can infiltrate the atmosphere.

5. Site-Specific Soil Cultivation

Site-specific soil cultivation and development has numerous goals. In primary cultivation, the primary goal is the control of the working profundity. Signals for this control can be consequent from the clay content, the natural and organic matter content, the hydromorphic properties and the slope of the soil. An algorithm cum calculation can combine these signals to control the working profundity. The soil resistance to penetration is a reasonable control signal for detecting hardpans underneath the topsoil, but not for the working profundity inside the topsoil, since it depends generally on the water content.

In secondary cultivation, clod size reduction is a significant goal. The site-specific control signals for this can be obtained from the forces acting on a sensing spike of a cultivator. The standard deviations of the forces can make available for appropriate control parameters.

In stubble or neglected cultivations either quick or moderate decay of the remains should be aimed at depending on alternations, weather and peril of soil erosion.

With the inception of controlled traffic farming or of unmanned farm machinery will promote crop production and yield.

6. Site-Specific Sowing

Site-specific control and management of the seed-density will depend on maps of soil texture. The seed-density ought to rise from sand to silt and soil and fall once more towards clay. In this fashion either the yields can be augmented, or seeds can be hoarded.

For the sowing depth, the site-specific control and management ought to be primarily based either on texture or on water content of the soil. In regions with maritime climate and consequently frequent rain, the control and management via soil texture appears rational. This could be understood by means of texture maps and adjusting the depth of openers on-the-go by means that of ultrasonic distance sensing.

In areas with continental climate and therefore longer dry spells, a control built on the water content of the soil is a decent and optimal. Here a soil dampness seeking control system that adjusts the sowing depth on-the-go to the drying front within the soil via infrared reflectance or resistivity appears reasonable.

A unique challenge is that the increasing conflict between no-till with crop residues on the surface and sowing techniques. The trend to smaller row widths to understand yield will increase adds to the current conflict. However, there are ideas on the market which will address this conflict. These are addressed.

7. Site-Specific Fertilizing

Fertilization aims at providing soils with nutrients for towering crop yields while not adversely distressing the environment. Since in most cases the properties of soils as well as of crops vary amongst individual fields, site-specific fertilization is required. The challenge is to seek out sensing ways that give appropriate signals for the site-specific control and management of fertilizer application. Possible approaches to satisfy this challenge is predicted on:

· Recording the yield of previous crops and therefore the nutrient removal derived from it

· Chemical science (electrochemical) indication of nutrients in soils by ion-selective electrodes

· Sensing the nutrients either in soils or in crops via optical reflectivity.

The optimal selection of choice depends on a range of aspects such as e.g. nutrient kind, properties of soils, properties of crops and climate. The last listed methodology — sensing via optical reflectivity — is utilized in a proximal mode from farm machines or additionally in a very remote mode from satellites provided clouds do not impede the radiation. Its use for in-season nitrogen application with proximal sensing from farm machines is turning into a number one technology.

8. Site-Specific Weed Control

Spatial and temporal variations in weed seedling distributions in fertile fields are analyzed. It is pronounced how weed distributions can be weighed by manual grid sampling and by using sensor technologies from the near array. The probable for herbicide savings using site-specific weed management in different crops is premeditated.

Two completely different approaches for site-specific weed control and management are conferred. First, an offline approach built on georeferenced weed distribution maps and next a real-time method combining sensor and patch spraying technologies.

The decision rules for patch spraying ought to think about density, coverage and yield loss effects by weed species, its growth stages and the price of weed control. Herbicide reserves using precision weed control varied from 20 to 70 %. Real-time patch spraying is the utmost economical treatment trailed by map-based site-specific weed control and management. Uniform herbicide applications and uncontrolled treatments gave all time low economic return. Many studies showed that weed species distribution remained stable over time once site-specific herbicide applications were realized basis economic weed thresholds.

9. Site-Specific Sensing for Fungicide Spraying

Especially in wet and humid moderate climates, high yields need the applying of fungicides. Its site-specific application supported the biomass of crops is state of the art. Nonetheless, this method does not contemplate that plant infections in most cases begin and displayed from tiny, initial spots at intervals within a field. So, a sensing technique to notice these ab initio tiny infected spots would be of nice importance for saving fungicides, for reducing harm to crops yet on the surroundings and for permitting higher driving speeds in uninfected areas. Reflecting index of evident and near-infrared light yet as indices of fluorescent light are candidates for detecting these spots.

Detecting the fungi in early stages of infection (= latency stage) are often vital for an efficacious treatment, since discontinuing the infection after this time grows more problematic. In this latency phase, the diseases may not be nonetheless visible by human eyes. Plant fungal diseases often change the biological state of plants either by means of the photosynthesis or by the establishment of subordinate metabolites like phenols. These changes are often detected within the smartest approach by optical sensing. Herewith fluorescence (visible light) could be a sensitive methodology with the potential of detecting changes before infections are visible by human eyes.

10. Site-Specific Recording of Yields

Site-specific recording of yields, conjointly referred to as geo-referenced yield observance and monitoring, contributes to site-specific precision farming ideas and concepts by delivering elementary / fundamental information concerning the variety of the yield potential. It is feeding back the results of site-specific management on yields and permits to calculate the exports of nutrients.

In the early 1990s it started with mix of harvesters and incessantly operating systems for recording yields together with the position of the machine. Attempts were made to see site-specific yield of manually harvested cultures like oranges, apples or coffee. Testing procedures to see the accuracy of material flow sensors and yield measuring systems in the lab and in the field are now standardized.

Systems for the site-specific recording of yields in combine-harvesters, forage choppers, and cotton pickers are accessible at the market. The adoption of skilled farming is concentrating on combinational crops. Efforts are required to form systems accessible for all necessary crops, to integrate the sensing of essential crop ingredients and to standardize knowledge formats also as algorithms for data filtering and data analysis.

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