A variety of techniques have been put forward for measuring the straight-line precision of an autopilot-driven tractor as it moves through agricultural fields. This investigation presents an alternative strategy for gauging the straight-line precision of an autopilot tractor traversing oil palm plantation landscapes. The strategy was constructed by integrating mapping software with spreadsheet software. The tractor’s embedded GPS unit charted its passes across the oil palm field. The documented tractor passes, together with their World Geodetic System (WGS) 1984 latitude and longitude coordinates, were reprojected into the Kertau Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) system on a Cartesian XY-plane using mapping software. The reprojected coordinate data were then brought into a spreadsheet application to calculate the deviations in straight-line precision. This alternative strategy successfully identified a mean straight-line precision error of ±7.78 cm for the tractor moving on oil palm terrain. Broadly, this strategy holds considerable promise for complementing established techniques for appraising straight-line precision of autopilot tractors in fieldwork.
Agro Intelligence Research Press