Topographic Feature Monitoring System of Peat Land using Robot Tractor

The peat areas have a lot of patterned indented surface because of the varied forms caused by the fluvial trace and so on. Occasionally, an agricultural vehicle can not enter the farm field after the rain, because the soil of peat areas is soft ground and water table levels gain altitude. To discuss the countermeasure work about the patterned indented surface and the bearing capacity of the land, the precise geographical information of the whole farm field is required. But, the new effective investigation method is required, because the peat areas are extensive fields. In this study, the monitoring system of peat areas using the agricultural robot was developed to obtain precise field information effectively and accurately. As farm field information, the digital elevation model (DEM) is obtained by a GPS and one axis laser range finder. And the roll, pitch angle, slip ratio and subsidence of the vehicle were measured as vehicle information. The field test by an agricultural robot was conducted. Navigation sensors of the robot were an RTK-GPS and an IMU which is composed of fiber optical gyroscope. In addition, the test farm field was evaluated by generating the GIS map using the measured field and vehicle information.