School of Agricultural Equipment Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China.
Sensors (Basel). 2019 Nov 27;19(23):5191. doi: 10.3390/s19235191.
Having the correct seeding rate for a unit area is vital to crop yields. In order to assess the desirable seeding rate, the number of discharged seeds needs to be monitored in real-time. However, for small seeds, the miscounting of seeds during monitoring happens frequently when using conventional seeding quantity sensors, which have wide light beam intervals. Thus, a seeding quantity sensor, which enables small seeds to pass through the light beam steadily, was developed. Based on the seed-shading time, a seed-counting algorithm was proposed. Moreover, the key structure parameters of the proposed sensor were ascertained using an optimization experiment. Finally, the developed seeding quantity sensor was tested against a photoelectric sensor and a fiber sensor to compare the seed monitoring accuracies. The results show that the average monitoring accuracy of the developed sensor, photoelectric sensor, and fiber sensor were 97.09%, 56.79%, and 91.10%, respectively. Furthermore, the factorial analysis shows that the forward velocity of the experimental apparatus and the rotational speed of the seeding plate did not significantly change the monitoring accuracies obtained by the developed sensor. Therefore, the developed sensor can be applied to monitor the seed quantity for the precision seeding of small seeds accurately and robustly.
单位面积的正确播种率对作物产量至关重要。为了评估理想的播种率，需要实时监测排出的种子数量。然而，对于小种子来说，当使用传统的播种量传感器（光束间隔较宽）进行监测时，种子经常会被误计数。因此，开发了一种能够使小种子稳定地穿过光束的播种量传感器。基于种子遮光时间，提出了一种种子计数算法。此外，利用优化实验确定了所提出传感器的关键结构参数。最后，将开发的播种量传感器与光电传感器和光纤传感器进行了测试，以比较种子监测精度。结果表明，所开发的传感器、光电传感器和光纤传感器的平均监测精度分别为 97.09%、56.79%和 91.10%。此外，析因分析表明，实验装置的前进速度和播种盘的转速不会显著改变所开发传感器的监测精度。因此，所开发的传感器可用于精确和稳健地监测小种子的播种量。
