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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Mississippi State, Mississippi » Crop Science Research Laboratory » Genetics and Sustainable Agriculture Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #165115
Title: WIRELESS LOCAL AREA NETWORKING FOR FARM OPERATIONS AND FARM MANAGEMENT

Author
item McKinion, James
item Willers, Jeffrey
item Jenkins, Johnie

Submitted to: ASAE Annual International Meeting
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/1/2004
Publication Date: 8/1/2004
Citation: McKinion, J.M., Willers, J.L., Jenkins, J.N. 2004. Wireless local area networking for farm operations and farm management. In: Proceedings Agricultural Society of Agricultural Engineers Annual International Meeting, August 1-4, 2004, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Paper No. 043012. 2004 CDROM.

Interpretive Summary: Scientists of the USDA, ARS, Genetics and Precision Agriculture Research Unit have demonstrated the use of wireless local area network (WLAN) technology in solving problems in regards to high-speed communication of large amounts of data on two commercial farms in Mississippi. On both the Paul Good Farm in Noxubee County, MS (a small farm consisting of 1500 contiguous acres) and Perthshire Farms in Bolivar County, MS (a larger farm consisting of over 12,000 acres of cotton in non-contiguous area), WLANs were implemented and demonstrated. Application maps for controlling variable rate equipment in precision agriculture applications were transmitted directly to field equipment. On the Good Farm, additional programming was performed to allow remote monitoring of several catfish ponds. On Perthshire Farms, two cotton gins located remote from the farm operations center were connected to the center, allowing data base queries concerning gin operations. All operations were focused on making data and information available to the farm operator and saving time and effort in carrying out these operations.

Technical Abstract: High speed wireless data communication on farms has a large potential application which has already shown economical benefits in the two test farms where we have applied the technology. Because information is entered only once in hand-held devices connected wirelessly to the WLAN, transcription errors are minimized. Application maps which have been hand-carried by high-level technicians or professionals to the application equipment now can be transmitted directly to the equipment, saving a significant amount of time and labor of high-level (high-cost) personnel. Similarly, data from the farm equipment can be transmitted directly to the farm base of operations at high speed saving time and money.