How John Deere’s S7 combines are paving the way for fully autonomous farming
John Deere aims to establish a fully autonomous system for corn and soybean production by 2030. Future Farming asked Bergen Nelson, John Deere go-to-market manager for harvest equipment, how the new S7 Combine Harvesters support this vision of autonomy. “With our integrated technology today, we continue to automate job functions in our equipment”, Nelson explains. “And our autonomous technology builds off our current automation technology. The automation on the new S7 is doing just that.”
“John Deere continues to build upon the precision ag foundation in our product lines with increased automation and autonomy features being released to help farmers be more productive, profitable and sustainable. Our system is built off our fully integrated solution with our John Deere G5 display, integrated StarFire receiver, JDLink modem and John Deere Operations Center.”
“With our integrated technology today, we continue to automate job functions in our equipment and our autonomous technology builds off our current automation technology. The automation on the new S7 is doing just that. We are automating job functions such as ground speed and harvest settings.”
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“The G5 Advanced Package is the foundation for autonomy, bringing a new level of machine automation and precision to the field. The G5 Advanced Package for combines includes:
“AutoTrac Implement Guidance is also a part of the G5 Advanced license, however, is not relevant in a harvest operation.”
“Our autonomous solutions build off automation and the G5 Advanced package provides easy adoption of future autonomous technologies.”
“With Predictive Ground Speed Automation, the technology controls the combine’s ground speed based on crop height and biomass measurements taken pre-harvest from satellite scans and from on-the-go measurements made by cab-mounted cameras.”
“The S7 combine uses two forward, cab-mounted stereo cameras that constantly measures crop height and volume – while pre-harvest satellite field images generate a predictive field map. The combine takes this data and automatically adjusts ground speed BEFORE entering changing crop areas. With this technology, the operator can feel confident to maintain peak feed rates all day long, even in inconsistent crop conditions. That helps increase combine productivity while minimizing grain loss.”
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“During harvest, crop conditions can vary throughout the day and often change over the course of the entire harvest season depending on crop type, variety, terrain, humidity, temperature, weather events, and various other factors. Having the combine properly optimized will ensure that all captured grains are being properly threshed, resulting in minimized grain loss and cleaner samples which customers seek and their buyers monetize based on quality.”
“As grain is harvested and enters the grain tank, three sensors within the tank collectively measure the grain as it piles over the cross auger covers and compares it to the value of the mass flow collection. If all conditions are acceptable (header and separator on, grain is flowing, and machine level is within 4 degrees) load collection occurs from 2,000 through 6,600 lb.”
“Benefits of this system are: Simplified yield calibrations for improved uptime in the field, simplified data collection for use during and after harvest, and zero time spend calibrating for accuracy.”
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“Harvest Settings Automation advances from the past Combine Advisor solution with automatically making adjustments during harvest of five internal combine settings (threshing clearance, rotor speed, fan speed, sieve clearance, and chaffer clearance). With this automation, automatic combine setting adjustments can occur precisely at the right place and time.”
“Harvest Settings Automation helps operators get into the field faster by automatically setting concave clearance, fan speed, rotor speed, sieve clearance and chaffer clearance, all based on the combine model, crop type and geolocation.”
“After the operator selects limits for grain loss, foreign material and broken grain, the system automatically adjusts the five initial settings to stay within the selected limits. Using your G5Plus Display, simply set acceptable limits for grain loss, foreign material, and broken grain. Once set, the combine automatically adjusts itself to deliver the performance you want.“
“No more manually adjusting rotor speed, fan speed, and concave, chaffer, and sieve clearances. The combine does it for you according to outcomes you’ve already prescribed. That gets you into crops faster and reduces the things you constantly have to monitor. When set limits are exceeded, your display shows you where the setting adjustment is being made and why.”
“The John Deere Premium and Ultimate Technology package includes terrain settings automation. Terrain settings automation provides stable cleaning shoe performance in varying terrain by automatically adjusting cleaning fan speed, and chaffer and sieve openings based on combine fore/aft pitch. This helps reduce losses and increases machine performance in hilly terrain when driving up and downhill, maintaining combine performance and reducing operator stress.”
