PHOTO: JOHANNES HEUPEL PHOTO: JOHANNES HEUPEL
FARMERS INVENTION ▶▶▶
Farmer solves GPS kit compatibility problem
BY OLIVER MARK G
etting different tractor control box- es and GPS systems to talk to one another in the same language is a perpetual problem for businesses
running multi-coloured fleets. Canadian farm- er Johannes Heupel has solved this by devel- oping a clever set of bridges to make a John Deere screen work in his Claas Lexion combine. The system is called Agra GPS JD-Bridge and it converts information from most tractor, com- bine and forager brands so that it can to talk to John Deere’s guidance system and screen.
How does it work? Through hours of computer work, Johannes Heupel has cracked the codes on the Canbus system of most of the mainstream tractors and combines on the market. According to Mr Heupel, few of the big companies except JCB and Versatile provide information to ex- plain what the code being sent between the machine and its control box is saying. This means deciphering the information is a pain-staking procedure as the computers are sending thousands of pieces of information every second. Deere’s combine yield monitor- ing, for instance, is done by counting impacts on a small plate sensor at the top of the clean grain elevator, so he sat in the grain tank tap- ping the impact plate while monitoring which numbers were changing. Added to that, all the machinery manufacturers run different docu- mentation systems and none of the data for- mats are compatible, so each one has to be de- coded separately. The Agra GPS JD-Bridge converts all of the information coming from the tractor or combine into something that John Deere’s computer can understand. Inside the Agra GPS JD-Bridge box is a power- ful chip computer, which was programmed to act as the middleman between the Canbus and the screen, translating information at su- per-speed as the machine trundles along in the field without storing the data. There are
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A Canadian farmer has solved a problem that has been around ever since farm GPS and yield monitors were invented – compatibility. He developed a system that converts information from most brands to John Deere’s guidance system and screen ‘language’.
dozens of different versions of this computer, designed to work with specific model ranges from each tractor brand. Data can be stored on the cloud, downloaded to the farm office, or uploaded to services such as MyJohnDeere.
What does it mean to me? In basic terms, the monitor thinks it is in a John Deere combine, so all of the Lexion’s data is translated and processed as normal. It means operators have access to existing field bounda- ry information and AB lines in the tractor, com- bine or forager, no matter the make of ma- chine. That’s particularly useful for getting the most from Deere’s MachineSync system, which shares information between screens, including guidance maps and field coverage. It can also
be used for priority unloading as those on grain cart duty can see the exact location of all the combines in the field, and help to synchro- nise the speed of the combine and grain cart for perfect offloads.
What can’t it do? Bridges are specific to particular model rang- es, so if you own for instance a Fendt 700, 800 and 900 series, then each one uses a different connector to tap into the individual Canbus networks. New harnesses are being added all the time and all of the bridges will get a soft- ware upgrade for Deere’s new 4640 screen once it is fully available. However, the systems are only designed to process autosteer/guid- ance and yield information. It’s a far more
Johannes Heupel invention solves GPS kit compatibility problem. ▶ FUTURE FARMING | 1 November 2018
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