Simplified and improved to deliver greater benefits
At times when the prices for agricultural products are under great pressure, running an efficient and productive business is more important than ever before. Cost savings on tooling, maximum precision and the efficient use of all resources employed, including your own working hours. These are just a few of the main criteria. The current updates for the Case IH Advanced Farming Systems (AFS) are aimed precisely at these points. With tangible improvements to the AFS Pro 700 monitors, telematics, automatic lane guidance and the Task Controller, these AFS innovations are available from early in the summer of 2016. They will enable Case IH customers to improve their productivity levels substantially and to simplify various other functions, including the import and operation of Shapefile application maps, the production of better work reports and yield maps, as well as optimum usage of headland areas.
AFS Pro 700: Further improvements to a great track record
The AFS Pro 700 monitors have already built themselves an impressive track record and they now come with a new range of new functional capabilities. For example, different types of Shapefile data can be produced externally in relation to variable application rates such as sowing, fertilising or the spraying of insecticide. A USB pen drive can then be plugged into the .cn1 folder for a given task profile that already exists on the AFS Pro 700 monitor. In practice, this spares the need to create an entirely new .cn1 file using external desktop software – and therefore saves valuable time. Also, in cases where no corresponding .cn1 folder has yet been created, Shapefiles can be imported and a suitable new .cn1 file can be produced quickly and easily.
The same applies to the importing of Shapefile Multiswath Sets produced using external desktop software. This type of function is especially useful in cases where the external software does not support the creation of .cn1 files. The third significant innovation with the AFS Pro 700 monitors is known as the 'Headland boundary drawing tool'. With this function, the headlands can be worked right up to their outermost boundaries and the new headland trigger function, combined with 'Section Control', enables divisions of working widths to be optimised. This innovation enables the headland areas to be used to their maximum extent, combined with economical and efficient use of all working equipment.
Additional benefits of AFS Connect telematics
As well as the import of Shapefile data to the AFS Pro 700 monitor, the current updates also open up new possibilities for the exporting of data. For example, it is now possible to download .XLS and .CSV data formats via the AFS Connect web portal and to process it directly in commonly used programs such as Microsoft Excel, using it to guide management decisions. Further improvements were also made to the facilities for creating work reports, e.g. yield maps. Among other uses, these then form the basis for fertiliser application maps. These updates have delivered a tangible improvement to precision and accuracy. The same is true of simultaneous operation of AFS Connect telematics and RTK wireless reception. The reliability of this combination has been greatly enhanced through joint operation on a shared modem.
AFS AccuGuide steering system: Faster and more individual!
The recently implemented mode for headland corners enables the Automatic Lane Tracking system to make full use of headland areas. In the past, headland corners tended to be rounded off automatically, with a corresponding loss of surface area. However, users can now employ a new mode for angled headland tracks, or can continue employing a mode that produces curved headland corners. In the new 'Angle mode', headland tracks are extended beyond the limit of the field – which makes it possible to include those headland corners in the total cultivation area.
Not only that, but the Advanced Line Acquisition function, part of the Case IH automatic lane tracking system, also enables the new track to be engaged upon a headland turn more rapidly after, and for this to happen at higher vehicle speeds. Various parameters, such as steering lock at the outset, maximum steering lock or turning speed can be adjusted individually and on the basis of requirements. Permanent lanes for Controlled Traffic Farming and conventional lanes are now highlighted on the display, each with their own line colour. This enables a visual check to be maintained over existing lanes, as well as for new and permanent lanes to be established.
Simpler navigation with the new Task Controller UI
The Task Controller User Interface has been revised substantially. It now provides the user with an even clearer interface, and it simplifies the task of navigation. The innovations include an ISOBUS button on the Start screen, clearer arrangement of the setting and control options and scope for individual stipulations relating to the configuration of 1 x 4, 2 x 2 or 2 x 4 windows on the monitor (user-defined display windows). For exclusive use of the sub-width function on the Task Controller there is now a 'Sub-width engagement only' function.
"The software on the Task Controllers has been completely revised and further improvements have been made. For us, the primary focus of all these updates has been on enhancing productivity and customer benefits. With these latest innovations, we not only offer perfect solutions for new vehicles, we also provide effective approaches for using existing farm machinery more efficiently and more productively", stated Ulrich Sommer emphatically, the man responsible for product marketing in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
St. Valentin / Bad Gögging, 26.07.2016