Precision Agriculture Applied to Harvesting Operations through the Exploitation of Numerical Simulation.

When it comes to harvesting operations, precision agriculture needs to consider both combine harvester technology and the precise execution of the process to eliminate harvest losses and minimize out-of-work time. This work aims to propose a complete control framework defined by a two-layer-based algorithm and a simulation environment suitable for quantitative harvest loss, time, and consumption analyses. In detail, the path-planning layer shows suitable harvesting techniques considering field boundaries and irregularities, while the path-tracking layer presents a vision-guided Stanley Lateral Controller.