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Yara N-Sensor V3.10  

 

Operation Manual

 

Preface 

The Yara N-Sensor is a responsible and carefully developed tool for 
the detection of in-field variability in agricultural crops and variable 
rate application of farm inputs on-the-go. Because of the multitude of 
crops, grown in different production systems, on various soils, and 
under countless climatic conditions, Yara disclaims all warranties, ex-
press or implied, as to the accuracy of the information gathered by 
the tool and takes no liability for management decisions based on this 
information. When using the Yara N-Sensor and its related software 
modules the user accepts that he will take full responsibility for agro-
nomic decisions. 

We carefully select the materials and components used in the pro-
duction process of the Yara N-Sensor. Therefore, we cannot accept 
any liability for any damages to Yara N-Sensors and other objects of 
legal protection caused by the use of accessories and spare parts not 
delivered by Yara. Neither can Yara take over any liability for im-
proper use and application of the Yara N-Sensor, nor for any proce-
dures not described in this manual. 

 

We have a policy of constant product improvement and reserve the 
right to discontinue or to modify product specifications, models or de-
signs without previous notice. 

 

Safety notes 

A proper utilisation and a trouble-free operation are only possible in 
case of a competent and specialised installation. A faulty installation, 
any system modifications, as well as the use of accessories and 
spare parts not delivered by Yara, can lead to malfunctions and 
cause damages to the Yara N-Sensor as well as personal and prop-
erty damage; Yara does not take over any liability for these damages. 

Any person responsible for the operation, must observe the safety 
regulations. This has to be assured by the operator of the Yara N-
Sensor for every single case.  

Furthermore, the operator must assure that all safety regulations for 
add-on parts or peripheral parts, which do not belong to the Yara N-
Sensor, are known to the persons responsible for the operation. 

Arbitrary modifications at the Yara N-Sensor are not allowed due to 
safety reasons. A non-observance of this results in a loss of any war-
ranty claims and may lead to unpredictable dangers for persons or 
properties. In case of repair procedures, only original parts of the 
manufacturer must be used. 

 

Last revised: 28.01.2009 14:39 

Page 3 of 64 

Summary of Contents for N-Sensor

Page 1: ...Yara N Sensor V3 10 Operation Manual OPERATION MANUAL for the Yara N Sensor Software release 3 10 2005 2009 YARA GmbH Co KG Last revised 28 01 2009 14 39 Page 1 of 64 ...

Page 2: ... 23 4 1 Batch processing 25 5 Operation Modes 28 5 1 Base application 30 5 2 N Application 33 5 3 Target rate application 40 5 4 Potato haulm killing 44 6 Using raster maps prescription maps 52 6 1 Select the application mode 52 6 2 Linking raster maps to tasks 53 6 3 Apply fertilizer or other products from the map 54 7 Task management on the office PC 56 7 1 Data retrieval and batch processing 56...

Page 3: ...scribed in this manual We have a policy of constant product improvement and reserve the right to discontinue or to modify product specifications models or de signs without previous notice Safety notes A proper utilisation and a trouble free operation are only possible in case of a competent and specialised installation A faulty installation any system modifications as well as the use of accessorie...

Page 4: ...ke sure that the following hardware and software has been set up properly N Sensor mounted on the vehicle and connected to power supply GPS receiver mounted on the vehicle and connected to power supply Variable rate controller mounted in the cabin connected to power supply and fertilizer distributor Terminal computer Panel PC mounted in the cabin and connected to power supply N Sensor GPS and vari...

Page 5: ...me Work screen and agronomic calibration menu in portrait format The same work screen and agronomic calibration menu in landscape format For clarity all screenshots in this manual are shown in landscape format 2 2 Buttons and menus Generally the menu structure and the size of the buttons is designed to do the stan dard N Sensor operation by touching the screen with bare fingertips even on small La...

Page 6: ...ired setting appears on the menu button Numeric entries are edited by pressing the menu button A numeric keypad will pop up to enter a number Pressing OK replaces the old setting with the new number ESC will dismiss the new value and keep the old setting The C button clears the number that has been entered so far Text fields have to be filled by touching the text field first and then using the key...

Page 7: ...d through the ABC button Language specific characters are entered through the ÄÉǛ button 2 3 The work screen When the N Sensor program is started it will first display the work screen This screen contains all relevant information that is required for successful operation of the N Sensor Depending on the selected operation mode see section 5 the work screen may look slightly different from what is ...

Page 8: ...Only in active mode rates are transmitted to the fertilizer distributor and logged to the N Sensor log file If a padlock is dis played the system requires a proper software license code for unlocking Contact your local service partner in this case See section 2 3 2 for further information Task information The task information line displays the current task number together with the name of the fiel...

Page 9: ...diance conditions improve the icon will disappear automatically For active N Sensors this icon indicates that a too low amount of arti ficial light is reflected into the N Sensor optics A reason for this may be dirty optics or that the distance between the sensor heads and the crop canopy is too high In any case the system will switch to the uniform rate predefined in the Agronomic calibration men...

Page 10: ...oes not make use of map data the map rate is displayed on top of the icon in addition This symbol is only displayed if a raster map has been assigned to the current task and the GPS position is within the map Sprayer warning Potato haulm killing operation mode only The current recommended application rate is too low for the sprayer to adapt accordingly If possible increase the speed of the vehicle...

Page 11: ...ay still be processed and displayed continuously One green moving indicator The system is currently active In this mode the N Sensor continuously measures and displays the applica tion rate sends the rate to the fertilizer distributor and logs data to the selected task Last revised 28 01 2009 14 39 Page 11 of 64 ...

Page 12: ...ction itself is faulty Eventually the N Sensor is not powered properly The system switches to the preset uniform application rate After the alarm is ac knowledged the no N Sensor symbol see section 2 3 1 is displayed on the work screen until the connection has been re established No connection to the variable rate con troller The connection to the spreader or sprayer is lost Probably the controlle...

Page 13: ... crop type and growth stage have been entered in the agronomic calibration menu Regardless of the warning message the system will work using the most suitable agronomic calibration function Protein quality dressing In cereals at growth stages between EC 59 and EC 69 a protein quality dressing will be applied In general the agronomic calibration function is opposite to the normal calibration func t...

Page 14: ...e vehicle is more than 2 km away from the last position recorded in the selected task It is not allowed to store data from distant fields into a single task Select a new task in order to start a new field Wrong operation mode The selected task already contains data which has been acquired using a different operation mode see section 5 It is not possible to store data from different operation modes...

Page 15: ... made your initial settings In contrast the Select tasks menu see section 4 and the Agronomic calibration menu see section 5 have to be entered once every time a new field is started Finally the Start Stop button will be used several times within the field to activate and deactivate the N Sensor The following sections will guide through the menus and the relevant settings If the ini tial setting h...

Page 16: ...in menu bar The following menu appears The Back button will get you back to the main menu bar on the work screen Pressing Close program will quit the N Sensor program 3 1 Application device submenu Press the Application device button in the Setup Diagnosis menu to enter this submenu It provides settings associated to the spreader or sprayer Last revised 28 01 2009 14 39 Page 16 of 64 ...

Page 17: ...nce between two tramlines This information is not required for the N Sensor operation itself but will be used by the mapping software for processing the application map afterwards Signal delay d v ts 2 s d distance sensor centre of spreading pattern m v tractor speed m s ts time constant spreader s usually 1 2 s for granular spreaders 3 2 N Sensor submenu Press the N Sensor button to open the N Se...

Page 18: ... Sensor raw data readings together with status information and sensor values Furthermore some internal calibrations can be carried out The layout and the displayed information depend on the type of N Sensor connected Below the diagnosis screen for passive N Sensors is shown Internal calibration Access to internal calibration procedures for service personnel only This section is password protected ...

Page 19: ...the difference in hours between your local time and Greenwich time Positive values are time zones east of Greenwich negative val ues are west Note that you need to change this when you change your clock to daylight saving time Solar elevation The solar elevation in degrees above the horizon calculated from date time and position Task specific presets If enabled the operation mode and the agronomic...

Page 20: ...iver for the right setting Status Displays the status of the GPS connection Not connected The receiver is not connected electrically or wireless No data The receiver is connected but does not receive valid positioning data Data available The receiver is connected and receiving valid positioning data Latitude Longitude Altitude Displays the current positioning data from the GPS re ceiver Time UTC D...

Page 21: ...plication rates will be rounded to full multiples of this number Note that this setting applies to the product rate not the nitrogen rate Normally the standard setting of 1 must not be changed Limit amount When enabled all application rates sent to the controller will be limited to the Absolute minimum and the Absolute maximum rates given below Absolute minimum If the Limit amount option is enable...

Page 22: ...e selected devices For this purpose make sure that all devices are switched on and connected properly Device detection may take several seconds and the progress can be followed on the device detection screen The detection process can be cancelled at any time pressing the Cancel button When the detection has been completed an OK button will be displayed to apply the new settings Note that depending...

Page 23: ...arted The task that has been last selected when the Back button is pressed will be used for data logging The corresponding task number is displayed on the work screen together with the field name and other related information Task No The number 1 99 of the selected task Tasks can be flipped through using the Minus and Plus keys or they can be addressed directly by entering the task number into thi...

Page 24: ...Raster map A raster map prescription map can be attached to the task by entering the full path and the name of the file It can be displayed by clicking the Map tab at the bottom of the page If no raster map is attached the Map and the Legend tab are not available For further reading refer to section 6 Status The status line displays the hours and minutes spent on the task so far If the task has no...

Page 25: ...ffice server to automatically produce documentation maps out of the recorded data within minutes The server will then immediately send an e mail with the raw data and the processed maps to a user selectable e mail address Since all relevant files are sent through the Internet there is no need to move a data card or a USB stick from the terminal to an office PC The Batch processing menu contains th...

Page 26: ...ditional options Check this option if you want the field size to be taken from the file header instead of being processed from the GPS data 4 1 2 Using batch processing The Tasks page displays a list of all tasks which have been used and where data files are available For each task the task number the field name and the task status i e the recording time are displayed Last revised 28 01 2009 14 39...

Page 27: ...s later Touch the Send button to send the selected task data to the SensorOffice batch processing server When the Send button is pressed the first time the location of the CardWriter exe file needs to be entered1 Usually this file is located in the c rns2000 CardWriter bin directory Once this has been set properly it will not be necessary to be set again 1 CardWriter is available from http www sen...

Page 28: ... subset of the above operation modes is visible and operational on a specific N Sensor At minimum the Base application mode section 5 1 is available to all systems To select an operation mode from the main menu enter Setup N Sensor and then press the Operation mode button subsequently until the desired operation mode appears see section 3 2 Alternatively dependent on the local settings it is also ...

Page 29: ...Yara N Sensor V3 10 Operation Manual Further note that a valid license must be present for the selected mode Refer to sec tion 3 2 for entering license codes Last revised 28 01 2009 14 39 Page 29 of 64 ...

Page 30: ...ular rate because of GPS failure or if the ve hicle is outside the prescription map Therefore the uniform rate should be a rea sonable good average for the field Agent content This number is used as conversion factor between agent rates and product rates All rates within the N Sensor program are in agent units but the ap plication device requires product rates Unit The physical unit of the applica...

Page 31: ... rate is flashing and the uniform icon is displayed to remind that the rates are not based on the prescription map Map The whole map is displayed with the current position of the vehicle and the cur rent application rate at that point in the map This button changes the menu to allow for manual application rate changes in steps of 10 and 10 If rates are manually changed the change factor is dis pla...

Page 32: ... e it is closed and opened in the headlands as usual When the field is completed press the Stop button to deactivate the system and stop data logging You may now continue with another task on another field as described in section 4 or remove the data card and process the log file s Last revised 28 01 2009 14 39 Page 32 of 64 ...

Page 33: ...rogen deficiency This biomass cutoff level is dependent on crop type and growth stage and will be automatically preset by the program However it is possible to manu ally change this value to adapt to local conditions While this general pattern is similar for oilseed rape potatoes and maize at all relevant growth stages and for cererals until flowering late cereal applications growth stage between ...

Page 34: ...nding on the se lected crop the type of application is displayed in brackets behind the growth stage The warning wrong growth stage will be displayed if a N Sensor controlled nitrogen application is not recommended N content in fertilizer This number is used as conversion factor between nitrogen rates and product rates In N application operation mode all rates within the N Sensor program are in ni...

Page 35: ...le good average for the field Reference rate The application rate assigned to the reference area Normally it is not required to explicitly enter this value as it will be automatically set during the Cali brate at reference plot procedure Sensor value at reference The average sensor value from the reference area If the current sensor value is equal to this value the reference rate see above will be...

Page 36: ...ce rate When the Calibrate at reference plot button is pressed the following menu is displayed With the vehicle entering the calibration area press Start and pass the area slowly The sensor starts to measure continuously and the average reading together with the number of measurements can be followed on the screen Note that the calibration data is already logged to the selected log file For this r...

Page 37: ...rate always refers to the reference area only it is not necessarily equivalent to the average recommendation of the whole field After the reference rate has been entered the system automatically transfers the refer ence rate and the average Sensor reading to the agronomic calibration menu and switches back to the work screen The system is now calibrated agronomically and ready for operation 5 2 2 ...

Page 38: ...m button changes the application rate to the predefined setting made in the Agronomic calibration menu In this case the application rate is flashing and the uniform icon is displayed to remind that the rates are not based on the N Sensor reading Map This button is only available if a prescription map is attached to the task If pressed the map is displayed with the current position of the vehicle a...

Page 39: ...y specific areas within the field during fertilizer application Usually the system should be activated at the beginning of the field and should con tinue to operate throughout the whole field The Stop button is only pressed to pause operation within the field i e in order to refill fertilizer In the headlands the N Sensor keeps running The fertilizer distributor is operated as without the N Sensor...

Page 40: ...uracy will continuously improve the more area has been covered 5 3 1 Agronomic calibration To enter the agronomic calibration menu press the Agronomic Calibration button on the main menu bar Usually this menu is entered at the beginning of the field after a task has been selected section 4 The menu itself consist of three pages that can be navigated using the Up and Down button Crop Select the cro...

Page 41: ... rate that is recommended by the N Sensor Note that the final application rate may exceed this limit if the 10 button is pressed during operation or if a prescription map is used For optimum performance the maximum rate should not limit the N Sensor variation too much The default maximum rate should be at least 120 kg N ha allowing the N Sensor to apply a high rate if indi cated by the crop Target...

Page 42: ...mediately start to apply the target rate At the same time sensor readings are col lected to continuously recalculate the actual field average and the application rates may deviate from the target rate whenever the current sensor reading is different from the actual average On the work screen the distance driven DST and the average N Sensor value REF are displayed continuously The distance is calcu...

Page 43: ... the system should be activated at the beginning of the field and should con tinue to operate throughout the whole field The Stop button is only pressed to pause operation within the field i e in order to refill fertilizer In the headlands the N Sensor keeps running The fertilizer distributor is operated as without the N Sensor connected i e it is closed and opened in the headlands as usual The co...

Page 44: ...enu bar of the Potato haulm killing work screen see section 2 3 for general ex planation of this work screen Usually this menu is entered at the beginning of the field after a task has been selected The agronomic calibration menu itself consists of three pages that can be navigated using the Up and Down buttons Agent Select the agent type to be applied by successively pressing the Agent button unt...

Page 45: ...e can be changed if desired by pressing the Minimum rate button The lowest possible rate depends on the selected agent Maximum rate The maximum rate that is recommended by the N sensor MLHD PHK module Note that the final application rate may be higher if the 10 button is pressed on the work screen during operation The maximum rate can be changed if desired by pressing the Maximum rate button The h...

Page 46: ...t content but ton The agent content is the concentration of agent in the injection tank normally 100 If very low application rates are to be expected for highly concentrated low dose agents e g Spotlight Plus diluting may be required Agent content should be set accordingly e g a dilution of 25 and Agent content set accordingly Press OK to complete the agronomic calibration and return to the work s...

Page 47: ...gh or low pressures during opera tion consider to increase or decrease driving speed when the actual pressure gets into a sub optimal range Sub optimal ranges are sprayer and nozzle specific Agent content The agent content can be changed by pressing the Agent content but ton The agent content is the concentration of agent in the sprayer s tank mix Press OK to complete the agronomic calibration and...

Page 48: ...ill be marked in the log data output and in the map printout respectively This option may be helpful to identify specific areas within the field during potato haulm killing Usually the system should be activated at the beginning of the field and should con tinue to operate throughout the whole field The Stop button is only pressed to pause operation within the field i e in order to refill the spra...

Page 49: ... 4 4 Tips tricks for agronomic calibration and operation Read the instructions in the N Sensor manual before MLHD PHK is used see section 5 4 1 and 5 4 2 Hereafter some tips tricks for optimal use are given General Usually the system should be activated at the beginning of the field and should continue to operate throughout the whole field The Stop button is only pressed to pause operation within ...

Page 50: ...hat the optimal spray volume and concentration of the agent herbicide in the spray tank should be There are three ways to get an estimate of the maximum dose 1 to scan the crop canopy before spaying and read the maximum dose from the working screen 2 to use scanning data and calculated dose obtained some days before potato haulm killing for instance scanning data obtained during the last fungicide...

Page 51: ...formation first contact your national N Sensor distributor or contact Plant Research International in Wageningen http www plant wur nl Contact person Corné Kempenaar tel 31 317 475701 or corne kempenaar wur nl Last revised 28 01 2009 14 39 Page 51 of 64 ...

Page 52: ...e how the N Sensor should in terpret the maps This can be done through the Application mode setting the Setup Diagnosis N Sensor menu The Application mode determines how the N Sensor handles prescription maps De pending on the selected operation mode up to 4 different settings are available 1 Sensor standard Prescription maps are not used at all The application rate is solely based on the N Sensor...

Page 53: ...ected to make use of raster maps 6 2 Linking raster maps to tasks As a next step the raster maps need to be linked to the task by clicking the button next to the Raster map entry in the Tasks menu Note that the Raster map option is only available if the Application mode has been properly set see section 6 1 The full path and the name of the file can then be selected Alternatively raster maps can b...

Page 54: ...me basic statistics by clicking the Leg end tab Current map rate Current position 6 3 Apply fertilizer or other products from the map Finally with the map s linked to the tasks and the application mode properly set the product can be applied on the field From a practical point of view there is no differ ence in N Sensor operation with and without raster maps The variable rate application is starte...

Page 55: ...is played together with the current map application rate on the bottom left of the work screen The raster map icon displays an extract of the map in the vicinity of the current position Press the Map button to display the whole map Map button Raster map icon with current map rate Last revised 28 01 2009 14 39 Page 55 of 64 ...

Page 56: ...is recommended to make use of the CardWriter software This program is available for installation on the office PC free of charge Download the latest release from http www sensoroffice com or contact your local N Sensor service partner for installation 7 1 Data retrieval and batch processing This section describes the standard way of processing using the server based Senso rOffice batch processing ...

Page 57: ...y after registering on the Sensor Office homepage have to be entered first The batch job is now created and sent to the Sensor Office server A few minutes later the printable maps are returned in Adobe Acrobat format pdf to the e mail address specified in the General settings for Sensor Office section 7 2 Task preparation With the help of CardWriter it is possible to prepare individual tasks alrea...

Page 58: ...set of master data has been entered switch to the Tasks tab to prepare the in dividual tasks Up to 99 fields can be selected from the master data entered before and assigned to the 99 available tasks To assign a field to a task simply select that field out of the drop down list in the Field name column Use the Customer drop down box to filter the list for individual customers Last revised 28 01 20...

Page 59: ...or in WTK ADIS format rst and may be used to override and or modify N Sensor readings For further reading about raster maps refer to section 6 7 2 3 Removable disk To finally write the prepared task information to the removable disk select the Remov able disk tab and press Write tasks Note that all data on the root directory of the remov able disk will be deleted The removable disk can now be take...

Page 60: ...Yara N Sensor V3 10 Operation Manual Last revised 28 01 2009 14 39 Page 60 of 64 ...

Page 61: ...forehand With the task specific presets many agro nomic decisions can be moved from the N Sensor operator to the farm manager 8 1 Enabling the task specific presets feature To make use this feature in CardWriter select Options Operation modes and check at least one available operation mode Availability of operation modes on individual systems depends on the local setup of your N Sensor Therefore i...

Page 62: ... the default operation mode and the agronomic parameters entered by the N Sensor operator To enter the agronomic calibration parameters switch to the Presets page On the left side the general task information is listed as available in the table on the Tasks page Tasks can be flipped through using the navigation bar on the bottom On the right side the agronomic calibration parameters can be entered...

Page 63: ... select the desired task using the Plus and Minus buttons in the Tasks menu as described in sec tion 4 Return to the work screen and either start application immediately or flip through the Agronomic calibration menu to modify agronomic parameters and or to carry out a reference plot calibration Note that all changes you make within this menu will be stored together with that specific task To disp...

Page 64: ...hat this page is only available if an operation mode has been assigned to the se lected task through CardWriter before If this page is not visible no task specific pre sets are available for that task Last revised 28 01 2009 14 39 Page 64 of 64 ...

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