Weather update GPS technology
Ag Leader ParaDyme gets successor
GPS manufacturer Ag Leader is best known in the Netherlands for its unique dual GPS receiver: ParaDyme. It suits the companies with specialist crops and who attach great importance to accuracy. After the receiver's termination, Ag Leader has introduced a worthy successor.
The curtain seemed to fall for the ParaDyme for a while, because a model with 2 receivers is simply more expensive than a single ball on your roof. Nevertheless, users are happy to pay the extra because the advantages are appealing. "If you have always stepped on a tricycle, a bicycle with 2 wheels does not get used quickly," says product specialist Geert-Jan Giesberts of importer Homburg.
Ag Leader dealers even hoarded ParaDyme equipment as production ceased. The American GPS specialist is launching its successor this month: DualTrac. This is done together with a new single receiver: GPS7500, which it purchases from GPS wholesaler and OEM supplier NovAtel.
Accuracy in the Netherlands essential
"In most parts of the world, working accurately down to the last centimeter does not have the greatest added value," explains Giesberts. "That certainly applies to articulated and crawler tractors, because the antenna moves a lot here anyway. That is a different story with specialist work. In the Netherlands, about 75% of Ag Leader systems work with a ParaDyme. It was an important product for us, for which we can now offer the DualTrac."
DualTrac is not a copy of the old roof module. It consists of 2 GPS7500 receivers, but the SteerCommand tractor control unit is now located as a separate unit in the cab and no longer on the roof. New software enables the system to receive both GPS and Glonass satellites. It is also prepared for the multiband GPS systems Galileo (European network) and Beidou (Chinese network). Once Ntrip correction (RTK correction protocol) is available for these networks, both Ag Leader systems will be able to handle it.
80
meter
Ultra low speeds
DualTrac has a number of advantages over GPS7500 or other receivers. This allows you to drive away from a standstill without a loss in accuracy. It also operates at a minimum travel speed of 80 meters per hour, ensuring that the system is just as accurate at the headland as it is elsewhere in the field. In addition, the system is just as accurate when reversing as when driving forwards.
Homburg is still thinking about the flexibility of the system; an idea is to be able to disassemble the 2 receivers. Here, 1 with RTK correction is used to steer a tractor or other vehicle. The second receiver can be used with a DGPS signal on another tractor (for example to control a field sprayer).
The second receiver could also be used for implement control. At present, Homburg's own implement control is still controlled via a ParaDyme or single receiver. This can be interesting for, for example, trailed planters or a grading box.
For more luxurious screens
Ag Leader will begin shipping the first DualTrac and GPS7500 receivers in December. Compared to the ParaDyme, the price of the set is slightly higher, but the exact amount is not yet known. The system can also no longer be used with the simplest terminal, but can only be supplied in combination with an Incommand 800 or 1.200. The large 1.200 screen is especially used when working with Isobus implements or sensors.
The terminal works with a separate hotspot modem for the Ntrip correction. The advantage of this is that maps from Google Earth can be used as a background and that it simplifies data exchange; for example to exchange GPS data with Ag Leader's management software AgFiniti.
Niels van der Boom
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