Beidou systems put to use in NE China agriculture

A newly-developed agricultural machinery automatic driving system based on the Beidou navigation system is expected to hit the market soon, as its first production line has been put into operation recently in Jiamusi, Northeast China's Heilongjiang province.

The automatic driving system is jointly developed by the Luoyang Research Institute for Intelligent Agricultural Equipment Co Ltd and Beidahuang Jiamusi Regional Agricultural Comprehensive Service Center.

The system was developed on the basis of the country's independently-produced driving system, base station and parts, fulfilling data security.

The production line is the first of its kind in the province, and is expected to produce about 30,000 automatic driving systems a year to meet the demands in the city and province, said Huang Shengcao, deputy general manager of the IAIC.

It is reported the system is more suited to the local climate and agricultural machinery setups, and can be installed on vehicles like planters, harvesters, and high-power tractors.

In recent years, Beidou satellite navigation system has been widely used in agricultural production and plays an important role in areas such as unmanned agriculture, land usage planning, soil measurement, and fertilization.