Design of the Mechanical Structure of a Field-Based Crop Phenotyping Platform and Tests of the Platform
Huali Yuan, Yiming Liu, Minghan Song, Yan Zhu, Weixing Cao, Xiaoping Jiang, Jun Ni
Abstract
The field mobile platform is an important tool for high-throughput phenotype monitoring. To overcome problems in existing field-based crop phenotyping platforms, including limited application scope and low stability, a rolling adjustment method for the wheel tread was proposed. A self-propelled three-wheeled field-based crop phenotyping platform with variable wheel tread and height above ground was developed, which enabled phenotypic information of different dry crops in different development stages. A three-dimensional model of the platform was established using Pro/E; ANSYS and ADAMS were used for static and dynamic performance. Results show that when running on flat ground, the platform has a vibration acceleration lower than 0.5 m/s2. When climbing over an obstacle with a height of 100 mm, the vibration amplitude of the platform is 88.7 mm. The climbing angle is not less than 15°. Field tests imply that the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and the ratio vegetation index (RVI) of a canopy measured using crop growth sensors mounted on the above platform show favorable linear correlations with those measured using a handheld analytical spectral device (ASD). Their R2 values are 0.6052 and 0.6093 and root-mean-square errors (RMSEs) are 0.0487 and 0.1521, respectively. The field-based crop phenotyping platform provides a carrier for high-throughput acquisition of crop phenotypic information.