Smart Farming terminals

Implement control with ISOBUS, section control, advanced sensing, and guidance are examples of digital tools that help farmers improve productivity. But there are more benefits to gain by integrating these solutions and by adding further automation and autonomy.

Starting with hardware, CrossControl offers a wide range of standard display computers with a choice of performance levels and display size - from Arm to x86, 3.5” to 15” we have a product for every deployment.

Our ARM powered Vision line range goes from 12" displays with quad core iMX8 application processors capable of demanding multifunctional simultaneous workloads to 3.5" displays with a lean iMX6 Solo to meet other requirements. The displays come with a common and open software platform, based on Linux and Qt, offering OEMs and System Suppliers the ability to choose the software toolchain of preference and easily migrate applications between physical display sizes. A key aspect of our open software platform approach is to make it easier to port legacy applications rather than impose unnecessary restrictions on customers by using proprietary or archaic platforms. Here you can use our standard Linux OS image or build your own image based on our BSP.

With this display platform approach, a wide range of display solutions can be realized, from small auxiliary displays, for example used for managing agent mixing and tank levels, to the in-cab display for ISOBUS, section control and guidance.

Our larger display computers, like the new CCpilot V1000 and V1200, have the screen real estate and the application processor performance to run multiple applications concurrently. In addition to ISOBUS components, Universal Terminal & Task Controller, the displays can also run guidance & autosteer applications, instrumentation, video monitoring and other operator support functions like on-board manuals and instruction videos, simultaneously. Our Windowing solution is a key enabler for managing multiple applications running simultaneously.

In our latest Smart Farming video demonstration (see below), we show a CCpilot V700 7" display running a ISOBUS Universal Terminal. The platform comes with a ready-made ISOBUS UT component as a widget in Qt that developers can simply pull into teir project when designing your terminal application.

The same system also runs a guidance application which can either be paired with the ISOBUS UT or run standalone depending on the user’s needs. In our example the application has advanced graphics but, as you can see in the video, the rendering is very smooth and responsive, thanks to the high graphics performance of the iMX8 processor and the displays industry leading specifications.

Our Smart Farming solutions deliver value adding multifunctional terminals, for an example we can look to the CCpilot V1000 display, (which is shown in the video) running a combination of the ISOBUS UT and a Task Controller in dynamic split screen that can change which app receives the most screen space as the operator navigates through a task. The system enables operators to work with any number of applications, with our standard configuration showing up to three being displayed simultaneously. To focus fully on just one application, operators can switch to a fullscreen view of an application at any time.

There is off course a limit to how many applications you can reasonably run on a single screen, even if it is a big 12" (This is addressed in modern tractor cabs by installing multiple displays). We have taken this into account when developing our technology platform. Based on this new approach, OEMs can now realize solutions where a common display ECU drives multiple physical displays. With this concept, different GUI applications can be moved dynamically between the physical screens as required, in any configuration that their deployment calls for.

CrossControl partners with equipment OEMs and System Suppliers to realize complete solutions. We provide state-of-the art hardware coupled with versatile middleware and our partners add deep application and system integration skills which, when combined, results in industry leading smart farming solutions.