Desain dan Pengujian Prototipe Sistem Kontrol Mesin Sprayer Dosis Variabel untuk Aplikasi Penyemprotan Pertanian Presisi

Presently. Rise of crop production often face major obstacle, such as plant disease and pests.Crop losses can occur when plant disease and pests are not treated properly. However, excessive use of chemical pesticide cause environmental damage.The objective of present study was to develop and evaluate control system of variable rate sprayer and its performance for precision farming. The methods consist of some sequential steps i.e. measuring disease and pest intensity and determine its respective dose then input itin microcontroller grid sequence; controlling several sprayer components, i.e. pump motor, solenoid valve, and proximity sensor for plant detection; and conducting performance test of sprayer prototype based on microcontroller data input. The results showed that in order to obtain appropriate flow rate correspond to disease and pest intensity, a PWM (pulse width modulation) ranged of 100-250, 217-592 rpm of motor speed, 2-10 sec/plant of spray duration, and 4-11 ml/s of flow rate, were used. The field test with data input, i.e. 120 plants, with 8.1% and 15.5% of disease intensity, 10 and 8.3 ml/sec/row (10m/row), and 20 and 60 sec/plant of spray duration; generated average actual results with 10.2 and 7.8 ml/sec/row of flow rate and 23.2 and 64.3 sec/plant of spray duration. The field test also indicates 91% of precision time of application