Work Analysis of Small-Sized Sugarcane Harvester Using GPS and On-Board Camera in Southern Part of Okinawa Island and its Possibility of Utilization

Abstract

In order to promote harvesting mechanization in the southern part of Okinawa island where there are many small-scale farmers, it is considered that a compact and high-performance small-sized sugarcane harvester is required than the currently used harvesters. In this research, we attached GPS and on-board cameras to the smallest 36 kW harvester operating in Okinawa Prefecture and investigated the actual working condition of the harvester. The locus of harvester per second was recorded by GPS and data was analyzed using GIS to analyze the mode of operation. As a result, in the 2017-2018 sugar season, the effective field capacity and the calculated field capacity were 0.013 （ha/h） and 0.030 （ha/h）, respectively. The effective field efficiency was 0.45. Compared to currently accepted small-sized harvester （73.5 kW）, the test machine showed approximately 30% lower in both the effective field capacity and the calculated field capacity. From the images of the on-board camera, it was confirmed that it was difficult to cut the stems due to the lodging of the sugarcane. The sugarcane could not be taken into the harvester, the reaping work stopped, and the working efficiency was lowered. In addition, effective field efficiency was compared between the field in the land improvement district and other field. The effective field efficiency in the land improvement district was 0.42, and that of the field outside the improvement district was 0.28. The small-sized harvester used in this test is inferior to the popular small-sized machine in terms of performance, but considering the situation in the southern part of the Okinawa island, it is necessary to proceed with introduction while considering the method of work optimization.