Ergonomic concerns with lightbar guidance displays

This article reviews some ergonomic factors associated with agricultural guidance displays. Any technology or management decision that improves the efficiency of an agricultural operation can be considered an aspect of precision farming. Agricultural guidance displays are one such tool because they help to reduce guidance error (i.e., skipping and overlapping of implements within the field), which result in improper application of crop inputs at increased cost. Although each of the guidance displays currently available functions using a different principle, their key objective is to communicate useful guidance information to the operator of the agricultural machine. The case with which the operator obtains the required information depends on a number of ergonomic factors, such as color perceptibility, flash rate, attentional demand, display size, viewing distance, and height of placement of the display in the cab. Ergonomics can be defined as the application of knowledge to create a safe, comfortable, and effective work environment. Consequently, it is critical to consider ergonomics when designing guidance displays or when locating a display in the tractor cab. Without considering ergonomics, it is unlikely that the efficiency of the human-machine system can be optimized.