Development and Experimental Analysis of a Seeding Quantity Sensor for the Precision Seeding of Small Seeds

Having the correct seeding rate for a unit area is vital to crop yields. In order to assess the desirable seeding rate, the number of discharged seeds needs to be monitored in real-time. However, for small seeds, the miscounting of seeds during monitoring happens frequently when using conventional seeding quantity sensors, which have wide light beam intervals. Thus, a seeding quantity sensor, which enables small seeds to pass through the light beam steadily, was developed. Based on the seed-shading time, a seed-counting algorithm was proposed. Moreover, the key structure parameters of the proposed sensor were ascertained using an optimization experiment. Finally, the developed seeding quantity sensor was tested against a photoelectric sensor and a fiber sensor to compare the seed monitoring accuracies. The results show that the average monitoring accuracy of the developed sensor, photoelectric sensor, and fiber sensor were 97.09%, 56.79%, and 91.10%, respectively. Furthermore, the factorial analysis shows that the forward velocity of the experimental apparatus and the rotational speed of the seeding plate did not significantly change the monitoring accuracies obtained by the developed sensor. Therefore, the developed sensor can be applied to monitor the seed quantity for the precision seeding of small seeds accurately and robustly.