Electronic controls and assistance systems – challenges for sprayer inspection

Modern sprayers are equipped with diverse electronic systems. These systems are used for automatic control of several parameters, like application rate or boom height. Other systems can help to reduce the amount of plant protection products applied and therefore their environmental impact.
The state of the art of these systems is presented as well as the problems concerning sprayer testing and sprayer inspection. It is proposed to equip spray computers with an interface similar to the on-board diagnosis (OBD) system for cars. This can be used for checking the functionality of sensors and controls during the sprayer inspection as well as for official test schemes like JKI approval or ENTAM testing.