GNSS/GPS device installed to acquire operational data for agricultural machinery in Paraná - April 2025

This Project plans to improve Embrapa's agricultural data integration platform (AgroAPI) so that it can exchange data with agricultural data platforms of agricultural machinery manufacturers and others. The Project will ask Producers who are members of agricultural cooperatives in the state of Paraná to cooperate in a demonstration project. Then, it will be possible to obtain operational data on agricultural machinery by using GNSS/GPS* devices from Agricultural Information Design, which has a proven sales track record in Brazil. In addition, Agro Info Design will develop an API* for its cloud computing to enable AgroAPI to acquire this data.

In April 2025, the company brought its GNSS/GPS device from Japan to Brazil and attached it to the agricultural machinery of a producer in the state of Paraná for a data acquisition trial (see photo).

The most recent trial is scheduled to be conducted in May, during the wheat sowing season. This will allow the acquisition of operational data on agricultural machinery for herbicide application to be conducted before and after the sowing season. Thereafter, the plan is to acquire data for harvesting and seeding machines, including for other crops as well.

*Agri Info Design, Ltd. is a Japanese agricultural IT company that develops software and consulting services for companies and organizations related to the informatization and automation of agricultural machinery, and provides farmers with IT systems that help them in their farming operations. The company sells GNSS/GPS devices and steering systems at low prices to enable straight line assist and automatic steering, and provides a service that allows users to save work records and view them on multiple devices.

*GPS (Global Positioning System): A satellite positioning system operated by the United States that uses about 30 satellites to accurately determine your location (latitude, longitude, and altitude) anywhere on the globe.

*GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System): A generic term for satellite positioning systems of multiple countries, including GPS. The use of multiple satellite systems improves accuracy and stability. Major GNSS include GPS (U.S.), GLONASS (Russia), Galileo (Europe), and BeiDou (China).

*API (Application Programming Interface): An arrangement (interface) that allows softwares to exchange functions and data with each other, making it easy to use and link functions and data from other services. Examples include “a map application uses Google Maps API to obtain map information” or "a weather application uses weather data API to obtain the latest weather information.

Photo 1: Explanation by the Project Team.

Photo 2: Trial run by Producers.

Photo 3: Operational data of agricultural machinery from trial run (some data such as trajectory, overlapping area, speed, etc. can be observed)