NTT, Kubota and NTT DOCOMO Demonstrate Communication Technologies Enabling Remote Operation of Robotic Agricultural Machinery in Mountainous Areas

NTT, Kubota and NTT DOCOMO announced that they have conducted a joint demonstration experiment to stabilize communications and ensure continuous video transmission for the remote operation and remote monitoring of robotic agricultural machinery in mountainous areas. In the demonstration, optimal control was applied to video transmission required for robotic agricultural machinery operation by combining mobile and satellite communications, together with video control technology. As a result, visibility of transmitted video was maintained even under fluctuating communication conditions, demonstrating the effectiveness of the technology as a communications infrastructure supporting remote operation and monitoring of robotic agricultural machinery.

Achieving sustainable agriculture in the years ahead requires the promotion of automated farming operations to address labor shortages, as well as efficient farm management utilizing data. In Japan, the government is also advancing institutional development toward regulatory reform that would allow robotic agricultural machinery to operate on public roads under conditions ensuring safety through remote monitoring.

To date, NTT and Kubota have engaged in research, development, and service creation utilizing ICT to support innovation for agricultural producers, including visualization of farm management, improved operational efficiency and automation, and the realization of high-quality agriculture.*2

However, in hilly and mountainous regions, which account for approximately 40% of Japan's cultivated land area, fluctuations in mobile communication quality are likely to occur due to terrain and physical obstructions. As a result, delays and disconnections may occur in communications for robotic agricultural machinery operating within and between fields. Since unstable communications directly affect safety in the remote operation and monitoring of robotic agricultural machinery, stable transmission of required video and data remains a key challenge for practical implementation.

In the demonstration, multipath control using multiple mobile and satellite communication links was applied according to communication conditions. This confirmed that stable communications could be maintained by supplementing mobile communication links with satellite communication links in areas such as mountainous farmland, where mobile network quality tends to deteriorate within and between fields.

In addition, video control technology was applied to automatically adjust video compression according to communication conditions while prioritizing image quality in critical areas, such as the travel path and crops visible in the video feed. This enabled both stable video transmission and sufficient visibility during remote operation and monitoring.

Optimal control combining mobile and satellite communication links was achieved through multi-link control technology based on the communication quality of each link. By enabling mobile and satellite communication links to complement each other, stable communications can be maintained even in mountainous areas.

Based on predicted communication bandwidth, stable video transmission was achieved by maintaining video quality in critical areas, such as the travel path of robotic agricultural machinery, while compressing video data in non-critical areas.

–NTT

Provision of the "Cradio," a wireless quality prediction technology and the "Cooperative Infrastructure Platform," a multi-link optimal control technology based on quality prediction, as well as implementation of the demonstration

–Kubota

Provision of robotic agricultural machinery and the demonstration field

–DOCOMO

Provision of video control technology that preserves image quality in critical areas while compressing data outside those areas in coordination with wireless quality prediction technology

The technologies for communication stabilization and visibility enhancement demonstrated in this project will be leveraged to improve the practicality of communications and video transmission for the remote operation and monitoring of robotic agricultural machinery, contributing to the future realization of fully autonomous operations. Efforts will also continue toward the social implementation of data-driven agriculture both in Japan and internationally, with the aim of achieving sustainable agriculture.

Source: NTT, Kubota and NTT DOCOMO media announcement