What would the world look like today without GPS?
We would still have to read paper maps, nobody would have Snapchat geo-filters, and you also wouldn’t know when your Uber driver was arriving.
All joking aside, GPS technology has without a doubt changed our everyday lives and how countless industries operate. Agriculture is no exception to this. Auto-steering combines, end-of-pivot or farm implement location, and even having geo-located field prescription maps are all possible, thanks to GPS.
Similar to an auto-guiding tractor, a Valley® Irrigation corner machine requires precise steering to extend way out into the corner to maximize irrigated acres and then retract back in to avoid any obstacles. For years, Valley has offered GPS guidance solutions allowing growers to precisely irrigate their expanded acres with minimal guidance component maintenance.
From this experience, Valley started back at the drawing board, with the goal in mind to provide a GPS solution designed specifically for irrigation machine guidance.
Now, Valley Irrigation is proud to announce the release of our new and improved Valley GPS Guidance solution, custom-designed by our team of in-house engineers, for efficient irrigators around the globe. This proprietary design allows for the integration of features derived from our years of corner GPS experience, which continue to make Valley GPS Guidance the industry standard.
Industry-best Valley GPS Guidance improves connection reliability, eliminating the need for radios.
Dependable Base-to-Rover Communication
Utilizing Power Line Carrier (PLC) technology has eliminated the need for radios and allows the Valley GPS Guidance reference and rover to operate with superior correction communication reliability. With direct connection to the machine control panel, Valley GPS Guidance can provide highly accurate pivot position back to the Valley line of compatible control panels for functions such as Stop-In-Slot (SIS), End Gun or VRI Speed Control, just to name a few.
Tackle Difficult Terrain
Not only do we provide our growers superior communication reliability, we also increase their wheel tracking accuracy. All Valley GPS Guidance units were designed with terrain compensation built in, which reduces over-steering on rolling terrain or high ridges. By calculating the difference between the GPS antenna’s location and the desired position, the terrain compensation can provide your corner with a straighter and more consistent wheel track, resulting in less crop damage.
Valley GPS Guidance provides superior accuracy on rolling and steep terrain, for greater consistency and less crop damage.
Did Someone Say Retrofits?
Most people would think these kinds of added features could only be included on a new machine; however, from the beginning, the improved Valley GPS Guidance was designed to be retrofit compatible. No matter if you have a Valley VFlexTM, Precision Corner or even an older Valley Corner machine, you can get all the same features that you might expect only to be available for new machines.
Now you may be thinking to yourself, “I’ll probably have to upgrade my machine control panel to get all these new features.” But you don’t –our Valley GPS Guidance solution is compatible with ALL Valley control panels, allowing for maximum flexibility for older pivot machines.
GPS has definitely changed the way we live, and the way we farm. Just like you can’t imagine going back to a flip phone, once you install the improved Valley GPS Guidance solution, you’ll wonder how you ever handled corner guidance before.
To learn more about Valley GPS Guidance features and benefits, please contact your local Valley Dealer.