Efficiet performance of the tractorimplement system includes

selection of the implements that neither overload nor fail

to use adequate power available from the source. This
emphasises the importance of proper matching of power
available from the source with that utilised by the
implement, particularly for tillage operations where the
nature of work is hard.
The satisfactory performance of the tractorimplement
system is dependent upon the stability of the
operation, power of the engine and traction developed.
Each of these attributes is dependent upon a number of
variables. To study the effect of any particular variable
on the whole system involves redesigning the whole
process and materials. Thus, for studying the effect of
change in any one variable through experiments will

Field machines contribute a major portion of the
total cost of crop production. The proper operation is
essential for any system to be reasonably profitable.
Thus, efficient operation of farm tractors includes: (a)
maximizing fuel efficiency of the engine and
mechanical efficiency of the drive train, (b) maximizing
attractive advantage of traction devices and (c) selecting
an optimum travel speed for a given tractorimplement
system (Grisso et al., 2008). Therefore, performance data
for tractors and implements are essential for farm
machinery operators and manufacturers alike. Proper
selection of tractors and implements for a particular farm
operation need to be based on these performance
parameters (Al-Suhaibani, 1992).
A number of instrumentation systems, based on
data loggers and microcomputers, have been developed
and used to determine the performance of agricultural
tractors and implements. Al-Suhaibani et al. (1994)
developed a mobile instrumentation package for
monitoring tractor performance. Al-Janobi and Al-
Suhaibani (1996) developed a three linkage-implement
transducer. Al-Suhaibani and Al-Janobi (1996)
developed an instrumentation system for monitoring
tractor performance. Al-Janobi et al. (1997) developed
a precision wheel torque and weight transducer for
common agricultural tractors. Al-Janobi et al. (1998)
developed a computer based data acquisition system for
monitoring the performance of agricultural tractors. Al-
Janobi (2000) developed a data acquisition system for
monitoring the performance of fully mounted
implement. Al-Suhaibani and Al-Janobi (1997) made
an extensive review on various instrumentation systems
to measure the performance parameters of tractors and
implements. The majority of these systems were
designed exclusively for particular tractors and cannot,
therefore, be easily adopted to other tractors. Most of
these systems were used to measure one of the major
performance parameters such as: drawbar pull,
groundspeed and drive wheel speed. They, also, lack the
ability to monitor and analyze fluid temperatures
(engine oil, transmission oil, front axle oil, engine
coolant and engine fuel), Power Take Off (PTO) torque,
position of front wheel steering and angular position the
lifting position of the three-point linkage.

Performance data from various tractors and
implements are essential for farm machinery
management and manufacturers alike. Proper
selection of tractor and implement for a particular
farm situation can be determined from these
performance parameters. These data can also
be used to evaluate various farm machinery systems
to determine the relative merits of each system. As
"eld machines contribute a major portion of the total
cost of crop production systems, proper selection
and matching of farm machinery is essential to
reduce signi"cantly the cost of ownership and farm
machinery use. Also, e$cient operation of tractors
and implements is a main concern for farmers
because of the rising costs of fuel and other
operating costs. One major parameter needed for
the formation of a performance database is the
draught force. The availability of draught
requirement data of tillage implements is an
important factor in selecting suitable tillage
implements for a particular farm situation. Farm
managers and consultants use draught and power
requirement data of tillage implements in speci"c soil
types to determine correctly the proper size of tractor
required. Therefore,by using accurate draught data,
the operating costs of both tractors and implements
can be minimized. Farmers mostly depend on past
experience for selecting tractors and implements for
various farming operations. This previous
experience may be of little e!ect in selecting newly
available implements. Therefore, prediction of
implement draught requirement on di!erent soil types
and conditions is important for tractor selection and
implement matching. Many studies have been
conducted to measure draught and power
requirements of tillage implements under various soil
conditions. Grisso et al. (1994) reviewed the work
reported by di!erent researchers in measuring
draught and power requirements of the most
common tillage implements.

The integral systems have used load-sensing
elements on or between the tractor and the
implement to measure the forces. Some of the
designs measured all the forces acting between the
implement and the tractor by using a three point
dynamometer suspension system (Chaplin
et al., 1987; Barker et al., 1981), whereas other
designs measured only the longitudinal and vertical
forces and neglected the side forces as being small
(Reid et al., 1985; Garner & Dodd, 1985; Thomson &
Shinners, 1989). The system developed by Reece
(1961) was considered as the most basic system,
only measuring the horizontal force
for a free linkage system. A datalogger can be used
to scan and record data from the transducers in an
instrumentation system. Also it can provide the
excitation for the transducers without the need of an
external power supply. Many data acquisition
systems to record data from the transducers using
datalogger and microcomputers have been reported
in literature. In order to record the data from the
strain gauges or load cells, suitable data-acquisition
systems have been designed and built for "eld use.
A datalogger has been used to excite and record the
output signals from the strain gauge load cells in the
force dynamometer Chaplin et al., 1987; Thomson &
Shinners, 1989). The data were then transferred
from the datalogger memory to magnetic tape for
transfer to a microcomputer for further processing.
Microcomputer-based data-acquisition systems have
also been developed for use on the instrumented
tractor (McLaughlin et al., 1993; Clark & Adsit, 1985;
Lackas et al., 1991). Mounting such dataacquisition
systems inside the tractor cab allowed greater
versatility in the sampling rate, signal conditioning,
and data storage and processing. However, on-
board computers require much more space than
dataloggers and need su$cient capacity inverters for
operating them. Also they are more susceptible to
the e!ects of adverse environments. With the
implementation of laptop computer-
based data-acquisition systems, the problem of
taking more space and the necessity of inverters are
greatly solved. Also the overall weight of the
instrumentation system is considerably reduced.
The objective of this work was to develop a
dataacquisition system capable of measuring and
recording the performance parameters of a three
point linkageimplement force and depth transducer.
Speci"cally, the vertical and the horizontal forces on
mounted implements of categories II and III and the
angular position of the linkage must be measured to
determine the resultant force at di!erent measured
implement depths.

he proper selection of tractor and implement for a
particular farm situation requires availability of the field
performance data of both tractors and implements. Tractor
and implement test are needed in different farm sites
under different operating conditions to prevent serious
damage. This will enable the proper selection of tractor
and implement for a particular requirement.
Many of instrumentation systems are determine the field
performance of tractors and implements operating under
different field conditions have been developed and
reported by researchers. Most of them were designed
exclusively for a particular tractor and not easily
adaptable to other tractors. Also most of the developed
systems were used to majority parameters like drawbar
pull, ground speed, and drive wheel speed. From
these measurements drawbar power and wheel slip could
be calculated. This is hard and expensive to instrument
one tractor and take it to * Prof. different farm sites to
make a complete field performance data bank for
the tractors and implements. So it is necessary to have
simple instrumentation system easily adaptable to a wide
range of agricultural tractors used in different farm sites
and if any part of the instrumentation system damaged it
is necessary to find another part.


Machinery contributes a major capital input cost in most
farm businesses (Chen 1986; Ozkan and Edwards 1986;
Singh and Holtman 1979; Mayfield et al. 1981). Tractor
and machinery selection is an important part of
machinery management. To adequately evaluate crop
production and to be able to choose alternative crop
production or tillage systems, information needs to be
collected. Implement draft requirement is an important
consideration in selecting implements, tillage systems and
a tractor size that is compatible with the operation. In
addition to the required tractor size, implement draft will
also be used to determine the fuel consumed for
an operation. Implement draft and power requirements
were reported by various researchers (White 1977 and
1978; FMO 1987; Hunt 1983; Self et al. 1983;
Zwilling and Hummel 1988). Draft requirements of
various machines under Michigan conditions were also
reported by a group of scientists at Michigan State
University (Rotz and Black 1985). Draft is the major
Wan Ishak Wan Ismail & T.H. Burkhardt component of
forces between the tractor and implement, and in parallel
to the soil surface and to the direction of travel. ASAE
standard EP391.1 presents draft and power requirements
for most field machines for various soil types.
Microcomputers are increasingly utilized in the
acquisition and processing of implement-tractor
performance data. Thomson and Shinners (1987)
reported using a portable instrument system to measure
draft and speed of tillage implements. Measurements were
taken and stored using a data logger, then transferred via
magnetic cassette tape to a microcomputer for further
processing. Microcomputer-based data acquisition
systems have emerged as relatively inexpensive
alternatives to instrumentation-type tape recorders or strip
chart systems. Carnegie et al. (1983), Clark and Adsit
(1985), and Bowers (1986), are examples of researchers
who developed microcomputer-based data acquisition
systems for measuring in-field tractor performance.
Carnegie et al. (1983) reported the use of an Apple lie
personal microcomputer for data collection and analysis.
They concluded that the Apple lie personal
microcomputer was versatile, yet inexpensive,
and performed well under adverse field conditions.
Research was carried out to determine the field
measurements for draft and fuel requirements for major
crop production tillage and planting operations. The tests
for measuring power and energy requirements
were conducted on the farms at Michigan State University
and in Clinton County, Michigan using various types of
tillage and planting equipment. Experiments were
conducted on different soil series at different depths
and speeds using various conservation tillage and
conventional tillage implements. The draft and fuel
consumptions were determined for the mouldboard
plough, chisel plough, disc harrow, field cultivator, row
crop planters, and grain drills at various numbers of test
runs and also consecutive operations (e.g. chisel plough
followed by disc harrow twice).