PUC - Passive Uplink Connection
Farmobile services begin with a PUC Kit. The PUC device is the core piece of this kit. The PUC device is a machine and agronomic data collection platform. The PUC device is leased for a three-year period. The lease price includes the cellular data plan, upgrades, warranty work, data storage, app access, and support.
PUC Device & Dock
The PUC device measures approximately 5 x 5 x 1.5 inches. It can be docked in any orientation. Cables connect to it in only one way. Each connector is either keyed, color-coded, or both.
PUC Kit Contents
The PUC Kit includes several items that make installation simple. These include:
- 1 x PUC Device
- 1 x PUC Dock
- 1 x Data + Power Cable (3')
- 1 x GPS + Cellular Antenna (15')
- 4 x Suction Cups
- 3 x Velcro Coin Sets
- 10 x Cable Ties
- 10 x Cable Tie Mounts
- 1 x Glass Cleaning Wipes
- 1 x Wet Napkin
PUC Specifications
Every PUC is engineered to last several years and provide a high-level of service for machinery data collection.
Radios
Cellular: CDMA/EVDO (Verizon, Sprint, & US Cellular) GSM/HSPA (AT&T & Team Mobile)
WiFi + Bluetooth: IEEE 802.11 b, g, n compliant Bluetooth v.4.0 with BLE
GPS: 56 Channels, 10 MHz (10 readings/sec), Sub meter accuracy, GPS, GLONASS, Galileo & QZSS
Processing & Memory
ARM Cortex-A8: 720 MHz
MicroSD3: 16 Gigabytes (16,384 Megabytes) unformatted
Operating System
Farmobile OS: Proprietary operating system, drivers, and applications
Dimensions & Weight
Height | 1.68 in | 42.7mm |
Width | 5.02 in | 127.5mm |
Length | 5.02in | 127.5mm |
Weight | 1.75lbs | .8kg |
Sensors
=
Accelerometer: Senses acceleration/deceleration
Gyroscope: Sense 3-dimensional movement
Magnetometer: Senses heading
Altimeter: Senses elevation
Physical Interfaces
FAKRA Type C: GPS Connection
FAKRA Type D: Cellular Connection
M12, 8-Pin, Male: +12V Power, Ground, CAN 1/J1939 Hi/Lo, CAN 2/J1939 Hi/Lo, J1708/J1587 Hi/Lo
M12, 8-Pin, Female: +12V Power, Ground, J1708/J1587 Hi/Lo, Serial Hi/Lo
USB Type B: Device Charging & Data Transfer
Data Types
SAE J1708: Heavy Equipment
SAE J1587: Heavy Equipment
SAE J1939: CAN Engine Data
ISO 11783 (ISOBUS): CAN Engine & Agronomic Data
Serial: Misc. Data
NMEA: Latitude, Longitude, Elevation, Time, Speed, & Bearing
Environmental
Rating: IP67 (Water & Dust Proof)
Material: UV, Chemical, & Solvent Resistant
Operating Range: -40°F to 212°F (-40°C to 100°C)
Installation
Time
Installation time is approximately 5 minutes for most farm machinery. Installations that may take up to 15 minutes include:
- John Deere 50, 60, 70, and S Series Combine/Harvesters
- Hagie STS12, STS14, and STS16 Sprayers
Tools
No special tools are required to install a PUC device in most scenarios. However, the following tools may be useful:
Useful Tools
- Wire clippers – Useful for trimming the tails off cable ties
- Pliers – Useful for loosening wire loop nuts atop machinery cabins to tidy up antenna cable routing
- Small Socket Set – Alternative to pliers
- 6’ Length of Stiff Wire – Useful for feeding antenna wires into the cabin from the outside
PUC Special Cables
Farmobile has developed a number of wiring harnesses to integrate a PUC with the largest number of compatible machines and aftermarket systems possible. The standard cable in the PUC kit is often all that is needed. Farmobile provides wiring harnesses to integrate with many different systems. The following guides can be used to identify the correct cable.
Planter and Tractor Implement Cable Selector
Sprayer Cable Selector
Spreader Cable Selector
Harvester Cable Selector
Additional Cables possibly needed for connecting PUC
The Diagnostic Port
The9-pinDiagnosticPortisthemainconnectionforallFarmobilemachineinterfacecables. Thisconnectionprovides power, engine data, and when available agronomic data to the Farmobile PUC.
PIN | Function | Description |
A | Ground | Ground connection to machine |
B | +12V | Power connection to machine battery |
C | CAN 1/J1939 Hi | Machine engine and diagnostic data |
D | CAN 1/J1939 Lo | Machine engine and diagnostic data |
E | not applicable | not applicable |
F | J1708/J1587 Hi | Heavy equipment data (limited support) |
G | J1708/J1587 Lo | Heavy equipment data (limited support) |
H | CAN 2/J1939 Hi | Connected implement data |
I | CAN 2/J1939 Lo | Connected implement data |
Multiple Ports
Sometimes two, or even three, identical-looking ports may be collocated within the cab. See the following section for port location.
Location & Labeling
The location of the Diagnostic Port within the cab varies by make, model, and year of the machine. In some scenarios a panel, tub, or cup-holder must be removed to locate it. Diagnostic ports are commonly located in the following places:
- Beneath the ride-along seat tub
- Next to the fuse panel
- Under a cup holder
- On the front of the right-hand control panel
- In plain view mounted in the cab’s paneling
- Next to the base of the driver seat
- Near the floor on the right side of the cab
Case IH and New Holland Tractors
Certain Case IH and New Holland tractors have multiple diagnostic ports. The following diagram illustrates their approximate location in the cab and which available connector should be used.
Contact Farmobile support if further questions arise.
Versatile Tractors
Diagnostic ports are behind the driver seat. Use the port labeled "ENG"
Massey Ferguson Combines
Use the port labeled “EDT #1”
Rogator Sprayers
See the Generic CAN Interface section
Antenna Installation
Every PUC Kit includes a custom antenna. This antenna provides connectivity for both GPS and Cellular radio signals. For top performance install the antenna according to the following guidelines.
Antenna installation guidelines
- Center and secure the antenna to the cab roof orange side facing up with a clear view of the sky.
- Keep the Farmobile antenna away from other antennas such as existing GPS antennas & CB radio antennas.
- A minimum distance of 2 feet is recommended
- Maximize the distance between the Farmobile antenna and other GPS antennas
- Forexample,ifthereisaGPSantennaatthefrontofthecab,locatetheFarmobileantennanear the rear
- Do not coil and bundle the antenna cable with other cables inside the cab.
Antenna interference protocols
If a customer is reporting issues with another guidance system, i.e. if they can’t get GPS lock, or they lose satellites when the PUC is connected:
Ag Leader Interface
The AgLeader Interface provides connectors for interfacing with the AgLeader CAN cable.
Identify a node on the Ag Leader cable where one or more cable sections are joined together. For example:
- Y connector
- Terminator
- Single Cable Interface
Reference the diagrams below to understand how to interface the Farmobile AgLeader cable with the existing AgLeader wiring.
Y Connector
Disconnect the Y Connector and insert the Farmobile cable as shown below
Terminator
Disconnect the terminator and insert the Farmobile cable as shown.
Single Cable Interface
Disconnect the single cable and insert the Farmobile cable as shown.
Generic CAN Interface
The Generic CAN Interface is used when implement data (planting or spraying) is not available on the implement bus of the diagnostic connector. Examples include planters that are not connected to the ISOBUS on the rear of the tractor but have a CAN bus that goes directly to the display. This interface is also required with Raven rate controllers.
Connection Location
Inspect the cable harness that connects to the terminal inside the cab and look for junctions where a 4-pin rectangular connector is joining two cables, or where a cable is terminated with a termination block. These cables may be labeled as “CAN EXTENSTION” or “ISO BUS EXTENSION” and “CAN TERMINATOR”.
Insert the Farmobile cable between the two cables or between the cable and the terminator.
See the following photos:
Rogator/Raven Installation
Two panels must be removed inside the Rogator cab. The lower panel conceals two diagnostic ports -either port may be used. The panel above conceals the Raven CAN cable harness. Look for the terminator block and insert the Farmobile Generic CAN cable between the Raven cable and terminator –see previous pictures and below.
PUC Connection
After a PUC has been successfully installed we recommend checking the device to ensure it is successfully connecting to the Farmobile network. There are three ways to check connectivity.
Checking Connectivity
- Check the LED lights. The green LED light on the PUC will be lit up and the red LED light will be off.
- Check the iOS application. The iPad and Web applications may be referenced; however, they are not always the best indicator of connectivity. The PUC antenna provides much better connectivity than most mobile devices. For this reason, a mobile device may not be able to connect at the same time the PUC device is able to connect.
- Contact Farmobile Support. Farmobile’s support staff can quickly check on the connectivity of any PUC device. Contact the support team at 844-337-2255 or support@farmobile.com.
LED Light Patterns
Each PUC has one red and one green LED. The LEDs are intended to provide clear feedback to customers regarding the status of their data collection and the status of their connection to the Farmobile Network. Beyond providing data and connectivity status information the LED lights can indicate other helpful diagnostic information.
Battery & Storage
A PUC typically draws power directly from the machinery battery. Some machines disconnect the battery connection when the ignition is turned off. Many machines have a manual battery shut off for when a machine is not in use.
Farmobile recommends disconnecting a PUC from its power source if a machine will not be used for a month or longer. If the machine has a manual battery shut off the PUC can remain plugged in. If the machine lacks a manual battery shut off the PUC should be disconnected from the diagnostic port. A PUC draws less than 80 milliamps of power when a machine is off.
Machine Support
Data Types
A Farmobile PUC is able to collect a number of data points from a variety of machines. The following list covers all the data types that a PUC collects when they are available on a machine’s data network.
Harvesters
Sprayers
Tractors
Spreaders
Planters
Other Implements
Data Viewing and Integration
Metods for Data Viewing
iOS Mobile Applications
- Farmobile supports iOS 8 and newer mobile devices from Apple. This includes the iPad, iPad Mini, iPod Touch, and iPhone.
- The iOS applications provide a view of real-time machine data, which varies depending on the type of machine each PUC has been installed in.
- A map view in iOS application includes some nice features including: a real-time machine view tab, a history tab with dates and start/stop times for machine run sessions, PUC nickname editing, and machine gauge tile reordering.
Real-Time API
Farmobile offers a real-time API that can be written against to ingest second-by-second pulses of machine data. API documentation is available for integration partners.
Daily Shapefiles
Farmobile is rolling out its Daily Shapefile service in the Fall 2015. Farmobile customers join a DropBox directory assigned to their Farmobile account. At the end of each day shapefiles are automatically generated for operated machines. Shapefiles are saved automatically to the DropBox directory. When the Farmobile customer starts their computer, the next morning the folder with the shapefiles is already synced. If you are interested in this feature, please contact Support.
Row-by-Row & Section-by-Section Data
Yes, we are able to collect row-by-row and section-by-section data. We are presently unable to display or generate shapefiles with row-by-row or section-by-section data. We are able to generate shapefiles with full swath averages. Row- by-row and section-by-section data is being collected. Row-by-row and section-by-section shapefiles are on our roadmap for future development with this collected data.
Value Proposition
The Farmobile platform optimizes many data related challenges in the Agriculture supply chain. These challenges include but are not limited to:
- Collecting data from multiple machines and aftermarket systems in one place.
- Normalizing collected data from multiple machines into a consistent format.
- Collecting data without any user interaction.
- Reducing the service response time between service providers and farmers.
It reduces the time to make decisions resulting in new money saving and making opportunities.
How can a PUC device save farming customers time and/or money working with agronomists?
Statistics
- Agronomists visit farming customers an average of 7 times per growing season.
- The average agronomist cost per visit is $600. This varies from $250 to $850 per visit depending on distance and provided services.
- The average cost for agronomy services is $8/acre.
- A core service agronomists provide is the creation of Rx files. 30% of Rx files go unused by farmers.
Challenging Realities
- Agronomists’ purpose for visiting is three-fold:
- First, to deliver Rx files for planting, spraying, and fertilizing. Some go so far as to setup the cab monitors for the customer.
- Second, to collect as-planted, as-applied, and yield shapefiles. This typically involves exporting data to thumb drives from many different systems.
- Third, to provide ancillary services such as soil sampling and crop scouting.
- Agronomists are challenged to deliver Rx files to farmers in a timely fashion. Farmers will not wait for Rx files they’ve paid for because of weather related risks.
- Agronomy companies are challenged by timing. Geography, weather, and man-power impact available resources and thus the ability to grow and service their customer base.
- Agronomists are challenged by farming customers who are not techy-savvy.
- Farmers will not use delivered Rx files because the in-cab setup process is too complicated.
- Farmers will not capture as-planted, as-applied, and yield information because they forget to select the right parameters on in-cab computers.
- Farmers may believe they’re capturing data but thumb drives are often not formatted properly or get corrupted during the growing season.
- Farmers sometimes accidentally tap the wrong button and format a thumb drive with valuable data on it before that data has been backed up.
Practical Approach
- A PUC device mitigates many of the challenging realities of collecting farm machine data. A PUC collects point of creation data from the machine’s nervous system in second-by-second pulses. As a result:
- It eliminates the need for Agronomists to visit customer farms to collect as-planted, as-applied, and yield shapefiles.
- It eliminates the time consuming process agronomists go through to export data from monitors in the cab to thumb drives.
- It eliminates the risk of lost or corrupted thumb drives. A corrupt thumb drive is not always evident via the customer’s monitor. The customer will believe they are getting their data only to find out they have lost all of it.
- It eliminates the risk of accidentally overwriting data on thumb drives.
- A PUC device sends data in real-time. Timely data enables agronomists to see when a field has been planted, sprayed, or harvested. Having that information more quickly allows them to respond faster to scout for threats, to draw soil samples, and to provide other agronomy services.
How can a PUC device save farmer’s time and/or money working with their own data?
Statistics
- 80% of farms run multiple colors of machinery.
- 80% of agronomic and machine data never leaves the machines that creates it because of operator struggles with the various, complex data systems.
- 67% of farmers say they desire their data to be in one place, but lack a solution for this outcome. The OEM answer is farmers operate one-color of machinery. This is cost prohibitive. Farmers who proactively consider their options are most likely to have a mixed fleet of machinery despite the data challenges this creates. Farmers realize no single OEM creates the best machinery in every category.
Challenging Realities
- Each machinery manufacturer employs different data control and display systems. These systems are able to measure machine activity, but are extremely complex and offer operators a poor user experience.
- Farmers who proactively collect their data struggle to turn it into actionable information. Data collection, data organization, and data analysis are each different disciplines. Often the organization and analysis disciplines are delayed because of slow and poor collection processes. This results in a loss of context and opportunities to respond more economically to crop threats.
Practical Approach
- A PUC device automatically centralizes data in one place from multiple machines and aftermarket systems, freeing up valuable personnel time otherwise spent gathering data manually and copying it to another location.
- Increased utilization of machine and agronomic data provides valuable business insights that can be used to reduce inputs and increase output.
- Farmobile removes the friction for data collection and organization. This in turn makes data analysis easier and more timely.
- PUC equipped machines can be tracked by the farmer in real-time through the mobile application. This enables farm managers to optimize their production by reducing time, fuel usage, and wear-and-tear on machinery.
- Position trucks and machines at the right field at the right time. Reduce wait times.
- Check that hired operators are working in the correct fields. Better monitor live field activity in general.
- Verify machine operation is correct such as speed, population rates, spray rates, or yield. Driving too fast, applying too little or much product, or viewing low yield may indicate costly mistakes are being made.
- Train new machine operators how you want fields worked with historical replay. Avoid costly operating techniques and save fuel and time.
- Compare fuel usage, horsepower, and other data points from different brands of machinery in order to make more informed buying decisions and save money.
Data Ownership, Storage, & Security
Farmobile takes data storage and security very seriously. We employ numerous security measures that begin at the PUC device and extend all the way through to our API. Farmobile personnel also practice many policies that help ensure customer data is kept confidential and stored safely and securely.
Farmobile’s only business is data. The entire technology focus of our company is on data collection and protection. For this reason, Farmobile has recruited a number of experienced technology professionals with backgrounds in finance, healthcare, and stock/commodity trading - all industries with very strict data security policies.
Ownership
Farmobile customers own their data. Farmobile is a steward of our customer’s data. We do not own the data.
Farmobile may analyze customer data in order to improve our technologies and the services we provide. However, Farmobile never shares customer data with partners and we never sell customer data. Taking this approach requires very strong security measures, similar to banks.
Account cancellation
Customers who cancel their Farmobile account have the option to take their data with them. Farmobile PUC devices, antennas, and cables must be returned to Farmobile upon account cancellation.
Farmobile provides a three-month window for customers to download their data after they cancel their account. Farmobile support can assist with this download process. All account data is permanently erased after three months, and erased data cannot be recovered.
Storage & Security
Occasionally customers will mention concerns about the safety of their data. Catch phrases may include: hacking, data breaches, etc. These are legitimate concerns and should be discussed.
Farmobile approach
- Farmobile has people 100% dedicated to the protection of customer data.
- Farmobile design and built its own data center. We do not use distributed computing and storage services like those offered from Amazon or Microsoft. We have complete control over the computers that collect and store customer data.
- Farmobile employs many layers of data protection. We encrypt data at the device level and transmit it through secure channels not accessible on the open internet.
Customer directed questions
Few customers have good storage and security practices for their data. Ask questions about their current approach to data storage and security. Involve customers directly in the data storage and security thought process.
- What data is most valuable to you?
- How do you use your data?
- How do you presently backup your data?
- How do you presently secure your data?
- How do you protect your data in the event of theft, viruses, or disaster?
- Do you have dedicated people managing your computers?
- Do you have dedicated people backing up data and ensuring it is secure?
- Do you use thumb drives to save data?
- FYI: Without occasional power, thumb drives will eventually corrupt data saved on them.
Existing Telematics Systems
Can a Farmobile PUC replace existing telematics system?
Perhaps. It is important to understand what is meant by existing telematics systems.
- Scenario One. Most customers consider their existing telematics systems the control tools for auto-steer and guidance. If this is what the customer means the answer is No. A Farmobile PUC is not configured to control implement sections or rows. The built in precision GPS receiver in the PUC cannot be used for auto-steering.
- Scenario Two. Some customers consider JDLink (John Deere), AFS Connect (Case IH), and FUSE (AGCO) their telematics systems. It takes some further investigation to understand how they are using these systems. In most cases they’re using these services for fleet-management. The key value these systems provide is listed in the next section.
In summary, a Farmobile PUC provides no control functionality, but instead it eliminates the need for manual data collection and management. A PUC integrates with major OEM and aftermarket systems to collect point-of-creation data.
How does Farmobile compare to OEM telematics solutions: JDLink, AFS Connect, FUSE, etc.?
Similarities
Most OEMs will list the following as benefits of their telematics solutions.
- Track agronomic data
- Track machine data
- Track position data
- Track diagnostic data
- Create shapefiles
- Store data remotely
- Deliver timely data
- Three-year lease
Differences
It is the approach to data that differentiates Farmobile from OEM telematics systems.
- Farmobile delivers agronomic and machine data in shapefiles. OEMs deliver only a limited set of agronomic data points in their shapefiles. These data points vary by machine type.
- Farmobile stores point-of-creation data collected directly from the machine’s data network. OEMs store averaged data interpreted by their terminals.
- Farmobile uses a special decoder that is undergoing constant enhancement to convert point-of-creation data into meaningful and consistent information. OEMs rely on a relatively static version of their own firmware on their terminals in the tractor cab for a one-time data interpretation.
- Farmobile can re-decode stored point-of-creation data as their decoder is updated. OEMs do not store any point- of-creation data. OEMs rely on their terminals in the machinery for a single chance to interpret machine data.
- Farmobile stores data as long as the subscription remains current, providing opportunities for long-term historical trending. OEMs keep three years of interpreted data; the fourth year is deleted.
- Farmobile makes all stored data easily portable into whatever system or to whichever service provider the customer wants to it to go. Only a very limited set of data can be extracted from OEMs. This data exports in OEM proprietary formats that cannot be easily imported into other systems.
Can I use Farmobile instead of JDLink/AFS Connect/FUSE?
Yes, Farmobile works whether your OEM telematics services is active or not. We encourage customers to consider the relationships they presently have and to ask a lot of questions about their data. Using one data service over another, or even multiple data services should be a decision the customer makes once they have a thorough understanding of each service provider’s data policies.
Some questions to ask:
- How long is my data stored with this service?
- Is my data ever aggregated into reports that are sold to other companies?
- Do I receive these reports for participating in them?
- Do I receive compensation for the use of my data in these reports?
- Can I remove my data stored with this service?
- Is any of my information ever shared without my consent with any party other than service provider I personally know?
Competition Comparison
About Farmobile
Why does Farmobile exist?
- Farmobile exists to establish a market and unlock the value for farm data.
- Farmobile exists to simplify connecting data from machines to decision makers.
- Farmobile exists to establish rules for data ownership and consequences for data abuse.
Who is behind Farmobile?
- Farmobile was founded as an independent company in September 2013 by Jason Tatge, Heath Gerlock, and Randy Nuss.
- Farmobile is privately funded and not backed by any venture capitalists or agriculture industry incumbents such as equipment manufacturers, chemical or genetic companies, or insurance companies.
What happens to farmer data if Farmobile is bought by a bigger company?
Farmobile’s data policies give data ownership and control to the farmer. The farmer is the data owner. If a company purchased Farmobile they would not own the farmer’s data, just as Farmobile does not own the farmer’s data. Farmobile customers can choose to remove their data from Farmobile and cancel their subscription.
Does Farmobile sell farmer data?
No. Farmobile never sells farm data. Farmobile’s platform empowers farmers by automatically creating data products the farmer owns. Farmer’s may license or sell the data products that they own as they choose.