Researchers from various disciplines at Ostfalia University, TU Braunschweig and TU Clausthal are working towards a common goal: a holistic development guideline for a safety and automation concept for agricultural machinery (GESAL) that brings together safety, technological and legal requirements.
The interdisciplinary project is being led by Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences and will be supported by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) with around 2.7 million euros until October 2027.
"Automated agricultural machinery is at the centre of current innovation and transformation processes in agriculture. Unlike automated passenger cars, the focus here is not just on driving, but on carrying out complex agricultural work processes under sometimes difficult environmental conditions," explains project manager Prof Dr Harald Bachem from Ostfalia University. The challenges ranged from technical issues relating to sensor utilisation and process safety to clarifying the legal framework, which includes European product safety law, liability law and environmental law. In order to be optimally prepared for possible hurdles, the GESAL project is developing a development guideline - the so-called Code of Practice - which can be used as a guideline for the automation of agricultural machinery throughout Europe in the future.
The interdisciplinary project combines expertise from different areas in three sub-projects:
Sub-project A is the responsibility of Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences, specifically the Vehicle Safety Department (LFF), and deals with the hardware safety of automated agricultural machinery. The aim is to develop a sensor architecture for automated agricultural machinery that ensures the reliable operation of the machines. To this end, a digital twin - a virtual model - of the agricultural machine is created in a computer simulation. Various sensors and their arrangement are then tested and compared with each other in this environment. In addition, various AI object recognition models are being developed to reliably recognise safety-critical objects, such as deer, under various disturbance variables, such as dust or fog.
The Institute for Mobile Machines and Commercial Vehicles (IMN) and the Institute of Law (IRW) at the Technical University of Braunschweig together form sub-project B. As part of the project, the IRW is researching the key legal issues of this future technology. Among other things, the focus is on product safety, liability, authorisation and environmental law as well as the question of which rules enable safe and responsible use. The results of these analyses will be published in order to make a well-founded contribution to the scientific discourse.
In the project, the IMN is looking at process safety, which plays a key role in the automation of agricultural work processes. While farmers on conventional tractors continuously monitor the work process and adjust process parameters, the machine itself assumes this responsibility with autonomous agricultural machinery. Prof Dr Ludger Frerichs from the IMN at TU Braunschweig explains: "Process reliability must be understood in two ways. The processes must function safely, i.e. perform the work task correctly under all conditions, and they must be safe in terms of the hazards they can pose."
In sub-project C, the Institute for Software and Systems Engineering (ISSE) at Clausthal University of Technology, headed by Prof Dr Andreas Rausch, is focusing on the software safety of automated agricultural machinery. The aim is to develop a safety concept that ensures reliable operation even in the event of malfunctions - for example due to GPS drift or unexpected and unknown obstacles in the working environment. To this end, ISSE is designing a software architecture with clearly defined modules and middleware solutions that are closely interlinked with the planned sensor and hardware technology. The methods used originate from the field of automated driving of road vehicles and are specifically adapted to the requirements of agriculture.
Tapping into the potential of highly automated agricultural technology responsibly
"In the first six months of the project, we were already able to implement numerous steps for the development of the Code of Practice," explains Ostfalia scientist Bachem. European regulations - including the Machinery, Data and AI Regulations - were analysed and specific requirements in the area of application of automated agricultural machinery were derived from them. A worst-case scenario is also being developed, which will be used to systematically analyse safety-critical application situations.
According to project manager Bachem, automated agricultural machinery opens up considerable potential for increasing efficiency, ensuring process quality and relieving the burden on agricultural labour. "This is an important topic, especially in light of the increasing shortage of skilled labour and rising demands for sustainability and resource conservation," he says. At the same time, however, automation poses fundamental technical and legal challenges. This is why the GESAL project focuses precisely on the interfaces between the research areas and involves industry. It aims to responsibly tap into the potential of highly automated agricultural technology and at the same time create a reliable orientation framework for research, development and regulation.
Your contact for this topic:
Prof Dr Harald Bachem
Overall Project Manager GESAL
Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences
Phone: 05361 8922-21240
E-mail: h.bachem(at)ostfalia.de (opens your email program)