1. ES 678 Agile Systems Pat Bullock Brian Dodds Mike Leonard
PBM Ag Innovations
ES 678 Agile Systems
Pat Bullock
Brian Dodds
Mike Leonard

2. Team: PBM Ag Innovations System: Modular Autonomous Farming Equipment
Descriptive Statement:
Modular farming equipment that utilizes unmanned, autonomously mobile, remotely commanded crop and terrain adaptable equipment to rapidly and effectively prepare the terrain, and plant, fertilize, and harvest crops. The crop or terrain specific equipment is rapidly interchangeable and adaptable to not only a variety of crops (lettuce to corn), but also differences in terrain type and geometry (flat, hills, soft soil, rocky soil, etc).
Strategic Values/Objectives:
High availability
Low cost of operation
Low labor requirement
Rapid deployment
Rapid (re)configuration (crops/terrain/task)
Maximized crop production
Maximize land utilization

3. PBM Ag Innovations Caprice: unknowable situations
Weather - reactive
Availability of better technology – proactive
Equipment failure/breakdown – reactive
Uncertainty: randomness with unknowable probabilities
Terrain - proactive
Insects/disease - proactive/reactive
Growing season - reactive
Risk: randomness with knowable probabilities
Growth rate – reactive
Yield margins- reactive
Schedule (operational/planning) - proactive
Variation: knowable variables and variance range
Production - reactive
Fuel and maintenance costs – proactive
Scalability – proactive/reactive
Evolution: gradual (relatively) successive developments
Additional equipment - proactive
Additional capability (higher production implements) - proactive

4. System: PBM Ag Innovations
Reality Factors
Human (Including Customer) Behavior – Human error, whimsy, expediency, arrogance...
Education
Motivation
Idleness and boredom
Chemical or emotional influence
Organizational Behavior – Survival rules rule, nobody's in absolute control...
“Rural ingenuity” solutions
Maximize work output while minimizing headcount
“Burst/surge” workload schedule
Technology Pace – Accelerating technology and security-vulnerability introductions, sparse testing...
GPS fidelity
Drivetrain efficiency
Implement capability
System Complexity – Incomprehensible, highly networked, unintended consequences, emergence...
Technical prowess required of personnel
Technically complex system with intentionally simple interface
Unintended machinery behavior
Equipment breakdown and failure
Globalization – Partners with different ethics, values, infrastructures, cultural assumptions...
Geographic variation
Work ethic
Partially-Agile Enterprise Faddish Practices – Outsourcing, web services, transparency, COTS policies/affects...
Implementation of COTS technology
Agile Customers/Competitors/Adversaries – Distributed, collaborative, self organizing, proactive, impatient, innovative...
System component suppliers Insects, disease, and vermin
Cheap physical labor
Maximum quality of product
Other?
Global social responsibility

5. Response Situation Analysis for System: PBM Ag Innovations
with [t,c,p,s] metric-priorities for each issue, t = time of response, c = cost of response, p = predictability of response, s = scope of response
Domain
Response Issue
Proactive
Reactive
Creation
(and Elimination)
What artifacts/data/knowledge must the system be creating or eliminating during its operational activity?
Produces modularly adaptable system (t)
Efficiency in agricultural production (c, s)
Improvement
What performance characteristics will the system be expected to improve during operational life cycle?
Improved crop yield per acre (c, s)
Improved crop yield per man hours (t, s)
Reduced crop risk (p, s)
Migration
What major events coming down the road will require a change in the system infrastructure?
Driveline technology improvement
Change in land utilization or farming technique (c, s)
Modification
(Add/Sub Capability)
What modifications in resources-employed might need made as the system is used?
Improved interconnection (multiple tools) (t)
New crop rotation (s)
Improved control technology (t)
Correction
What can go wrong that will need an automatic systemic detection and response?
Equipment failure/malfunction (guidance, tool, prime mover) (t, c)
Variation
What system/process variables will range across what values and need accommodation?
Operational time (c, p)
Fuel and maintenance costs, variation of fuel, scheduled maintenance materials (c)
Scalability, increased area or conversion of marginal areas (s)
Expansion
(and Contraction
of Capacity)
What are “quantity-based” elastic-capacity range needs on resources/output/activity/other?
Scalable tool capacity (t, s)
“Swarming” or multiple machine inter-connected deployment (p, s)
Reconfigu-ration
What types of resource relationship configurations will need changed during operation?
Tool/capability conversion (s)
Changes to operating methods or technologies (t)

6. System: PBM Ag Innovations
(Think … Drag-and-Drop / Plug-and-Play)
Encapsulated Resources
Interchangeable tools
Chassis/prime mover
People (operators, maintainers)
Programming interface
Scalable
Reusable
Evolving Infrastructure Standards
Sockets:
Hydraulic connections
Electrical connections (power and data)
Mechanical connections
Fueling and fluids interface
Signals:
Telemetry data
Security:
Physical (doors, keys)
Network
Safety:
Motion limits
Safety switches
Light barriers
Physical barriers
Interlocks
Service:
System documentation
Technical support

7. RRS Principles for System: PBM Ag Innovations
(Think: Plug-and-Play, Drag-and-drop)
Reconfigurable
Scalable
Reusable
Encapsulated Resources Resources are encapsulated independent units loosely coupled through the passive infrastructure.
Interchangeable tools
Chassis/prime mover
People (operators, maintainers)
Programming interface
Evolving Infrastructure ConOps and resource interface and interaction standards that evolve slowly.
Iterative design tools
Documented procedures
Facilitated Interfacing (Pluggable) Resources & infrastructure have features facilitating easy resource insertion/removal.
Standard interface definitions
Plug and play implements
Redundancy and Diversity Duplicate resources provide fail-soft & capacity options; diversity provides functional options.
Multiple control protocols
Pairing and joint design teams
Facilitated Reuse Resources are reusable and/or replicable; with supporting facilitation for finding and employing appropriate resources.
Modular design concept
Standard interfaces
Multiple standardized configurations
Elastic Capacity Resource populations & functional capacity may be increased and decreased widely within existing infrastructure.
Scalable design teams and tasking
Automated design testing
Peer-Peer Interaction Resources communicate directly on a peer-to-peer relationship; parallel rather than sequential relationships are favored.
Collaborative design environment
Open communication tools and expectations
Distributed Control & Information Decisions made at point of maximum knowledge; information accessible globally but kept locally.
Independent yet interconnected design teams
Deferred Commitment Resource relationships are transient when possible; decisions & fixed bindings are postponed until necessary.
Flexible team collaboration
Short duration design iteration
Self-Organization Resource relationships are self-determined; and resource interaction is self-adjusting or negotiated.
Design teams working independently to schedule

8. System: PBM Ag Innovations
Resources
Integrity
Management
People
Movers
Tools
Parameters
Situational awareness
Resource mix evolution
Resource readiness
Activity assembly
Infrastructure evolution
Land owner
Maintainer
All parties
Land Owner
Program Manager
Active
Infrastructure
Passive
Config 1
Config 2
Config n
Sockets
Signals
Security
Safety
Service
Hyd/pwr/mech
Telemetry/comms
Phys/Net
Access and interlock
System Documentation
Hyd/pwr/mech
Telemetry/comms
Phys/Net
Access and interlock
System Documentation
Rules/Standards