Encountering ISOBUS capable components more frequently, Nathan Zimmerman, precision farming manager with A.C. McCartney Equipment in Wataga, Ill., shares his approach to solving compatibility problems and outlook for true plug-and-play functionality.

David Smart, manager of systems engineering with John Deere, discusses the ongoing goals of the Agricultural Electronics Foundation's working group to develop a high-speed ISOBUS platform to increase bandwidth for plug-and-play connections of farm machinery.

Progress on developing true plug-and-play compatibility through ISOBUS connections has been ongoing, although at times, it’s an arduous process, especially in North America. But the collaboration of two independent organizations aiming to streamline equipment functionality could help accelerate the rate of progress.

Returning for a third time to the Agricultural Electronics Foundation’s (AEF) annual North American Plugfest event in Lincoln, Neb., I again marveled at the intensity of the dozens of engineers as they hustled from station to station in search of enhanced equipment compatibility.

The company unveiled the additions at its user conference in Orlando, Fla.

The process for data communication in precision farming has changed greatly in the past 20 years and maybe is one of the fastest moving technology pieces, today. Though it is not a major piece of hardware or software, it is inherent in most tasks a precision grower does and the services that his dealers provide.