Focus on architecture and high-performance command and control

MILWAUKEE (Jan 28, 2025) - The Agricultural Industry Electronics Foundation (AEF), a global non-profit organization founded to improve cross-manufacturer compatibility in agricultural equipment, will share a look into the future of High Speed ISOBUS (HSI) at the Agricultural Equipment Technology Conference (AETC) at the Omni Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky on Monday, February 10th from 3:30 pm - 5:30 pm.

ISOBUS, the ISO 11783 standard "nervous system" of agricultural equipment, seamlessly connects tractors to implements and aftermarket options. HSI will be documented as international standard ISO 23870 and will serve the agricultural, construction and on-road tractor trailer industries, bringing connection speeds up to 4000 times faster. The increased data speed will enable a digital transformation for interconnected systems on heavy vehicles, allowing for automation in fields and on roads.

"HSI will open new opportunities for innovation and serve the industry far into the future, as even more performance and automation are demanded," said David Smart, Retired Senior Staff Engineer and John Deere Fellow, and an internationally-recognized expert on the ISOBUS communication standard. "This presentation will help attendees understand the details and the big advantages of HSI for high-performance control for vision monitoring of systems, and more.

Smart, along with Norbert Schlingmann, General Manager, AEF, and Ryan Milligan, Deputy Communications and Marketing for AEF and Director at Powell Electronics, will discuss the cross-industry collaboration of the world's leading heavy equipment manufacturers building ISO 23870, the new High Speed ISOBUS (HSI) standard. They will present information about protocols, middleware for applications, the physical layer, high level objectives and use cases.

Examples of future technologies using HSI will include higher performance command and control at the row level on a large planter or for the individual nozzles on a sprayer; higher performance of user interface to see the exact state of every row in real-time; remote process viewing with more advanced digital cameras replacing the analog of yesteryear; enabling higher levels of automation, and more.

"HSI will deliver greater precision for the future, and that precision will help reduce the amounts of
fertilizer and chemicals, improve agronomy, and allow companies to offer products that support sustainability," said Milligan.

"The AEF is seeing a more open attitude within the global agricultural industry towards the implementation of future technologies," said Schlingmann. "There is a great curiosity about the future: to see what the needs will be, and how those needs will be met. Ultimately, that helps to make a better world for the farmers."

Also scheduled this year is the AEF biannual Plugfest. This year, it is being hosted by the Association of Equipment Manufacturers, March 31 - April 3, at the Westin Milwaukee.

The event provides an opportunity for precision ag software engineers to temporarily put aside competition and test the interoperability of their ISOBUS products. Over 350 software engineers gathered together in Bologna, Italy in September 2024 to test compatibility and correct communication of their ISOBUS products.

The AEF Plugfest events attract hundreds of attendees and participants including AEF core member companies AGCO, CNH Industrial, CLAAS, John Deere, Horsch, Kubota, KUHN, SAME DEUTZ-FAHR,
and dozens of others. The fall Plugfest will take place in Harsewinkel, Germany.

To register for the AETC, please visit here. To register for the spring Plugfest in Milwaukee, please visit here. https://www.aef-online.org/events/spring-plugfest-2025.html#/about

##
The Agricultural Industry Electronics Foundation (AEF)
The Agricultural Industry Electronics Foundation (AEF) is an independent organization founded in 2008. Eight agriculture equipment manufacturers and three associations are working as core members together with over 280 general members to improve cross-manufacturer compatibility of electronic and electric components in agricultural equipment, and to establish transparency about compatibility issues. Implementing international electronic guidelines is a cornerstone of their work and the AEF encourages the development and implementation of new technology. While the AEF's intention is to enable mutually beneficial links between companies, the primary goal is to make work easier and provide economic benefits for their farming customers.