journal article·2025-08-20Open access

Research Progress on Control Algorithms for Grain Combine Harvesters

Zhihan Chen, Zhenjie Qian, Chengqian Jin, Tengxiang Yang

Applied Sciences· Volume 15· Issue 16

Abstract

Intelligent control algorithms are essential for enhancing combine harvester efficiency and minimizing losses, especially as global food demand rises and labor shortages become more severe. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of the evolutionary progression from single-subsystem control to the current core challenge of multi-system co-optimization. We examine the technological development of the cutter, threshing, scavenging, and motion control systems, highlighting persistent bottlenecks that impede global performance improvements due to parameter coupling and conflicting objectives. This review serves as a reference for future advancements in the field. Future research should focus on lightweight reinforcement learning, hybrid control strategies, multimodal perception, and dynamic optimization frameworks for digital twins to drive technological breakthroughs and practical applications.
Source: crossref · Quality: baseline

Research context

OpenAlex topics: Advanced Algorithms and Applications · Belt Conveyor Systems Engineering · Agricultural Engineering and Mechanization

SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.

Affiliations

Nanjing Institute of Agricultural Mechanisation, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Nanjing 210014, China

Nanjing Institute of Technology, College of Mechanical Engineering, Nanjing 211167, China

Funding

CAAS Center for Science in Smart Agriculture and Equipment · Central-level public Fund for Basic Scientific Research of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences · National Natural Science Foundation of China

References (100+)

Show source-provided references
1. The effect of population aging on economic growth, the labor force, and productivity10.1257/mac.20190196 ↗
2. Global food loss and waste estimates show increasing nutritional and environmental pressures10.1038/s43016-023-00915-6 ↗
3. Parfitt, J., Croker, T., and Brockhaus, A. (2021). Global food loss and waste in primary production: A reassessment of its scale and significance. Sustainability, 13.10.3390/su132112087 ↗
4. Greenhouse gases emission from agricultural soil: A review
5. Global prevalence of malnutrition: Evidence from literature
6. Current scenario and future directions for sustainable development goal 2: A roadmap to zero hunger10.1007/s42398-022-00235-8 ↗
7. Review of combine harvester losses for maize and influencing factors
8. Nettle, R., Ingram, J., and Ayre, M. (2025). Digiwork: How agriculture 4.0 is changing work for farm advisers. Front. Sustain. Food Syst., 9.10.3389/fsufs.2025.1542007 ↗
9. Kumari, K., Mirzakhani Nafchi, A., Mirzaee, S., and Abdalla, A. (2025). AI-Driven Future Farming: Achieving Climate-Smart and Sustainable Agriculture. AgriEngineering, 7.10.3390/agriengineering7030089 ↗
10. Path tracking control method and performance test based on agricultural machinery pose correction10.1016/j.compag.2022.107185 ↗
11. Adaptive adjustment system of header height based on inclination sensor
12. Deng, L., Liu, T., Jiang, P., Xie, F., Zhou, J., Yang, W., and Qi, A. (2023). Design of an Adaptive Algorithm for Feeding Volume–Traveling Speed Coupling Systems of Rice Harvesters in Southern China. Appl. Sci., 13.10.3390/app13084876 ↗
13. Ma, L., Xie, F., Liu, D., Wang, X., and Zhang, Z. (2023). An application of artificial neural network for predicting threshing performance in a flexible threshing device. Agriculture, 13.10.3390/agriculture13040788 ↗
14. Research on the agricultural machinery path tracking method based on deep reinforcement learning
15. Design of fuzzy logic control system incorporating human expert knowledge for combine harvester10.1016/j.eswa.2010.03.010 ↗
16. Optimization of threshing quality control strategy based on type-2 fuzzy logic controller10.5755/j01.eie.26.2.25924 ↗
17. An Improved Fuzzy Logic Control Method for Combine Harvester’s Cleaning System10.3103/S0146411622040058 ↗
18. Grain combine harvester header profiling control system development and testing10.1016/j.compag.2024.109082 ↗
19. Zhang, C., Li, Q., Ye, S., Zhang, J., and Zheng, D. (2024). Header Height Detection and Terrain-Adaptive Control Strategy Using Area Array LiDAR. Agriculture, 14.10.3390/agriculture14081293 ↗
20. Ding, Z., Huang, Y., Yuan, H., and Dong, H. (2020). Introduction to reinforcement learning. Deep Reinforcement Learning: Fundamentals, Research and Applications, Springer.10.1007/978-981-15-4095-0 ↗
21. Digital Twin: Generalization, characterization and implementation10.1016/j.dss.2021.113524 ↗
22. Review of digital twin about concepts, technologies, and industrial applications10.1016/j.jmsy.2020.06.017 ↗
23. The ageing farming workforce and the health and sustainability of agricultural communities: A narrative review10.1111/ajr.12543 ↗
24. Deep learning, reinforcement learning, and world models10.1016/j.neunet.2022.03.037 ↗
25. Design and Experiment of Servo Control System for Sugarcane Header
26. Wang, H., Liu, J., Dong, H., and Shao, Z. (2025). A Survey of the Multi-Sensor Fusion Object Detection Task in Autonomous Driving. Sensors, 25.10.3390/s25092794 ↗
27. Remote sensing and its applications using GNSS reflected signals: Advances and prospects10.1186/s43020-024-00139-4 ↗
28. Suvorkin, V., Garcia-Fernandez, M., González-Casado, G., Li, M., and Rovira-Garcia, A. (2024). Assessment of noise of mems imu sensors of different grades for gnss/imu navigation. Sensors, 24.10.3390/s24061953 ↗
29. A progress review on solid-state LiDAR and nanophotonics-based LiDAR sensors10.1002/lpor.202100511 ↗
30. Low-latency automotive vision with event cameras10.1038/s41586-024-07409-w ↗
31. A novel constrained optimization-based parameter-free model updating strategy for enhancing fruit quality evaluation across multiple biological variability10.1016/j.foodchem.2025.145270 ↗
32. Biomechanical analysis of real-time vibration exposure during mini combine harvester operation: A hybrid ANN–GA approach10.1002/rob.22328 ↗
33. Wang, H., Lao, L., Zhang, H., Tang, Z., Qian, P., and He, Q. (2025). Structural Fault Detection and Diagnosis for Combine Harvesters: A Critical Review. Sensors, 25.10.3390/s25133851 ↗
34. Miu, P. (2015). Combine Harvesters: Theory, Modeling, and Design, CRC Press.10.1201/b18852 ↗
35. Research on Intelligent Status and Development of Cutting Platform of Domestic Grain Combine Harvester
36. Fundamental limits in combine harvester header height control10.1115/1.4023209 ↗
37. IDBO-PID-based control system for combine harvester cutting decks
38. Linear tracking MPC for nonlinear systems—Part II: The data-driven case10.1109/TAC.2022.3166851 ↗
39. Delelegn, T. (2022). Design Development and Performance Evaulation of a Common Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) Thresher. [Ph.D. Thesis, Haramaya University].
40. Design and optimization for a longitudinal-flow corn ear threshing device of low loss and low energy consumption10.1016/j.compag.2024.109328 ↗
41. Design and test of tangential and longitudinal-axial threshing and separating unit for wheat10.1016/j.rineng.2024.101774 ↗
42. Abdeen, M.A., Wu, W., Salem, A.E., Elbeltagi, A., Salem, A., Metwally, K.A., Zhang, G., and Elwakeel, A.E. (2025). The impact of threshing unit structure and parameters on enhancing rice threshing performance. Sci. Rep., 15.10.1038/s41598-025-91118-5 ↗
43. Zhou, D., Hou, P., Zhang, J., Yu, C., Liu, D., Huang, Z., Zhang, C., Wang, Z., Lin, Z., and Chen, T. (2025). Mechanism of low damage rate maize ear pre-threshing based on cob internal expansion cracking. Biosyst. Eng., 255.10.1016/j.biosystemseng.2025.104157 ↗
44. Experimental study on the effect of threshing drum structure form on the quality of soybean machine harvesting
45. Yu, Y., Cheng, Y., Fan, C., Chen, L., Wu, Q., Qiao, M., and Zhou, X. (2024). Automatic Control System for Maize Threshing Concave Clearance Based on Entrainment Loss Monitoring. Processes, 13.10.3390/pr13010058 ↗
46. Adaptive control system of header for cabbage combine harvester based on IPSO-fuzzy PID controller10.1016/j.compag.2025.110044 ↗
47. Power consumption and performance of a maize thresher with automatic gap control based on feed rate monitoring10.1016/j.biosystemseng.2022.02.015 ↗
48. Digital twin for monitoring threshing performance of combine harvesters10.1016/j.measurement.2024.115411 ↗
49. An empirical comparison of a calibrated white-box versus multiple LSTM black-box building energy models10.1016/j.enbuild.2025.115485 ↗
50. A novel IPSO technique for path navigation and obstacle avoidance10.1504/IJSSE.2021.121467 ↗
51. Digital twin modeling10.1016/j.jmsy.2022.06.015 ↗
52. Sánchez-Ibáñez, J.R., Pérez-del-Pulgar, C.J., and García-Cerezo, A. (2021). Path planning for autonomous mobile robots: A review. Sensors, 21.10.3390/s21237898 ↗
53. Chakraborty, S., Elangovan, D., Govindarajan, P.L., ELnaggar, M.F., Alrashed, M.M., and Kamel, S. (2022). A comprehensive review of path planning for agricultural ground robots. Sustainability, 14.10.3390/su14159156 ↗
54. Agricultural machinery GNSS/IMU-integrated navigation based on fuzzy adaptive finite impulse response Kalman filtering algorithm10.1016/j.compag.2021.106524 ↗
55. Peschke, T., Münch, P., and Görges, D. (2021). Model Predictive Control for Combine Harvesters using Geospatial Data. Commercial Vehicle Technology 2020/2021: Proceedings of the 6th Commercial Vehicle Technology Symposium, Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden.10.1007/978-3-658-29717-6_6 ↗
56. Adaptive neural network-based path tracking control for autonomous combine harvester with input saturation10.1108/IR-10-2020-0231 ↗
57. An adaptive control system for path tracking of crawler combine harvester based on paddy ground conditions identification10.1016/j.compag.2023.107948 ↗
58. Experimental testbed and methodology for the assessment of RTK GNSS receivers used in precision agriculture10.1109/ACCESS.2020.2965741 ↗
59. Tu, Y.-H., Wang, R.-F., and Su, W.-H. (2025). Active Disturbance Rejection Control—New Trends in Agricultural Cybernetics in the Future: A Comprehensive Review. Machines, 13.10.3390/machines13020111 ↗
60. Hybrid path planning methods for complete coverage in harvesting operation scenarios10.1016/j.compag.2025.109946 ↗
61. Obstacle avoidance method based on double DQN for agricultural robots10.1016/j.compag.2022.107546 ↗
62. Zhang, S., Zang, C., Yang, Z., Tang, L., Wang, K., Wang, A., Chen, W., Song, Q., and Wei, X. (2025). Research on fault prediction and speed control system for unmanned combine harvesters based on IPSO-SVM and fuzzy logic. Front. Plant Sci., 16.10.3389/fpls.2025.1577175 ↗
63. Orchard spray robot planning algorithm based on multiple constraints
64. Research on global path planning algorithm for mobile robots based on improved A10.1016/j.eswa.2023.122922 ↗
65. DBVS-APF-RRT*: A global path planning algorithm with ultra-high speed generation of initial paths and high optimal path quality10.1016/j.eswa.2024.123571 ↗
66. Kong, F., Liu, B., Han, X., Yi, L., Sun, H., Liu, J., Liu, L., and Lan, Y. (2024). Path Planning Algorithm of Orchard Fertilization Robot Based on Multi-Constrained Bessel Curve. Agriculture, 14.10.3390/agriculture14070979 ↗
67. Robot path planning based on artificial potential field with deterministic annealing10.1016/j.isatra.2023.02.018 ↗
68. Boryga, M., Kołodziej, P., and Gołacki, K. (2020). Application of polynomial transition curves for trajectory planning on the headlands. Agriculture, 10.10.3390/agriculture10050144 ↗
69. Traveling control method adapted to different paddy ground conditions with feedforward compensation for crawler combine harvester based on online tracking error prediction10.1016/j.compag.2024.108853 ↗
70. Agricultural machinery automatic navigation technology10.1016/j.isci.2023.108714 ↗
71. Trajectory planning for multi-robot systems: Methods and applications10.1016/j.eswa.2021.114660 ↗
72. Lin, F. (2023). Reinforcement Learning-Based Autonomous Robot Navigation and Tracking, Cardiff University.
73. Chakraborty, S., and Raghuvanshi, A.S. (2025). Adaptive Deep Reinforcement Learning Hybrid Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System Based Path Planning Algorithm for Mobile Robot. J. Field Robot.10.1002/rob.22578 ↗
74. Integration of Regression-Based Guidance Ant for Enhanced Exploration and Convergence in Ant Colony Optimization (ACO)10.1109/ACCESS.2025.3581425 ↗
75. FCAN-MOPSO: An improved fuzzy-based graph clustering algorithm for complex networks with multiobjective particle swarm optimization10.1109/TFUZZ.2023.3259726 ↗
76. Multi-objective trajectory planning method based on the improved elitist non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm10.1186/s10033-021-00669-x ↗
77. A review on genetic algorithm: Past, present, and future10.1007/s11042-020-10139-6 ↗
78. Thammachantuek, I., and Ketcham, M. (2022). Path planning for autonomous mobile robots using multi-objective evolutionary particle swarm optimization. PLoS ONE, 17.10.1371/journal.pone.0271924 ↗
79. Robot path planning method in rough terrain based on multi-objective crossover-mutation particle swarm optimization10.1007/s12065-025-01044-8 ↗
80. Physical-informed neural network for MPC-based trajectory tracking of vehicles with noise considered10.1109/TIV.2024.3358229 ↗
81. Adaptive neural network control for a class of nonlinear systems with function constraints on states10.1109/TNNLS.2021.3107600 ↗
82. Output-feedback adaptive neural network control for uncertain nonsmooth nonlinear systems with input deadzone and saturation10.1109/TCYB.2022.3222351 ↗
83. DRL-driven dynamic resource allocation for task-oriented semantic communication10.1109/TCOMM.2023.3274145 ↗
84. Effect of a cross-flow opening on the performance of a centrifugal fan in a combine harvester: Computational and experimental study10.1016/j.biosystemseng.2009.11.003 ↗
85. Development and testing of a multi-duct cleaning device for tangential-longitudinal flow rice combine harvesters10.1016/j.biosystemseng.2019.04.004 ↗
86. Test-bed of threshing and separating unit with multi cylinder
87. Kerber, D., and Lucas, J. (1969). Development of a Combine Cleaning Shoe, ASAE Paper; American Society of Agricultural Engineers.
88. Optimization and simulation research of the airway of tangential-axial combine harvester cleaning room
89. Cross-flow fan on multi-dimensional airflow field of air screen cleaning system for rice grain
90. Gebrehiwot, M.G., Meyers, J., Baerdemaeker, J.D., and Baelmans, M. (September, January 31). The effect of a cross-flow opening on the performance of a centrifugal fan in the cleaning section of a combine harvester. Proceedings of the International Conference of Agricultural Engineering, XXXVII Brazilian Congress of Agricultural Engineering, International Livestock Environment Symposium—ILES VIII, Iguassu Falls City, Brazil.
91. Effects of fan volute structure on airflow characteristics in rice combine harvesters10.5424/sjar/2020184-15426 ↗
92. Ding, B., Liang, Z., Qi, Y., Ye, Z., and Zhou, J. (2022). Improving cleaning performance of rice combine harvesters by DEM–CFD coupling technology. Agriculture, 12.10.3390/agriculture12091457 ↗
93. Maertens, K., and Missotten, B.M. (2008). Method for Operating a Grain Cleaning System in a Combine Harvester. (7,403,846), U.S. Patent.
94. Identification of the cleaning process on combine harvesters, Part II: A fuzzy model for prediction of the sieve losses10.1016/j.biosystemseng.2009.11.009 ↗
95. Fuzzy control systems: Past, present and future10.1109/MCI.2018.2881644 ↗
96. A new fuzzy Lyapunov function approach for a Takagi–Sugeno fuzzy control system design10.1016/j.fss.2005.12.020 ↗
97. Linde, K.R., and Cannegieter, T.A. (2022). Variable Fan Drive Dependent on Cleaning Fan Drive Load. (11,419,266), U.S. Patent.
98. Chai, X., Xu, L., Li, Y., Qiu, J., Li, Y., Lv, L., and Zhu, Y. (2020). Development and experimental analysis of a fuzzy grey control system on rapeseed cleaning loss. Electronics, 9.10.3390/electronics9111764 ↗
99. Wold, M., Pope, G.E., Walter, J.R., and Schoeny, J. (2019). Combine harvester with fan speed adjust. (EP3542616A1), European Patent.
100. Li, Y., Xu, L., Lv, L., Shi, Y., and Yu, X. (2022). Study on modeling method of a multi-parameter control system for threshing and cleaning devices in the grain combine harvester. Agriculture, 12.10.3390/agriculture12091483 ↗