The Agricultural Industry Electronics Foundation (AEF), a global nonprofit organization founded to improve cross-manufacturer compatibility in agricultural equipment, will host its annual spring North American Plugfest, to be co-located this year with the Commodity Classic trade show in Houston, Texas. Plugfest brings together dozens of technical teams from ag equipment manufacturers to “plug in” their competing equipment, ensuring all colors work together. Plugfest will be held from Feb. 28 to March 1, 2024 at Houston’s George R. Brown Convention Center.
Plugfest provides an opportunity for precision ag software engineers to temporarily put aside competition and test the interoperability of their ISOBUS products. Since its beginning in 2001, the event has grown from a handful of engineers to hundreds of experts, offering the opportunity to test compatibility and correct ISOBUS communication between the devices.
“Farmers need tools that work. Plugfest is a noncompetitve, collaborative testing environment to validate product interoperability,” said Norbert Schlingmann, general manager, AEF. “Our event is an important place for innovative software engineers to realize true challenges, solutions and opportunities as the industry crosses the digital divide.”
For three days, engineers will test their ISOBUS products for compatibility with those from their competitors in a speed-dating-like fashion, performing up to 48 different tests in 30-minute timeslots to see what works the first time, and also where improvements are needed to obtain compatibility on the ISOBUS.
New at Plugfest this year, AEF’s recently announced Universal Terminal third generation (UT3) conformance test will be available to help manufacturers identify and reduce compatibility issues, guaranteeing cross-brand interoperability between ISOBUS certified devices. In December 2023, AEF celebrated its 10th year of ensuring transparency of ISOBUS compatibility.
Also new this year, a “High Speed ISOBUS (HSI) Discovery Station” featuring displays, electronic control units and switches from multiple manufacturers will be connected as software engineers test whether their components are discoverable on the new HSI architecture. A new AEF Digital Camera Systems project team will be testing their products for the first time.
Both Plugfest and the Commodity Classic draw attendees and participants, including AEF member companies AGCO, CNH Industrial, CLAAS, John Deere, Kubota, KUHN, and SAME DEUTZ-FAHR, among others. Dealers, farmers and other show attendees are invited to watch the industry's cooperative spirit in action as the software engineers work together to develop tomorrow’s technology. AEF Membership is required for participant registration and applies to anyone who is directly or indirectly involved with testing activities. Visitor registration is available to those who are observing the AEF activities and are not involved in testing activities.
