Communications: electrical – Vehicle position indication
Patent
1997-01-22
1999-07-13
Swarthout, Brent A.
Communications: electrical
Vehicle position indication
180 67, 701 50, 701300, G08G 1123
Patent
active
059232706
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to an autonomous navigation system for an unmanned vehicle, comprising track rollers; elements; the vehicle to said navigation computer; and operator, whereby the ground station computer has been supplied with a digitized map containing a predetermined path or course and the ground station computer is in a two-way radio communication with the vehicle navigation computer which is supplied by the ground station computer with information about a curve following the point sequence of said course, the navigation computer using said information to establish set values for the vehicle speed and course profile, said set values being transmitted as control parameters to said control elements for regulating the vehicle speed and heading.
The drive mechanism for a system of the invention is preferably constructed hydraulically, the drive wheels or track rollers being driven by hydraulic motors and hydraulic pumps, whereby both the speed and the heading can be regulated by controlling valves included in the hydraulic system.
One particular application of the invention involves agricultural vehicles which are used for operating farm equipment on the field over a predetermined course.
The trend in agricultural machines has been the introduction of increasingly large and heavy machines. This has resulted in excessive compaction of the ground which affects the fertility properties of the ground. Efforts have been made to compensate for this by intensive fertilization and increased harrowing.
The unmanned vehicle can be constructed to be considerably lighter as it requires neither a cabin nor accessories for the operator's comfort. In addition, the center of gravity can be set considerably lower and thus, for example, the counterweight required by agricultural machines need not be as heavy as that required by traditional tractors. The working tools will also be cheaper.
The operating widths of e.g. agricultural machines have increased to such an extent that the operator cannot see from his or her position where the edges of an operating range meet each other. Especially with wide pesticide sprayers, there will be overlapping of treated areas and/or untreated areas will remain between treated paths. The automatic navigation can be used for bringing the edges of operating paths more closely together.
Traditionally, the driving has proceeded along certain driving paths which are compacted and therefore not sown. Thus, up tp almost 10% of the field area remains unproductive. With autonomous navigation it is possible to offset the driving paths year by year and thus to sow the entire field area. However, if it is desirable to always drive along the same paths, the autonomous navigation enables this as well.
Another benefit gained by by autonomous navigation is the elimination of seasonally required skilled driving labor.
The components of technology required for autonomous navigation are already existent and commercially available but these components have not yet been assembled for a practically functional unit, which would serve as an autonomous navigation system for an unmanned vehicle with a sufficient positioning accuracy.
For example, a gyroscope can be used for providing directional information, whereby the progress can occur in a desired direction or heading towards a desired location. For a variety of reasons, however, there will gradually occur deviation, i.e. the gyroscopic control accumulates an error that must be eliminated. This requires a remote positioning system whereby the position of a vehicle can be determined for correcting the heading.
It is known to combine a remote positioning system (e.g. satellite-based GPS/Global Positioning System) with directional information calculated by means of a gyroscope. This combination by means of sp-called Kalman filtering has been described e.g. in the book by Peter S. Maybeck "Stochastic models, estimation, and control" from 1979 pp. 291-297 in article 6.3 "Application of calman filtering to inertial navigation systems". This has also been d
REFERENCES:
patent: 5503232 (1996-04-01), Matsushita et al.
patent: 5684476 (1997-11-01), Anderson
Maybeck, P., Stochastic Models, Estimation, and Control, "Application of Kalman filtering to inertial navigation systems", 1979, pp. 291-297.
Makela Hannu
Ojala Markku
Puputti Jarmo
Rintanen Kari
Sampo Mikko
Modulaire Oy
Swarthout Brent A.
LandOfFree
Automatic steering system for an unmanned vehicle does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Automatic steering system for an unmanned vehicle, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Automatic steering system for an unmanned vehicle will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2279702