SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SENSING AN EDGE

• US 20150253427A1
• Filed: 03/06/2015
• Published: 09/10/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/06/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Raven Industries Incorporated (CNH Industrial N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Raven Industries Incorporated (CNH Industrial N.V.)
• Inventors: Slichter, James Edward, Pierson, Andrew Joseph, Stotz, Derek Michael, Richardson, Jonathan William
• Granted Patent: US 10,225,984 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A01B 69/007 Steering or guiding of agricultural vehicles, e.g. steering of the tractor to keep the plough in the furrow
• CPC Class Codes: A01D 75/00 Accessories for harvesters or mowers
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/42 Simultaneous measurement of distance and other co-ordinates indirect measurement G01S17/46
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/87 Combinations of systems using electromagnetic waves other than radio waves
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/89 for mapping or imaging
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/4808 Evaluating distance, position or velocity data

Abstract

A system and method for sensing an edge of a region includes at least one distance sensor configured to detect a plurality of distances of objects along a plurality of adjacent scan lines. A controller is in communication with the at least one distance sensor and is configured to determine a location of an edge of a region within the plurality of adjacent scan lines. The controller includes a comparator module configured to compare values corresponding to the detected plurality of distances, and an identification module configured to identify the location of the edge of the region according to the compared values. In one example, the values corresponding to the detected plurality of distances include couplets of standard deviations that are analyzed and selected to identify the location of the edge.

Claims

1. A system for sensing an edge of a region comprising:

at least one distance sensor configured for coupling with a vehicle, the at least one distance sensor configured to detect a plurality of distances of objects along a plurality of adjacent scan lines; and

a controller in communication with the at least one distance sensor, the controller configured to determine a location of an edge of a region within the plurality of adjacent scan lines, the controller includes;

a comparator module configured to compare values corresponding to the detected plurality of distances, and

an identification module configured to identify the location of the edge of the region according to the compared values.

2. The system for sensing the edge of the region of claim 1, wherein the at least one distance sensor includes at least one reflectivity based distance sensor.

3. The system for sensing the edge of the region of claim 1, wherein the at least one distance sensor includes a light emitting diode (LED) unit and a reflectivity sensing unit.

4. The system for sensing the edge of the region of claim 3, wherein the LED unit generates at least 16 scan lines and the reflectivity sensing unit is configured to sense the at least 16 scan lines.

5. The system for sensing the edge of the region of claim 1, wherein the at least one distance sensor includes at least one of a laser generator and a reflectivity sensing unit or an ultrasonic sensor.

6. The system for sensing the edge of the region of claim 1, wherein the comparator module is configured to generate an array of standard deviations based on the plurality of distances.

7. The system for sensing the edge of the region of claim 1, wherein the comparator module is configured to generate an array of standard deviations including:

generation of standard deviation couplets, each standard deviation couplet including a first standard deviation of a first subset of the plurality of distances and a second standard deviation of a second subset of the plurality of distances,

assignment of the higher of the first and second standard deviations to a stored location of a plurality of stored locations in the array of standard deviations, and

repeating generation and assignment for each of the plurality of stored locations based on differing first and second subsets of the measured plurality of distances.

8. The system for sensing the edge of the region of claim 7, wherein the identification module is configured to identify the location of the edge of the region by selecting the lowest of the assigned standard deviations from the plurality of stored locations in the array of standard deviations.

9. The system for sensing the edge of the region of claim 8, wherein the controller includes an indexing module configured to index the identified location of the edge to a scan line of the plurality of adjacent scan lines corresponding to the selected lowest of the assigned standard deviations.

10. The system for sensing the edge of the region of claim 1 comprising a navigation module in communication with the controller, the navigation module configured to navigate a vehicle according to the identified location of the edge of the region.

11. A vehicle configured to sense an edge of a region comprising:

a vehicle body;

at least one distance sensor coupled with the vehicle, the at least one distance sensor configured to detect a plurality of distances of objects along a plurality of adjacent scan lines;

a controller in communication with the at least one distance sensor, the controller configured to determine a location of an edge of a region within the plurality of adjacent scan lines, the controller includes;

a comparator module configured to compare values corresponding to the detected plurality of distances, and

an identification module configured to identify the location of the edge of the region according to the compared values; and

a navigation module in communication with the controller, the navigation module configured to navigate the vehicle to the identified location of the edge.

12. The vehicle of claim 11, wherein the at least one distance sensor includes at least one reflectivity based distance sensor.

13. The vehicle of claim 11, wherein the comparator module is configured to generate an array of standard deviations based on the plurality of distances.

14. The vehicle of claim 11, wherein the comparator module is configured to generate an array of standard deviations including:

generation of standard deviation couplets, each standard deviation couplet including a first standard deviation of a first subset of the plurality of distances and a second standard deviation of a second subset of the plurality of distances,

assignment of the higher of the first and second standard deviations to a stored location of a plurality of stored locations in the array of standard deviations, and

repeating generation and assignment for each of the plurality of stored locations based on differing first and second subsets of the measured plurality of distances.

15. The vehicle of claim 14, wherein the identification module is configured to identify the location of the edge of the region by selecting the lowest of the assigned standard deviations from the plurality of stored locations in the array of standard deviations.

16. The vehicle of claim 15, wherein the controller includes an indexing module configured to index the identified location of the edge to a scan line of the plurality of adjacent scan lines corresponding to the selected lowest of the assigned standard deviations.

17. The vehicle of claim 11, wherein the vehicle includes a vehicle including a cutting implement having at least one end, and the navigation module is configured to navigate the at least one end of the cutting implement into alignment with the identified location of the edge.

18. The vehicle of claim 11, wherein the at least one distance sensor includes a first distance sensor associated with a first vehicle side and a second distance sensor associated with a second vehicle side,

the first distance sensor and the controller configured to identify the location of the edge where the location of the edge is closer to the first vehicle side than the second vehicle side, and

the second distance sensor and the controller configured to identify the location of the edge where the location of the edge is closer to the second vehicle side than the first vehicle side.

19. A method for sensing an edge of a region comprising:

scanning an area including an edge with at least one distance sensor, scanning the area including;

scanning along a plurality of adjacent scan lines in the area with the at least one distance sensor;

measuring a plurality of distances from the at least one distance sensor to one or more objects along each of the plurality of adjacent scan lines; and

determining the location of the edge within the area including;

comparing values corresponding to the measured plurality of distances,

identifying the location of the edge based on the comparison of the values, and

indexing the location of the edge to a scan line of the plurality of adjacent scan lines according to the comparison.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein comparing the values corresponding to the measured plurality of distances includes generating an array of standard deviations based on the measured plurality of distances.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein generating the array of standard deviations includes:

generating a standard deviation couplet, each standard deviation couplet including a first standard deviation of a first subset of the measured plurality of distances and a second standard deviation of a second subset of the measured plurality of distances,

assigning the higher of the first and second standard deviations to a stored location of a plurality of stored locations in the array of standard deviations, and

repeating generating and assigning for each of the plurality of stored locations based on differing first and second subsets of the measured plurality of distances.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein identifying the location of the edge includes selecting the lowest of the assigned standard deviations, and

indexing the location of the edge to the scan line of the plurality of adjacent scan lines includes indexing the location of the edge to the scan line corresponding to the selected lowest assigned standard deviation.

23. The method of claim 19, wherein scanning the area including the edge includes scanning the area including a cut edge of an agricultural crop.

24. The method of claim 19, wherein measuring the plurality of distances includes measuring based on reflectivity from the one or more objects.

25. The method of claim 19, wherein scanning the area including the edge with the at least one distance sensor includes scanning with at least one distance sensor including a laser generator and reflectivity sensing unit.

26. The method of claim 19, wherein scanning the area including the edge with the at least one distance sensor includes scanning with at least one distance sensor including a light emitting diode (LED) unit and a reflectivity sensing unit.

27. The method of claim 19 comprising navigating a vehicle to follow along the indexed edge.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein navigating includes one of automated steering of the vehicle and providing navigation cues for an operator.

29. The method of claim of claim 19 comprising:

cutting an agricultural crop along the indexed edge, and generating a supplemental edge with the cutting; and

repeating scanning the area and determining the location of the supplemental edge.

30. The method of claim 19, wherein identifying the location of the edge based on the comparison of values includes:

identifying a predicted edge location based on the comparison of values,

storing previous indexed edge locations,

weighting the predicted edge location and the previous indexed edge locations according to the respective proximity in time relative to the time of the predicted edge location, and

identifying the location of the edge based on the weighted predicted edge location and previous indexed edge locations.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein indexing the location of the edge to the scan line includes indexing the location of the edge based on the weighted predicted edge location and previous indexed edge locations to the scan line of the plurality of adjacent scan lines.

32. The method of claim 19, wherein the edge includes a first edge of a windrow of an agricultural crop, the method comprising:

scanning the area including a second edge of the windrow of the crop with the at least one distance sensor;

determining the location of the second edge of the window of the crop;

determining a windrow width between the first and second edges;

scanning the windrow of the crop between at least the first and second edges;

determining one or more of a height and shape of the windrow of the crop; and

determining the cross sectional area of the windrow of the crop between the first and second edges.

33. The method of claim 32 comprising:

determining a crop yield for at least a portion of the field based on the determined cross sectional area and one or more of the speed of a vehicle or distance traveled of the vehicle.

34. The method of claim 33 comprising changing one or more of the application of agricultural products, seeds or water according to the determined crop yield.