SCOUTING SYSTEMS

• US 20160157414A1
• Filed: 10/23/2015
• Published: 06/09/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/05/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Deere & Company
• Original Assignee: Deere & Company
• Inventors: Ackerman, Chad A., Stephens, Scott A., Wu, Dolly Y., Harris, Mark A., MERCER, DAVID S.
• Granted Patent: US 10,165,722 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: A01B 69/008 automatic
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/14 specially adapted for specific applications
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/48 by combining or switching between position solutions derived from the satellite radio beacon positioning system and position solutions derived from a further system
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/16 using electromagnetic waves other than radio waves
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0225 involving docking at a fixed facility, e.g. base station or loading bay parking aids B62D15/027
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/024 in combination with a laser lasers per se H01S
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/027 comprising intertial navigation means, e.g. azimuth detector inertial navigation G01C21/16; inertial navigation combined with non-inertial navigation instruments G01C21/165
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0272 comprising means for registering the travel distance, e.g. revolutions of wheels measuring distance traversed on the ground by vehicles, e.g. using odometers G01C22/00
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0274 using mapping information stored in a memory device navigation using map-matching G01C21/30

Abstract

Embodiments include a ground scout having an ability to identify the location of rows of crops and the end of the rows so that it can navigate, but in other embodiments, the ground scout can also rely more on an aerial drone to navigate, to act as a communication relay system, and so on. A buddy system including a ground scout and an air scout (e.g. drone) communicate their findings with each other.

Claims

1. An agricultural scouting system comprising:

a ground vehicle having a perception sensor, a motion sensor and a computer, wherein the ground vehicle is autonomous;

wherein the computer receives motion information from the motion sensor as the ground vehicle moves;

wherein the computer having instructions to ascertain from the perception sensor a position of the ground vehicle in a coordinate system of the ground vehicle, forming an occupancy grid based on a strength associated with cells of the occupancy grid; and

the computer to transform the coordinate system to a second coordinate system;

wherein the second coordinate system includes a global motion of the ground vehicle and surrounding objects to generate candidate crop lanes;

a row model, wherein candidate crop lanes are compared to the row model; and

a vehicle path that the ground vehicle drives, wherein the vehicle path is based on a best scorer among the candidate crop lanes.

2. The agricultural scouting system of claim 1, wherein the best scorer is determined from a number of perception sensor readings that fall in a region where plants are expected.

3. The agricultural scouting system of claim 1, wherein the row model is parameterized by at least one of a row width, a row length and a lane heading direction of a farm field.

4. The agricultural scouting system of claim 1, wherein the vehicle path is derived without use of a GPS.

5. The agricultural scouting system of claim 1, wherein the ground vehicle is sized to travel under a crop canopy that includes corn.

6. The agricultural scouting system of claim 1, wherein the second coordinate system comprises a farm field coordinates or an Earth coordinates.

7. The agricultural scouting system of claim 1, wherein the ground vehicle travels with and is in communication with a tractor or a sprayer vehicle to monitor spraying or to guide spraying.

8. The agricultural scouting system of claim 1, wherein the ground vehicle is in communication with an aerial drone to share agricultural monitoring tasks.

9. The agricultural scouting system of claim 8, wherein the ground vehicle and the aerial drone are docked together on an agricultural vehicle that provides a power source to the ground vehicle and to the aerial drone.

10. The agricultural scouting system of claim 8, wherein the ground vehicle receives GPS information from the aerial drone.

11. A scouting system comprising:

an autonomous ground vehicle having a perception sensor and a motion sensor to construct an occupancy grid;

wherein the occupancy grid is referenced to a coordinate system of the autonomous ground vehicle;

the autonomous ground vehicle is configured to use information from the occupancy grid to detect crop rows in a crop field, based on a comparison of contents of the occupancy grid with a geometry of the crop field;

wherein the geometry includes at least one of an expected width of the crop rows, an expected length of the crop rows, and an expected crop plant spacing; and

a vehicle driving path is generated for the autonomous ground vehicle, wherein the vehicle driving path is based on the comparison of contents for candidate crop rows.

12. The scouting system of claim 11, wherein a strength of cells in the occupancy grid is determined from a number of sensor readings that fall in a region where crop plants are expected;

and wherein the occupancy grid is obtained after filtering out noise and transients.

13. The scouting system of claim 11, wherein the autonomous ground vehicle classifies weeds or hazardous objects from crop plants based on whether an object is an in-tier or outlier within a found crop row.

14. The scouting system of claim 11, wherein the autonomous ground vehicle travels behind or ahead of a tractor or a sprayer vehicle and is in communication with the tractor or the sprayer vehicle to monitor spraying or to guide spraying.

15. The scouting system of claim 14, wherein the autonomous ground vehicle transforms the coordinate system to a farm field coordinate system or to an Earth coordinate system to identify a location of at least one of an end-row, a weed, a hazardous object, and a ground moisture.

16. The scouting system of claim 11, wherein the autonomous ground vehicle is in communication with an aerial drone;

wherein the autonomous ground vehicle performs ground tasks and the aerial drone performs a crop surveillance; and

wherein the ground tasks include at least one of soil sampling, moisture sensing, weed identification, and hazard object identification; and

wherein the crop surveillance includes at least one of identification of damaged crops and notification to the autonomous ground vehicle.

17. The scouting system of claim 11, wherein the autonomous ground vehicle is in communication with an aerial drone;

and wherein the autonomous ground vehicle and the aerial drone are docked together on an agricultural vehicle that provides a power source.

18. The scouting system of claim 11, wherein perception sensor includes one of a lidar and a camera that provides data to populate the occupancy grid;

and wherein the motion sensor propagates a position of the autonomous ground vehicle in the occupancy grid.

19. A method to scout an agricultural field, the method comprising:

constructing an occupancy grid for an autonomous ground vehicle having a perception sensor;

referencing the occupancy grid to a coordinate system of the autonomous ground vehicle;

using information from the occupancy grid to detect crop rows in a crop field, based on a comparison of contents of the occupancy grid with a geometry of the crop field;

wherein the geometry of the crop field includes at least one of an expected width of the crop rows, an expected length of the crop rows, and an expected crop plant spacing; and

generating a vehicle driving path for the autonomous ground vehicle, wherein the vehicle driving path is based on the comparison of contents for candidate crop rows.

20. The method of claim 19 further comprising using a motion sensor to help construct the occupancy grid;

populating the occupancy grid with data from the perception sensor, wherein the perception sensor includes one of a lidar and a camera; and

;

using the motion sensor to propagate a position of the autonomous ground vehicle in the occupancy grid.