Farm sidehill compensation
First Claim
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1. An apparatus to steer a vehicle in order to guide a farm implement along a desired path, comprising:
- a compensation computer to compute sidehill tracking compensations according to a sidehill tracking function of roll angle, said function having an order greater than one, where said function has been determined to compensate implement sidehill tracking errors for at least a first and a second said roll angle; and
a sidehill compensator to determine compensated crosstrack errors for said vehicle based on GNSS position measurements of said vehicle and said sidehill tracking compensations, where steering said vehicle to minimize said compensated crosstrack errors guides said implement to follow said desired path.
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Abstract
An apparatus and method using GNSS for dynamically adjusting side-to-side positioning of a farm implement along a geographical path.
100 Citations
26 Claims
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1. An apparatus to steer a vehicle in order to guide a farm implement along a desired path, comprising:
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a compensation computer to compute sidehill tracking compensations according to a sidehill tracking function of roll angle, said function having an order greater than one, where said function has been determined to compensate implement sidehill tracking errors for at least a first and a second said roll angle; and a sidehill compensator to determine compensated crosstrack errors for said vehicle based on GNSS position measurements of said vehicle and said sidehill tracking compensations, where steering said vehicle to minimize said compensated crosstrack errors guides said implement to follow said desired path. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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5. An apparatus to steer a vehicle in order to guide a farm implement along a desired path, comprising:
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a compensation computer to compute sidehill tracking compensations according to a sidehill tracking function of roll angle where said function has been determined to compensate implement sidehill tracking errors corresponding to several said roll angles; and a sidehill compensator to determine compensated crosstrack errors based on said desired implement path, GNSS position measurements of said vehicle, and said sidehill tracking compensations;
said vehicle steered to minimize said compensated crosstrack errors to guide said implement to follow said desired path;
wherein;the sidehill compensator is configured to use a time constant for said sidehill tracking compensations to cause said compensated crosstrack errors to have a slower response to changes in said roll angle than to changes in raw crosstrack errors between GNSS position measurements and said desired implement path.
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12. An apparatus to steer a vehicle in order to guide a farm implement along a desired path, comprising:
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a compensation computer to compute a sidehill tracking compensation according to a variable sidehill tracking function of a roll angle where said variable sidehill tracking function has been determined to compensate an implement tracking error corresponding to said roll angle; and a sidehill compensator to determine a compensated crosstrack error based on said desired implement path, GNSS position measurements of said vehicle, and said sidehill tracking compensation;
said vehicle steered to minimize said compensated crosstrack error to guide said implement to follow said desired path;a nudge summer to add a nudge difference to a current said compensated crosstrack error to provide a steering signal to align said implement with said desired implement path; and a tracking learn computer to edit said variable sidehill tracking function based on a measurement of said nudge difference.
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13. An apparatus to steer a vehicle in order to guide a farm implement along a desired path, comprising:
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a compensation computer to compute a sidehill tracking compensation according to a variable sidehill tracking function of a roll angle where said variable sidehill tracking function has been determined to compensate an implement tracking error corresponding to said roll angle; and a sidehill compensator to determine a compensated crosstrack error based on said desired implement path, GNSS position measurements of said vehicle, and said sidehill tracking compensation;
said vehicle steered to minimize said compensated crosstrack error to guide said implement to follow said desired path;
wherein;the compensation computer includes a sidehill computer to compute a roll height compensation from a fixed function of said roll angle and an actual said height of said GNSS antenna above ground; and said sidehill tracking compensation includes said roll height compensation.
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14. A method for steering a vehicle in order to guide a farm implement along a desired path, comprising:
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computing sidehill tracking compensations according to a sidehill tracking function of roll angle, said function having an order greater than one, where said function has been determined for compensating implement sidehill tracking errors for at least a first and a second said roll angle; and determining compensated crosstrack errors for said vehicle based on GNSS position measurements of said vehicle and said sidehill tracking compensations, where steering said vehicle to minimize said compensated crosstrack errors guides said implement to follow said desired path. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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18. A method for steering a vehicle in order to guide a farm implement along a desired path, comprising:
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computing sidehill tracking compensations according to a sidehill tracking function of roll angle, where said function has been determined for compensating implement sidehill tracking errors corresponding to several said roll angles; determining a sidehill compensated crosstrack error based on said desired implement path, GNSS position measurements of said vehicle, and said sidehill tracking compensations;
said vehicle steered for minimizing said compensated crosstrack errors for guiding said implement to follow said desired path; andproviding a time constant to said sidehill tracking compensations for causing said compensated crosstrack errors to have a slower response to changes in said roll angle than to changes in raw crosstrack errors between said GNSS position measurements and said desired implement path.
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25. A method for steering a vehicle in order to guide a farm implement along a desired path, comprising:
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computing a sidehill tracking compensation according to a variable sidehill tracking function of a roll angle, where said variable sidehill tracking function has been determined to compensate an implement tracking error corresponding to said roll angle; determining a sidehill compensated crosstrack error based on said desired implement path, GNSS position measurements of said vehicle, and said sidehill tracking compensation;
said vehicle steered for minimizing said compensated crosstrack error for guiding said implement to follow said desired path;adding a nudge difference to a current said compensated crosstrack error for providing a steering signal for aligning said implement with said desired implement path; and editing said variable sidehill tracking function based on a measurement corresponding to said nudge difference.
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26. A method for steering a vehicle in order to guide a farm implement along a desired path, comprising:
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computing a sidehill tracking compensation according to a variable sidehill tracking function of a roll angle, where said variable sidehill tracking function has been determined to compensate an implement tracking error corresponding to said roll angle; determining a sidehill compensated crosstrack error based on said desired implement path, GNSS position measurements of said vehicle, and said sidehill tracking compensation;
said vehicle steered for minimizing said compensated crosstrack error for guiding said implement to follow said desired path;computing a roll height compensation from a fixed function of said roll angle and an actual said height of said GNSS antenna above ground; and using said sidehill tracking compensation includes said roll height compensation.
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Specification