Mobile station for unmanned vehicle

• US 8,442,700 B2
• Filed: 08/19/2009
• Issued: 05/14/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/16/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Deere & Company
• Original Assignee: Deere & Company
• Inventors: Anderson, Noel Wayne
• Primary Examiner(s): To, Tuan C.
• Application Number:
  US12/543,741
• Publication Number:
  US 20090298539A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,364 Days
• Field of Search: 701/2, 701/23, 707/100, 700/243, 320/109, 455/556.1
• US Class Current: 701/2
• CPC Class Codes: A01B 79/005 Precision agriculture
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0225 involving docking at a fixed facility, e.g. base station or loading bay parking aids B62D15/027

Abstract

A mobile station for an unmanned vehicle comprises a vehicular storage area for storing a vehicle during transit or at rest. A first wireless transceiver communicates a status or command between the vehicle and the mobile station during at least one of vehicular deployment and rest. A station controller manages a management plan of the vehicle comprising at least one of retooling the vehicle, loading a payload on the vehicle, and recharging or refueling of the vehicle.

Claims

1. A method for operating an unmanned vehicle, the method comprising:

storing an unmanned vehicle in a mobile station during transit or at rest;

communicating a status or command between the unmanned vehicle and the mobile station during at least one of vehicular deployment and rest;

the mobile station managing an integral management plan of the unmanned vehicle comprising at least one of retooling the unmanned vehicle, loading a payload on the unmanned vehicle, and recharging or refueling of the unmanned vehicle;

collecting agronomic data, and

developing an agronomic management plan as a component of the integral management plan based on the collected agronomic data.

2. The method according to claim 1 further comprising:

managing coupling and decoupling of at least one implement to the vehicle within the mobile station to perform a particular task consistent with an agricultural management plan.

3. The method according to claim 1 further comprising recharging the vehicle with electrical energy.

4. The method according to claim 1 further comprising securing the vehicle to an interior portion of the mobile station and shipping the mobile station via freight at an end of a growing season.

5. The method according to claim 1 further comprising:

transmitting the integral management plan to the unmanned vehicle.

6. A method for operating an unmanned vehicle, the method comprising:

storing an unmanned vehicle in a mobile station during transit or at rest;

communicating a status or command between the unmanned vehicle and the mobile station during at least one of vehicular deployment and rest;

the mobile station managing an integral management plan of the unmanned vehicle comprising at least one of retooling the unmanned vehicle, loading a payload on the unmanned vehicle, and recharging or refueling of the unmanned vehicle;

collecting soil moisture data;

determining location data corresponding to the collected soil moisture data; and

creating an agronomic management plan that includes irrigating a material portion of a field if the corresponding collected soil moisture data falls below a certain threshold for the material portion, defined with respect to the location data.

7. A method for operating an unmanned vehicle, the method comprising:

storing an unmanned vehicle in a mobile station during transit or at rest;

communicating a status or command between the unmanned vehicle and the mobile station during at least one of vehicular deployment and rest;

the mobile station managing an integral management plan of the unmanned vehicle comprising at least one of retooling the unmanned vehicle, loading a payload on the unmanned vehicle, and recharging or refueling of the unmanned vehicle;

detecting nutrient concentration data in at least one of plant tissue samples and soil samples;

determining location data corresponding to the detected nutrient concentration data; and

creating an agronomic management plan that includes applying a deficient nutrient to a material portion of a field if the corresponding collected nutrient data falls below a certain threshold for the material portion, defined with respect to the location data.

8. A method for operating an unmanned vehicle, the method comprising:

storing an unmanned vehicle in a mobile station during transit or at rest;

communicating a status or command between the unmanned vehicle and the mobile station during at least one of vehicular deployment and rest;

the mobile station managing an integral management plan of the unmanned vehicle comprising at least one of retooling the unmanned vehicle, loading a payload on the unmanned vehicle, and recharging or refueling of the unmanned vehicle;

detecting a plant disease by gathering one or more sample images of crops, with or without magnification;

transmitting the gathered images to a lab for analysis, if the gathered images do not indicate the presence of a plant disease with a desired level of reliability; and

determining location data corresponding to the gathered images.

9. A method for operating an unmanned vehicle, the method comprising:

storing an unmanned vehicle in a mobile station during transit or at rest;

communicating a status or command between the unmanned vehicle and the mobile station during at least one of vehicular deployment and rest;

the mobile station managing an integral management plan of the unmanned vehicle comprising at least one of retooling the unmanned vehicle, loading a payload on the unmanned vehicle, and recharging or refueling of the unmanned vehicle;

detecting a plant disease by gathering one or more samples of crop tissue and testing the tissue for the presence of a defined gene sequence indicative of a corresponding pathogen;

determining location data corresponding to the gathered samples; and

creating a management plan that includes spraying a microbicide or fungicide in a material portion of the field if the corresponding test indicates the presence of the pathogen.

10. A method for operating an unmanned vehicle, the method comprising:

storing an unmanned vehicle in a mobile station during transit or at rest;

communicating a status or command between the unmanned vehicle and the mobile station during at least one of vehicular deployment and rest;

the mobile station managing an integral management plan of the unmanned vehicle comprising at least one of retooling the unmanned vehicle, loading a payload on the unmanned vehicle, and recharging or refueling of the unmanned vehicle;

electromagnetically detecting a level of chlorophyll content of crop vegetation;

determining location data corresponding to the detected level of chlorophyll content; and

conducting plant disease detection and nitrate concentration readings in a material region where the detected level of chlorophyll falls below a certain threshold level, the material region defined with reference to the location data.

11. A method for operating an unmanned vehicle, the method comprising:

storing an unmanned vehicle in a mobile station during transit or at rest;

communicating a status or command between the unmanned vehicle and the mobile station during at least one of vehicular deployment and rest;

the mobile station managing an integral management plan of the unmanned vehicle comprising at least one of retooling the unmanned vehicle, loading a payload on the unmanned vehicle, and recharging or refueling of the unmanned vehicle; and

determining position data for the vehicle within an interior of the mobile station with reference to at least one of a recharging system, a loading system, and a retooling system.

12. A method for operating an unmanned vehicle, the method comprising:

storing an unmanned vehicle in a mobile station during transit or at rest;

communicating a status or command between the unmanned vehicle and the mobile station during at least one of vehicular deployment and rest;

the mobile station managing an integral management plan of the unmanned vehicle comprising at least one of retooling the unmanned vehicle, loading a payload on the unmanned vehicle, and recharging or refueling of the unmanned vehicle; and

storing a payload for disbursement in a designated field in accordance with an agricultural management plan.

13. A method for operating an unmanned vehicle, the method comprising:

storing an unmanned vehicle in a mobile station during transit or at rest;

communicating a status or command between the unmanned vehicle and the mobile station during at least one of vehicular deployment and rest;

the mobile station managing an integral management plan of the unmanned vehicle comprising at least one of retooling the unmanned vehicle, loading a payload on the unmanned vehicle, and recharging or refueling of the unmanned vehicle; and

opening a door of the mobile station upon receipt of a vehicle identifier transmitted by the vehicle.

14. A method for operating an unmanned vehicle, the method comprising:

storing an unmanned vehicle in a mobile station during transit or at rest;

communicating a status or command between the unmanned vehicle and the mobile station during at least one of vehicular deployment and rest;

the mobile station managing an integral management plan of the unmanned vehicle comprising at least one of retooling the unmanned vehicle, loading a payload on the unmanned vehicle, and recharging or refueling of the unmanned vehicle; and

determining whether an intrusion event has occurred and reporting the intrusion event to an end user via a communications network, the intrusion event comprising a person or entity violating a boundary or perimeter about the mobile station.

15. A method for operating an unmanned vehicle, the method comprising:

storing an unmanned vehicle in a mobile station during transit or at rest;

communicating a status or command between the unmanned vehicle and the mobile station during at least one of vehicular deployment and rest;

the mobile station managing an integral management plan of the unmanned vehicle comprising at least one of retooling the unmanned vehicle, loading a payload on the unmanned vehicle, and recharging or refueling of the unmanned vehicle; and

engaging a first coupling unit attached to the vehicle to a second coupling unit attached to a transportable module and engagable with the first coupling unit, the transportable module comprising at least one of an implement, a tool, a payload, and a crop input.

16. The method according to claim 15 further comprising:

moving a storage assembly for storing a group of transportable modules and generally aligning the first coupling unit with the second coupling unit by rotation or other movement of the storage assembly.

17. A method for operating an unmanned vehicle, the method comprising:

storing an unmanned vehicle in a mobile station during transit or at rest;

communicating a status or command between the unmanned vehicle and the mobile station during at least one of vehicular deployment and rest;

the mobile station managing an integral management plan of the unmanned vehicle comprising at least one of retooling the unmanned vehicle, loading a payload on the unmanned vehicle, and recharging or refueling of the unmanned vehicle; and

shipping the mobile station after a particular task is completed, the particular task being selected from plowing, seeding, planting, fertilizing, harvesting, and spraying, moving soil, transporting material, removing material, a construction task, a turf-care task, mowing, removing grass, sand-trap raking, removing fallen leaves, removing trash, supplying military supplies, disposing of ordinance, collecting hazardous waste, inspecting soil for bio-hazard contamination, and detecting land mines.

18. A method for operating an unmanned vehicle, the method comprising:

storing an unmanned vehicle in a mobile station during transit or at rest;

communicating a status or command between the unmanned vehicle and the mobile station during at least one of vehicular deployment and rest;

the mobile station managing an integral management plan of the unmanned vehicle comprising at least one of retooling the unmanned vehicle, loading a payload on the unmanned vehicle, and recharging or refueling of the unmanned vehicle, wherein retooling the unmanned vehicle further comprises;

retooling the unmanned vehicle with at least one implement from a revolving storage device having payloads and implements associated with the payloads.

19. A method for operating an unmanned vehicle, the method comprising:

storing an unmanned vehicle in a mobile station during transit or at rest;

communicating a status or command between the unmanned vehicle and the mobile station during at least one of vehicular deployment and rest; and

the mobile station managing an integral management plan of the unmanned vehicle comprising at least one of retooling the unmanned vehicle, loading a payload on the unmanned vehicle, and recharging or refueling of the unmanned vehicle, wherein the integral management plan of the unmanned vehicle comprises the retooling the unmanned vehicle, the loading a payload on the unmanned vehicle, and the recharging or refueling of the unmanned vehicle.