Method for operating a machine for harvesting and / or separating root crops, associated machine and associated computer program product

Description

[0001] The invention relates to a method for operating a machine for harvesting root crops and / or for separating root crops from other, concomitantly conveyed material, comprising at least soil in the form of loose earth and / or soil aggregates and, optionally, haulms and / or stones. The method further provides for the recording of at least one test image of at least one portion of the material moved relative to a machine frame of the machine by means of at least one transport element, in particular a screening belt, by at least one electromagnetic, in particular optical, or acoustic image capture unit. Furthermore, an operating parameter of the machine is set by means of an evaluation device.

[0002] In US 2017 / 013773 A1, the soil texture and / or its friability are recorded using an optical or acoustic sensor, for example, with the aim of adjusting the depth of the excavation elements depending on the soil information. This is based on the finding that when transitioning from soft to hard soil, the working depth of the excavation elements decreases with the same settings, which can lead to root crop losses. By adjusting the excavation depth of the harvester depending on the soil conditions before harvesting the crop, crop loss is reduced and yields are improved.

[0003] In the article by Morquin Demian ET AL: »An integrated neural network-based vision system for automated separation of clods from agricultural produce«, ENGINEERING APPLICATIONS OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE., Vol. 16, No. 1, 1., an optical sensor and an evaluation of the test image are used to distinguish between onions and clods in order to sort out clods.

[0004] The subsequently published WO 2020 / 094655 A1 discloses a method for controlling the operation of a machine for harvesting root crops and / or for separating root crops from other harvested material, including admixtures. According to the method, at least one test image is recorded, and an evaluation device generates a separator adjustment signal based on the test image. A corresponding machine is also disclosed.

[0005] EP 0 699 379 A2 discloses a screening conveyor device whose screening belt is assigned adjusting means whose actuators are adjustable. Signals from a measuring device, such as an infrared sensor or a light barrier, serve as the reference variable.

[0006] US 3 435 950 A discloses a separating device for separating crop material and impurities, wherein the sound generated by the materials, their reflection or radiant energy is used to separate the materials.

[0007] The object of the present invention is to screen out a suitable amount of impurities during the transport of the root crops by a root crop harvesting machine.

[0008] The object is achieved by an object according to claim 1. Advantageous embodiments of the invention can be found in the dependent claims and the description. Furthermore, the object is achieved by a machine according to claim 14 and by a computer program product according to claim 15.

[0009] According to the invention, in a method for operating a machine for harvesting and / or separating root crops from other, co-conveyed material comprising at least soil in the form of loose earth and / or soil aggregates and optionally haulms and / or stones, at least one test image of at least one part of the material moved relative to a machine frame of the machine by means of at least one transport element in the form of a hedgehog or sieve belt is initially recorded by at least one electromagnetic, in particular an optical, or an acoustic image capture unit, and an evaluation device is used to generate an adjustment signal for adjusting at least one operating parameter of the transport element or of a further transport element of the machine on the basis of a test data set generated from the test image and / or formed by the latter.wherein at least one feature for describing the screening ability of the conveyed soil is determined by the evaluation device and used to adjust the operating parameter, wherein the feature comprises one or more values describing the size of one or more soil aggregates (28).

[0010] The adjustment signal changes the action of one or more actuators or drive means of the transport element to vary the screening of the soil. The invention thus relates to transport elements in the form of separating devices intended for screening soil, in particular screening belts, hedgehog belts, and / or roller arrangements.

[0011] In particular, the image capture unit with its sensor is aligned with a transport element designed as a screening belt, which, as the first or second screening belt, transports the material through the machine after it has been picked up. In this embodiment of the method according to the invention, the soil is analyzed very early after the pickup, in particular when the material is picked up in a first half or a first third of the screening belt, in order to be able to react very quickly to changes in the soil condition by adjusting the operating parameters and thus to be able to adapt at least a part, in particular a predominant part, of a screening section comprising one or preferably several screening belts immediately or even preventively. The setting of the operating parameters preferably takes place within a time window of a maximum of 1 minute, preferably a maximum of 30 seconds, after the test image has been taken, i.e.The evaluation device is designed such that it has completed the evaluation of the test image within this time. Furthermore, the adjustment of the operating parameter is at least initiated or completed within this time.

[0012] Soil aggregates are defined as aggregates of soil or earth components with a minimum diameter of at least 5 mm. For non-spherical aggregates, for example, an equivalent diameter can be assumed. A soil aggregate always consists of a plurality of interconnected grains, which include, in particular, sand, silt, and / or clay. Loose soil is defined as grain fractions with grain sizes up to 2 mm and, according to the above definition, interconnected grains with a diameter of less than 5 mm.

[0013] The optical or acoustic image capture unit, or another such image capture unit, can also be aligned with its sensor to an area downstream of a transport element in order to be able to react to any remaining soil aggregates. For example, if too few small aggregates and too many large aggregates are detected, the screen width can be reduced and, for example, the tapping power of a tapping device acting on the screen belt can be increased to reduce the size of large aggregates.

[0014] Preferably, in particular by means of a classification method, components of the material present in the test image, comprising loose soil and / or soil aggregates, in particular clods, are determined. Clods are generally regarded as larger aggregates, i.e., chunks of soil with a diameter of more than 5 cm. The term "clods" is occasionally used synonymously for elongated clods. Based on such a classification, for example by evaluating the color values of the test data set, individual components of the transported material in question can be identified. Thus, for the examination of the soil aggregates, it is easy to focus on a test image or a section thereof that exclusively or at least predominantly contains soil aggregates (see below).

[0015] Preferably, the feature for describing sieving ability comprises one or more values describing the size, shape, moisture content, strength, or color of one or more soil aggregates and / or one or more, in particular, statistical distributions of the shape, strength, or color of a plurality of soil aggregates. For example, such a value can be used to assign a size class to all soil aggregates present in a test image or test data set, eliminating the need to focus on individual soil aggregates for the purpose of improved automated processing.

[0016] Preferably, the size of the soil aggregates under consideration, in particular clods, is taken into account. For example, these can be diameters, equivalent diameters, projected areas, or volumes. In a further alternative or supplementary embodiment of the invention, shape or color parameters of the aggregates can be extracted, since the color and shape change accordingly with different soil types and fluctuating soil moisture levels, which are the main influencing factors for sieving ability. The same applies to strength, which can be derived from color, shape, and size. The breaking load, for example, can be used as a measure of the strength of a soil aggregate.

[0017] In a further alternative or supplementary embodiment of the method according to the invention, one or more, in particular, statistically aggregating characteristics or distributions formed over the values for size, color, firmness and / or shape of a plurality of, in particular, different soil aggregates serve as sieving ability characteristics.

[0018] Such statistical features, which aggregate the distribution of a large number of individual features, can be, for example, means, standard deviations / variances, median, percentiles or moments of 1st, 2nd, kth order.

[0019] According to a further development of the invention, the sizes, shapes, or colors are classified into a predefined number of classes, preferably five, with values monotonically increasing or decreasing from the first to the last class. The average membership or the most probable class of a plurality of soil aggregates considered in a test data set then serves as a feature to describe the screening ability. If, for example, an average aggregate size class is small, e.g., because clearing is predominantly carried out in dry, sandy soil, the screening performance can be reduced, for example, by setting a small screen bar or roller spacing.

[0020] Advantageously, in a further embodiment of the method according to the invention, screening characteristics obtained in several consecutive evaluation cycles are temporally filtered or offset against each other before the operating parameter(s) or their settings are determined based on them. The use of low-pass filters or moving averages is particularly suitable here to smooth out possible outliers.

[0021] The test data set is formed either by the test image or a portion thereof. It can also be a data set resulting from processing and / or analysis of the test image or a portion thereof. Furthermore, the test data set can include the test image itself, a processed test image, and / or a data set resulting from an analysis of the test image. The same applies to respective parts of the test image, the processed test image, and a data set created based on an analysis of at least a portion of the test image.

[0022] The at least one feature obtained on the basis of the test data set for determining the sieving ability is used to adjust the operating parameters of the or one of the transport elements, in particular sieve belts, which are intended for sieving the soil. After a qualitative determination of the components present in the harvested material, e.g. based on color values as described in DE 102018127844 A1, a quantitative determination of the sieving ability feature(s) is then carried out. The transport element can be adjusted in an improved manner by means of the method according to the invention such that a desired quantity of soil aggregates, e.g. clods or clod sizes, is present in an area of the transport path present after pickup and thus the harvested material to be used in the form of root crops can be optimally separated or screened depending on the desired soil aggregates, in particular soil aggregate sizes.At the same time, the device also protects the crop during transport. The method according to the invention thus increases the throughput of the machine while simultaneously reducing the risk of damage to the root crops, which leads to improved economic efficiency in the use of the machine.

[0023] An electromagnetic image capture unit is an image capture unit used to create images of the material transported on the transport element. These units have sensors that detect electromagnetic, particularly optical, waves. These sensors can be used to capture 1-dimensional or multi-dimensional images. For example, they can be one or more radar sensors that can receive waves reflected from the material, whose frequency lies in a range between 10 and 150 GHz. An optical image capture unit is designed to detect light, particularly in the visible, ultraviolet, and / or infrared range.

[0024] Optical image capture units can be 2D, 2.5D, or 3D cameras, such as RGB cameras, time-of-flight cameras, black-and-white or grayscale cameras, or stereo cameras. Likewise, methods using sectioned light or structured light, plenoptic cameras, or similar can be used to capture the crop. Acoustic image capture units can be arrays of distance-measuring sound sensors, particularly ultrasonic sensors, which, due to the continuous movement of the crop stream along the sensor array mounted on the machine frame, are also suitable for generating imaging input data, i.e., the test image, for the evaluation device. The same applies to array-like arrangements of optical distance sensors or array-like arrangements of mechanical touch sensors. RGB cameras often have two-dimensional image sensors in the form of CCD or CMOS sensors.

[0025] It is understood that in a method and a device according to the invention, both an electromagnetic and an acoustic image capture unit can be combined and an image capture unit can have one or more electromagnetic and / or acoustic sensors.

[0026] Preferably, the feature is determined based on an input data set generated by or formed from the test data set using a neural network, histogram, and / or structure-from-motion analysis. These analyses are particularly well-suited for large data volumes that arise when observing the crop flow during a harvest run, particularly with a potato or beet harvester.

[0027] In particular, in a further development of the method according to the invention, the neural network is implemented as a convolutional neural network, which classifies each input data set into one of several classes representing the values of different sieving ability characteristics. This type of neural network has proven particularly effective for identifying soil aggregates and their assigned sieving ability characteristics during the harvesting run.

[0028] In particular, the evaluation device comprises one or more CPU units and / or one or more graphical processing units, in particular in the form of GPU (Graphical Processing Unit) or GPGPU (General Purpose Graphical Processing Unit) and / or FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array)-based processor units. This design of the evaluation device allows the test data set to be evaluated in a particularly resource-efficient and, in particular, locally. It is understood that the evaluation device designed as an EDP device or designed by such a device has other conventional means, e.g., for power supply, interfaces, RAM, and non-volatile program and data memory.

[0029] According to the invention, particularly under severe harvesting conditions where the collected soil or earth breaks down into only a few large aggregates, a knocker in the form of a rotor knocker or oscillating knocker can be installed to improve the screening performance of the transport element, in particular a hedgehog or screening belt. This creates an additional oscillating motion of the transport element, thus increasing the screening performance, since soil aggregates, for example in the form of clods, are destroyed by the impacts.Further or supplementary operating parameters of a transport element designed as a screen belt include, in particular, a screen belt speed, a receiving screen belt speed, a setting height of at least one triangular roller, a setting height of any drop step present, a frequency of one or more knockers, an amplitude, for example, of an oscillating knocker, the position of a knocker or adjusting means acting on the screen belt in relation to the screen belt, and / or the clear width of the screen belt. Operating parameters of the screen belt are thus the operating variables that can be adjusted by any units acting on the screen belt, such as speeds, frequencies, amplitudes, or positions. An adjustment signal is then a signal that effects the adjustment of these variables and is output or initiated by the evaluation device.Even with transport elements designed as hedgehog belts, the aforementioned adjustment means may be present, particularly for adjusting the belt speeds. For transport elements in the form of roller arrangements, their rotational speeds or their distances from one another can be adjusted.

[0030] The camera-based analysis of the material flow on the transport element, especially a screening belt, leads to the detection of characteristics that allow the average aggregate size to be estimated. Based on this information, the agitator or another means for influencing the screening performance of the screening belt can be automatically activated or deactivated as needed, and its function can be adjusted accordingly. For example, several adjustment devices arranged one behind the other in relation to, and particularly parallel to, the transport direction of the screening section can be variably adjusted.

[0031] Preferably, the image acquisition unit captures at least a front third of the screen belt. Depending on the position of the camera's viewing angle, it is advantageous to convert an optically distorted image of the section of interest into a rectangular representation.

[0032] In order to capture crops particularly well and precisely, regardless of the ambient conditions, the sieve belt section in question or the crops transported on it can be illuminated by means of a lighting unit.

[0033] To determine the aggregate size of the earth or soil aggregates, for example the clod size, the evaluation device preferably selects an area of the test image or the test data set that comprises at least 75%, preferably 90%, more preferably 95%, and even more preferably exclusively earth or clods, and in particular is contiguous and preferably rectangular. Even if these areas do not appear in every image during harvesting, especially at high driving speeds, it has been shown that a correspondingly restricted area for determining the clod size delivers particularly good results, and even small areas, in particular at least 15 centimeters x 15 centimeters, are sufficiently representative for adjusting or changing any operating parameters.

[0034] Such a region is selected, in particular, automatically. This is done by examining the color information contained in the test data set, the edges or gradients of any 2D or 3D images, and, if necessary, using statistical analyses. In particular, pixel-by-pixel classification based on color information is used for this purpose.

[0035] The part of the test data set representing this contiguous and preferably rectangular area with at least substantially earth is passed directly or processed as an input data set into a neural network, histogram and / or structure-from-motion analysis to determine at least one clod size, in which at least one clod size is assigned to the image area, which is used to set the operating parameter.

[0036] Particularly for the use of neural networks, preferably convolutional neural networks (CNNs) that contain convolutional layers, the input data set can be converted into vector form, for example. Topologically, CNNs can be sequential or recurrent networks. Convolutional layers are processing levels in the network that apply a convolutional filter to an input matrix. As with other layers, the convolutional filter has degrees of freedom in the form of weights. The convolutional filters are used to extract the image features, on the basis of which a classification is then carried out, for example. In order to make the application of CNNs for the invention practical, however, some improvements had to be made during their development.To reduce the network's memory requirements, shared weights are used for the convolutional filter neurons, assuming that image features are equally interesting regardless of their position in the image. These shared weights are also robust against translation, rotation, scale, and luminance variance. Pooling layers can also be used between the convolutional layers, which discard values in specific ranges. MaxPooling is preferably used, which discards all values in a small range (e.g., 2x2 or 4x4) except for the largest and therefore most significant.

[0037] To keep the calculation of the CNN as simple as possible, a ReLU (rectified linear unit) is preferably used as the activation function. This is always 0 in the negative range and increases linearly in the positive range. This improvement makes a CNN particularly suitable for live operation of a machine according to the invention. A computer architecture suitable for parallel calculation is also advantageous. The neurons within a layer can be calculated independently of one another and thus, in particular, in parallel. Thus, an architecture with many parallel computing units, e.g., in the form of a GPU, is well suited for CNNs.

[0038] Preferably, the image section is selected such that it exhibits the maximum of a soil density distribution, i.e., the image section is automatically selected such that it exhibits the maximum of a corresponding density distribution comprising essentially clods or soil. Such a distribution is obtained in particular on the basis of a pixel-by-pixel classification, in which all pixels of the observed image area are classified according to the probability of their belonging to any object groups of root crop, soil / clods, and possibly stone and / or haulm. Another classification parameter could also represent "empty sieve belt," i.e., the absence of any harvested material. Thus, the area with the largest number of pixels representing soil is preferably used to select the image section.The maximum value of "soil density" is the optimal range, which is provided as an input value to the evaluation method, preferably based on neural networks, in particular a CNN, for detecting the sieving ability characteristic(s). Image sections with a soil density of less than 75% are preferably not used to determine the characteristics describing sieving ability, so that the determination of at least one sieving ability characteristic is not compromised by excessive foreign matter such as stones, weeds, or root crops. For example, the image section can also be automatically defined depending on a lower threshold value of a minimum soil density.

[0039] It goes without saying that the neural network is pre-trained with a large number of test images or test data sets of the same size, corresponding to the appropriate image section. For similarly sized images, the edges of smaller images can be filled with zeros using so-called zero padding. For image size fluctuations of a maximum of 10-15%, this does not lead to a significant deterioration in the image analysis results. For example, for a large number of test data sets, each of five size classes is manually assigned.

[0040] Particularly when using a CNN, one or more categories can be assigned to the image areas of the test image or test data set based on the size of the soil aggregates. For example, each image can be assigned a corresponding value on a scale of 1 to 5. During the CNN's training phase, this sieving ability value is determined by a human expert for a representative number of sample images, based on which the CNN can learn its internal weights. During the online prediction phase, this value, automatically estimated by the CNN, is then used to control or adjust the operating parameter(s).

[0041] Given the available technology, extensive trials have shown that it is advantageous for a wide range of harvesting conditions to define a particularly rectangular input data set for the neural network with edge lengths between 100 and 400 pixels, preferably between 150 and 250 pixels. Given the prevailing variances, this size represents a very good compromise between the required computing power and processing time, allowing for the adjustment of operating parameters during ongoing operation within less than 30 seconds, preferably less than 3 seconds, after an image is captured.

[0042] Furthermore, using this input image size makes it possible to locate sufficiently large image areas that are largely exclusively occupied by soil or soil aggregates in a sufficiently large proportion (approximately greater than 75%) of the camera images during machine operation. These image sizes should also be viewed in relation to the resolution of the image sensors used, for example, the camera, which is generally within the range of 0.5 to 10 megapixels, preferably within 1.0 to 1.5 megapixels.

[0043] Preferably, the evaluation device evaluates the test data sets at least partially locally on the machine or a directly connected towing vehicle. If, in particular, large databases are required against the background of a large number of adjustable parameters, the evaluation device can also evaluate the test data sets at least partially, preferably entirely, on a wirelessly connected server. However, this also requires a correspondingly fast and stable data connection for ongoing operation.

[0044] Mixed forms of such evaluations are also conceivable, so that part of the hardware used for the evaluation can be located on the local machine and another part at a remote location.

[0045] In a further embodiment of the invention, the moisture content of the soil aggregates can be additionally determined using environmental sensors, e.g., soil sensors, in particular a moisture sensor, and used in the evaluation device to additionally adjust the operating parameters. A moisture sensor can operate on an electrical or optical basis. A sensor for detecting electrical conductivity can also provide further information on the condition of the soil, which can be used to adjust the operating parameters of the screening section.

[0046] In a further embodiment of the method according to the invention, the machine is equipped with a position sensor, for example a GNSS receiver, and has maps of the areas to be harvested, which are either stored directly on the machine or made available via a remote server using a mobile network connection. In this case, the local soil type stored in the maps, in combination with the machine position, can serve as a further auxiliary variable for adjusting the operating parameters of the screening section.

[0047] In another embodiment of the method, the machine can be connected to a remote server and, via this server, retrieve additional weather data, i.e., humidity and temperature information. This can also be incorporated into the determination of the operating parameters of the screening line.

[0048] Preferably, the determination of the operating parameter is part of a control loop of the machine, in which in particular the weather, i.e. humidity and temperatures and / or the soil type and / or a lifting strategy are also used as input or reference parameters. In such a control loop, other higher-frequency, generally one-dimensional input variables can be input, such as fill levels of the conveying elements or utilization values of the drive elements, such as pressures, torques or current consumption. Using such input variables, the operating parameters of the machine and in particular of the screening section can be controlled at high frequency. With such a control loop, the lifting depth and / or the driving speed can preferably also be controlled.

[0049] The reference parameters, such as the weather, i.e. humidity and temperatures and / or the soil type and / or a harvesting strategy and in particular the characteristic(s) determined according to the invention, serve to describe the sieving ability of the soil in the sense of a cascade control to optimize the parameters of the then particularly cascaded control loop and thus to compensate for disturbances, such as fluctuations in soil type, which cannot be detected based on the input variables of the higher-frequency control loop. Preferably, the cycle time of the higher-frequency control loop is in the range of 1 to 100 milliseconds, while the detection of the sieving ability characteristic(s) from the test data set runs with cycle times of 100 milliseconds to 30 seconds.

[0050] In particular, all input parameters that may be relevant for adjusting the operating parameter are linked in a corresponding database, particularly in the form of a locally or externally maintained database. Additionally, the screening characteristics and operating parameter values, as well as environmental variables in particular, can be empirically or, if necessary, analytically correlated. The operating parameter can be adjusted using the database even under a wide variety of conditions.

[0051] In one embodiment of the method according to the invention, the evaluation device, designed as a computerized device, is configured such that, in addition to the calculation, it also records the image data and / or other sensor data and / or screening characteristics and / or other intermediate calculation results and / or operating parameters and / or environmental parameters, particularly linked to position information of the machine. This data can be stored locally on the evaluation device carried on board the machine or transmitted to central servers via mobile connections. This data can be used to represent the screening behavior on the cultivated field in map form.Furthermore, especially if this data is recorded by a large number of machines and centrally collated, it can be used to improve the algorithmic logic for recording the screening characteristics as well as any control logic for determining the operating parameters.

[0052] The object stated at the outset is also achieved by a machine for harvesting root crops and / or for separating root crops, comprising at least one electromagnetic, in particular optical, or acoustic image capture unit, a transport element which is movable relative to a machine frame of the machine and is designed as a hedgehog or sieve belt, and an evaluation device as well as means for adjusting the or a further transport element, wherein the machine is suitable for carrying out the steps of the method according to claim 1 and the further embodiments of the method according to the invention described above or below. In particular, the means for adjusting the transport belt are means for adjusting a sieve belt as described above or below.

[0053] The object is also achieved by a computer program product which comprises instructions which cause the machine according to the invention described above or below for harvesting root crops and / or for separating root crops to carry out the method steps described above or below.

[0054] Further advantages and details of the invention can be found in the following description of the figures. Schematically shown: Fig. 1 a machine according to the invention in a side view, Fig. 2 a part of the object according to Fig. 1 in a perspective view, Fig. 3 the part of the object captured by an optical image capture unit according to Fig. 1 , Fig. 4 the selection of an area of a test image, Fig. 5 the classification options of the area according to Fig. 4 , Fig. 6 a means for influencing the sieve belt, Fig. 7 a further means for influencing the sieve belt, Fig. 8 a further means for influencing the sieve belt, Fig. 9 a further means for influencing the sieve belt, Fig. 10 a flow diagram of a method according to the invention, Fig. 11 a further diagram for a further method sequence according to the invention.

[0055] Individual technical features of the exemplary embodiments described below can also lead to subject matter according to the invention in combination with the exemplary embodiments described above as well as the features of the independent claims and any further claims. Where appropriate, functionally equivalent elements are provided with identical reference numerals.

[0056] A machine 2 is presently designed for harvesting root crops in the form of potatoes and is therefore designed as a potato harvester. The material collected in the area of a receptacle 4 in the form of soil or soil aggregates, root crops, leaves and / or stones is transported in a conveying direction 1A via transport elements in the form of screening belts 10 mounted behind a machine frame 6 and further frame parts 8. A screening belt 10 is directly connected to the receptacle 4 ( Fig. 2 ). The material transported by the screening belt 10 in direction 1A is captured by a first optical image capture unit 12 in the form of an RGB camera, which is attached to a machine frame part 9 and directed obliquely onto the screening belt 10 in the direction of the receptacle 4. A lighting means 14 illuminates the screening belt in the area of a second image capture unit 12, which is arranged behind the first image capture unit 12 in the conveying direction 1A.

[0057] The one from the first, in Fig. 2 The area of the machine 2 captured by the image acquisition unit 12 arranged on the right is in Fig. 3 shown, here without the soil. In particular, the individual screen bars 16 of the screen belt 10, which is directly downstream of the horizontal digging shares 18 of the holder 4, are visible. Below the screen belt 10, on the machine frame 6, there are adjustment means for setting operating parameters for the operation of the screen belt 10. These can be the Fig. 3 illustrated rollers 20, which, depending on the design of the machine 2 according to the invention, can be part of further adjustment means. By means of an evaluation device, an image section 22 is automatically selected ( Fig. 4 , which contains as few root crops 24 and admixtures 26 (here: haulms) as possible. The image section 22 in this case contains at least 90% soil aggregates 28 and is already aligned at right angles, while the rest of the image is still slightly distorted in perspective.

[0058] The detection of the foliage and soil aggregates is performed by means of pixel-by-pixel classification, for example, based on the color values recorded by the optical image capture unit 12, comprising values representing gray and / or actual colors. These are compared with reference values or reference value ranges. This form of differentiation enables a qualitative identification of the component in the test image and, in particular, assigns a pixel to a class of (harvest) material (soil / soil aggregates, foliage, root crop, stone) within predeterminable or predetermined threshold values.

[0059] If an area 22 has been identified, the test data set or test data set part representing this area is fed to the neural network in a version that may be adapted to the input requirements of the neural network. The neural network, in particular a CNN, assigns at least one soil aggregate size to the image area, and in a further embodiment of the invention, also shares of various sieve belt section size distributions in the image. In the section of the Fig. 4 A clod size with particularly large clods is shown, such as the Fig. 5 can be seen in the right part of the figure. Moving from this right part of the figure to the left, further size classes of soil aggregates are shown that are recognized by the neural network and with which the neural network was previously trained.

[0060] Depending on the aggregate size defined in this way, an operating parameter, e.g. an amplitude of a deflection or a frequency of the movement of the Fig. 6 The frequency of the vibrating beater 30 shown in the drawing can be varied. The vibrating movement of the beater transmits impulses to the screen belt 10, which leads to the comminution of soil aggregates, especially clods. Alternatively or additionally, a frequency of the Fig. 7 shown rotor knocker 32 or a position of the Fig. 8 shown triangular wheel 34 in relation to the machine frame 6 carrying the screen belt. Likewise, an adjustment rail 30 ( Fig. 9 ) can be changed in their distance from the belt 3 of the screen belt 10, so that the screen bar units formed from two screen bars 16 connected via connectors 38 are moved and thereby the clear width of the opening between successive bars of successive screen bar units is varied.

[0061] A sequence of a method according to the invention according to Fig. 10 begins with a first method step 40, in which a test data set 42 is generated by means of an image acquisition unit 12, which is then qualitatively divided by means of pixel-based classification in step 43, so that an assignment 44 of individual image areas or pixels of the test data set to potatoes, cabbage, earth or soil, etc. can be made. Subsequently, in step 46, an area or image section 22 that only contains earth and corresponding soil aggregates is selected. This area 22 is analyzed in step 50 with a CNN, via which the image section is assigned a size class in the result 52 according to Fig. 5 is assigned. Subsequently, in step 54, the operating parameters are changed if necessary by outputting or initiating setting signals, whereupon the screening performance of the screening belt 10 is adjusted.

[0062] The adjustment of the screening performance of the screening belt 10 and thus also of the screening section according to step 54 is preferably part of a control circuit 60 ( Fig. 11), in which a machine control 62 comprising the evaluation device accesses a locally or externally available database 64 and receives from this allocation rules for, on the one hand, settings of the operating parameters of the screening belt according to step 54, lifting depth settings 66 and / or travel speeds 68. In addition, a large amount of further information can be processed in the machine control 62. This includes information from a fill level detector 70 at the start of the screen and / or a fill level detector 72 at the end of the screening belt and / or pressure information 74 from any separating devices and / or information from a blockage detector 76 from any separating devices. Finally, the actual values of the individual operating parameters of the individual functional units can be recorded in step 78 and processed as input information for the machine control 62.

[0063] Typically, an evaluation device 80 is part of the machine control system 62. In addition to the estimation 52 of the soil aggregate size, additional input information for the machine control system 62 includes harvesting strategies 82 that can be specified by the operating personnel and / or environmental information about the weather and soil type that comes from a detection system 84. A circle 86 symbolizes the influence of the size class detection 52 carried out by the evaluation device, the harvesting strategy detection 82 and the environmental variable detection 84 on the harvesting performance of the machine 2 represented by steps 70 to 78. For example, with a harvesting strategy that is geared towards maximum yield, the amplitude of the vibrating impactor, the screen bar spacing and the belt speed can be maximized upon detection of a maximum aggregate size class, whereas with a more gentle strategy the amplitude is increased less and the belt speed is reduced at the same time.

Claims

1. A method for operating a machine (2) for harvesting root crops and / or for separating root crops (24) from further additionally conveyed material that includes at least soil in the form of loose earth and / or soil aggregates (28), and also, if applicable, leaves and / or stones, wherein, by means of at least one electromagnetic, in particular optical, or acoustic image acquisition unit (12), at least one inspection image is captured of at least one portion of the material moved relative to a machine frame (6) of the machine (2) by at least one transport element, in particular a hedgehog band or screening band (10), and, on the basis of at least one inspection data set generated using the inspection image and / or formed by this image, an evaluation device generates an adjustment signal for ad-justing at least one operating parameter of the transport element and / or a further transport element of the machine (2), wherein the adjustment signal changes the action of one or more actuating or drive devices of the transport element in order to vary the screening of the soil, wherein at least one feature for describing the capability of the additionally conveyed soil to be screened is determined by the evaluation device and is used for adjusting the operating parameter, wherein, after a qualitative determination of the components present in the inspection image and in the crop via a classification method, a quantitative determination of the at least one screening capability feature is performed, wherein the feature comprises one or more values describing the size of one or more soil aggregates (28).

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the feature comprises one or more values which describe the shape, strength, or color of one or more soil aggregates (28) and / or one or more in particular statistical distributions of the size, shape, strength or color of a plurality of soil aggregates (28).

3. The method as claimed in claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the feature is determined by the evaluation device on the basis of an input data set, generated by or formed by the inspection data set, by means of a neural-network-based, histogram-based and / or structure-from-motion analysis.

4. The method as claimed in claims 2 and 3, characterized in that the neural network is designed as a convolutional neural network, which classifies each input data set into one of a number of classes which represent the values of different screening capability features.

5. The method as claimed in any one of the previous claims, characterized in that for the determination of the feature by the evaluation device, an in particular contiguous and preferably rectangular region (22) of the inspection image or of the inspection data set is selected that contains at least 75%, preferably 90%, more preferably 95% and even more preferably exclusively, soil aggregates (28).

6. The method as claimed in claim 5 and incorporating claim 3, characterized in that the part of the inspection data set representing this region (22) is provided directly or in processed form as an input data set into the neural-network-based, histogram-based and / or structure-from-motion analysis, in which the region (22) is assigned the feature which is used for adjusting the operating parameter.

7. The method as claimed in any one of the previous claims, characterized in that the evaluation device at least partly evaluates the inspection data sets locally on the machine (2) or on a directly connected towing vehicle.

8. The method as claimed in any one of the previous claims, characterized in that the evaluation device evaluates the inspection data records on a wirelessly connected server.

9. The method as claimed in any one of the previous claims, characterized in that the operating parameter of the transport element formed as a screening band (10) is a screening band speed, a collection screening band speed, an adjustable height of at least one triangular roller, an adjustable height of a drop stage, a frequency of a knocker, an amplitude of a knocker, the position of a knocker, and / or the inner width of the screening band.

10. The method as claimed in any one of the previous claims, characterized in that the moisture content of the soil aggregates (28) is determined by means of a moisture sensor and used in the evaluation device for adjusting the operating parameter.

11. The method as claimed in any one of the previous claims, characterized in that the determination of the operating parameter is part of a control loop of the machine (2), in particular in which the weather and / or the soil type and / or a land clearing strategy are additionally used as input parameters.

12. The method as claimed in claim 12, characterized in that the rooting depth and / or the driving speed are additionally controlled with the control loop.

13. The method as claimed in any one of the previous claims, characterized in that the operating parameter is adjusted by means of a database, in particular in the form of a data bank, in which features and operating parameter values as well as in particular environmental variables are stored such that they are linked to each other.

14. A machine (2) for harvesting root crops (4) and / or for separating root crops (4), comprising at least one electromagnetic, in particular optical, or acoustic image acquisition unit (12), a transport element, in particular in the form of a screening band (10), which can be moved relative to a machine frame of the machine (2), and an evaluation device as well as means for adjusting the or an additional transport element, wherein the machine is suitable for carrying out the steps of the method as claimed in any one of the previous claims.

15. A computer program product comprising commands which cause the machine according to claim 15 to execute the method steps as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 14.