Autonomous Transport Vehicle Trajectory Control for Harvester Unloading
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing control systems for 'unload on the go' operations between harvesters and transport vehicles struggle to maintain acceptable distance deviations, especially when the harvester changes position abruptly, leading to potential crop material loss.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that utilize global positioning systems (GPS) to determine the positions and velocities of both the harvester and transport vehicle, calculate future waypoints, and adjust the trajectory of the transport vehicle to maintain desired lateral and longitudinal distances, incorporating a yaw rate sensor for angular velocity adjustments, ensuring precise alignment and preventing material loss.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If a control system uses predetermined offsets to determine transport vehicle position based on harvester position, then the system is simple to implement, but unacceptable distance deviations occur when the harvester changes position abruptly
Solution Approach 1:
The control system calculates future waypoints for the harvester based on current position, velocity, and yaw rate before the harvester actually reaches them. This preliminary calculation allows the transport vehicle trajectory to be pre-planned and adjusted in advance, ensuring the vehicle is in the correct position to receive crop material even when the harvester makes abrupt position changes. The system performs predictive positioning rather than reactive positioning.
Solution Approach 2:
The control system dynamically adjusts the transport vehicle trajectory by continuously recalculating future waypoints as the harvester moves. Instead of using fixed predetermined offsets, the system adapts the trajectory in real-time based on current harvester position, velocity, and yaw rate measurements, allowing the transport vehicle to follow the harvester's actual path dynamically.
2Manufacturing precision
If the control system calculates future waypoints using position, velocity, and yaw rate, then the transport vehicle trajectory accuracy is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The control system replaces complex mechanical coordination between the harvester and transport vehicle with a computational approach. Instead of using mechanical linkages or physical guidance systems, the system uses GPS position data, velocity measurements, and yaw rate sensors combined with computer algorithms to calculate future waypoints and generate the optimal transport vehicle trajectory, substituting mechanical complexity with computational processing.
Solution Approach 2:
The control system creates a computational model (copy) of the harvester's future motion by calculating predicted position, velocity, and yaw rate at future waypoints. This virtual copy allows the system to plan the transport vehicle trajectory in advance without physically following the harvester, enabling precise trajectory control while reducing real-time coordination complexity.
3Ease of operation
If the transport vehicle manually follows the harvester during unload on the go operation, then the operator can adjust to harvester movements, but the operation requires skilled operators and reduces productivity
Solution Approach 1:
The control system enables the transport vehicle to autonomously follow the harvester and maintain optimal positioning for crop material reception. The system uses automatic trajectory calculation and control based on GPS data and sensor measurements, eliminating the need for manual operator intervention while maintaining the flexibility to adapt to harvester movements. This self-service capability increases productivity by removing the skill dependency and time delays associated with manual operation.
Data Source
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AI summary
A control system and method is provided to control the trajectory of a transport vehicle (20) to follow the trajectory of a harvester (10). The harvester can send control information such as the harvester's current position and future position waypoints to the transport vehicle. The control system can then use the information from the harvester to determine the trajectory for the transport vehicle.