Mobile Bridge Updates for Precision Autosteering Reliability
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
The high cost and complexity of precision agriculture technologies, particularly due to non-determinism in smart devices and lack of robust end-to-end wireless communication in agricultural vehicle autosteering systems, limit their application to large farms, and make software updates time-consuming and costly.
Innovation Solution
Commodity mobile devices like smartphones and tablets are programmed to generate and update waypoints and software for autosteering systems, enabling batched waypoint generation and remote software updates even in intermittent wireless connectivity environments through layered or linear software systems and mobile bridge applications.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If commodity mobile devices are used for precision agriculture guidance, then cost is reduced, but reliability deteriorates due to non-determinism in smart devices
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides functionality between the mobile device (non-critical functions like UI, waypoint planning, data storage) and dedicated real-time control hardware (critical functions like steering control, safety monitoring). This segmentation allows the mobile device to be replaced or upgraded without affecting system reliability, while the critical real-time functions remain deterministic through dedicated hardware.
Solution Approach 2:
A real-time operating system or intermediary software layer is introduced between the mobile device's non-deterministic applications and the critical control functions. This intermediary manages resource allocation, prioritizes critical tasks, and ensures deterministic timing for control operations while allowing flexible updates to non-critical components.
2Reliability
If robust end-to-end wireless communication is implemented in autosteering systems, then reliability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-planning waypoints and routes offline using the mobile device before execution. This allows complex path planning computations to be done in advance when connectivity is available, simplifying real-time wireless communication requirements to mainly data transmission and synchronization during field operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements selective wireless communication for critical functions only (e.g., safety alerts, emergency stops, essential telemetry) rather than comprehensive communication for all system functions. This partial implementation of robust communication reduces complexity while maintaining reliability for critical operations.
3Productivity
If software updates are performed remotely in intermittent wireless environments, then productivity is improved, but reliability worsens due to connectivity issues
Solution Approach 1:
The system downloads and stores software updates in local memory or storage during periods when wireless connectivity is available, even if intermittent. This preliminary action allows updates to be installed and applied later when the system is ready, without requiring continuous or reliable real-time connectivity during the actual update execution.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements update verification mechanisms and rollback capabilities before and during software updates. This cushioning approach ensures that if an update fails or causes issues, the system can revert to the previous stable version, protecting against reliability deterioration from incomplete or failed updates in intermittent connectivity environments.
Data Source
AI summary
Some embodiments may include a control system configured to monitor an online queue associated with a remote server for the presence of updated control software content; in the case of the presence of updated control software content in the online queue, provide data based thereon in an offline queue, wherein a portable computing device includes a storage for the offline queue; waiting for a time period in which a wired communication interface of the portable computing device is attached to a wired interface of the vehicle or a wireless communication interface of the vehicle is in range of a wireless communication interface of the portable computing device; and in the time period, transferring contents of the offline queue to the vehicle, wherein a processor of the vehicle distributes update(s) included in the contents to one or more of the GNSS receiver, the actuator assembly, and the steering control module.