Smartphone Guidance Queues for Reliable Precision Agriculture
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Solution Overview
Problem
The high cost and complexity of precision agriculture technologies, particularly due to the non-determinism of smart devices and lack of robust end-to-end wireless communication in agricultural vehicle systems, hinder their widespread adoption, especially in updating software for autosteering systems in intermittent connectivity environments.
Innovation Solution
Commodity mobile devices like smartphones and tablets are programmed to generate and transmit batched waypoints for navigation and software updates, enabling their use in precision agriculture systems, even in unreliable wireless connectivity conditions, by dividing computing tasks between real-time and non-real-time domains and utilizing online and offline queues for software updates.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If smart devices are used for precision agriculture guidance, then cost is reduced, but reliability deteriorates due to non-determinism and disruptions
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides the guidance functionality into two separate computing devices: a non-real-time device (smartphone/tablet) for path planning and waypoint generation, and a real-time device for executing steering commands. This segmentation allows the smart device to perform computationally intensive tasks without real-time constraints while the real-time device ensures deterministic control execution, thus resolving the contradiction between cost reduction and reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
A queue mechanism serves as an intermediary between the non-real-time path planning device and the real-time steering control device. The queue buffers waypoints and commands, ensuring that the real-time system receives continuous deterministic input even when the smart device experiences disruptions or connectivity issues, thereby maintaining reliability while using cost-effective smart devices.
2Ease of manufacture
If batched waypoints are transmitted from smart device, then cost is reduced, but real-time performance deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The non-real-time computing device generates and transmits batches of waypoints in advance before the vehicle reaches those locations. By performing path planning ahead of time and storing waypoints in a queue, the system eliminates the need for real-time computation during critical steering moments, thus maintaining real-time performance while using cost-effective smart devices for the computationally intensive path planning tasks.
3Productivity
If software updates are performed remotely, then productivity is improved, but reliability deteriorates in intermittent connectivity environments
Solution Approach 1:
The system downloads and stores software update packages in advance when connectivity is available, queuing them for later installation. This preliminary action allows the system to perform updates during field operations without requiring continuous connectivity, thus improving productivity while maintaining reliability by ensuring updates are properly staged and installed even in intermittent connectivity environments.
Solution Approach 2:
A local queue or buffer serves as an intermediary between the remote server and the onboard guidance system for software updates. This intermediary allows the system to receive, store, and manage update packages locally, enabling reliable update installation even when connectivity is intermittent, thus resolving the contradiction between improved productivity through remote updates and reliability in challenging communication environments.
Data Source
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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.