Agricultural Vehicle Guidance Swath Width Correction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Agricultural vehicles face inaccuracies in automatic guidance due to differences in swath generating algorithms used by various manufacturers, leading to compounding errors in swath width calculations, which affect the precision of farming operations.
Innovation Solution
A method that determines the difference between the current geographic location and the nearest swath path, calculates a swath width remark distance, and adds it to the original swath width to produce a modified swath width, allowing for accurate adjustment and storage for future use, independent of the implement being carried.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If different manufacturers use different swath generating algorithms to create guidance lines, then each manufacturer can optimize for their specific vehicle geometry and movement characteristics, but the guidance lines from different manufacturers do not match, causing compounding errors that increase as the vehicle travels further from the original guidance line
Solution Approach 1:
The patent modifies the swath width parameter by calculating a correction value based on the difference between actual and expected positions, then adjusting the swath width to compensate for algorithmic discrepancies between different manufacturers' systems
Solution Approach 2:
The system continuously monitors the vehicle's actual position relative to the guidance line and uses this feedback to calculate and apply real-time corrections to the swath width, ensuring ongoing accuracy despite initial algorithmic mismatches
2Ease of manufacture
If latitude and longitude coordinates are converted to Cartesian coordinates using different algorithms with different assumptions about Earth's shape and rounding methods, then the conversion can be performed, but rounding errors in calculating swath width cause mismatches that propagate through the system's calculations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary calculations to determine the correction value before applying it to the swath width, anticipating and correcting for rounding errors before they propagate through the guidance system
Solution Approach 2:
The system adjusts the swath width parameter by adding a calculated correction value that compensates for rounding errors introduced during coordinate conversion, thereby maintaining precision despite simplified conversion algorithms
3Adaptability or versatility
If the automatic guidance control system follows guidance lines created by another manufacturer's algorithm, then the vehicle can operate with supplied guidance lines, but the mismatch causes the system to cannot accurately follow the desired guidance lines because the error compounds as the vehicle travels further from the original guidance line
Solution Approach 1:
The system continuously compares the vehicle's actual position with the desired guidance line position and uses this feedback to calculate dynamic corrections to the swath width, maintaining reliable guidance following even when using externally supplied guidance lines
Solution Approach 2:
The correction value acts as an intermediary that mediates between the incompatible algorithms of different manufacturers, translating one system's output into another system's usable input by compensating for algorithmic differences
Data Source
AI summary
A method for altering a swath path of a vehicle includes the steps of: loading a base swath path and an original swath width into a memory of the vehicle; generating a plurality of swath paths from the base swath path and the original swath width, each of the generated swath paths defining at least two geographic locations; measuring a current geographic location of the vehicle; determining a difference between the current geographic location and a geographic location of a swath path nearest to the current geographic location; determining a number of swath paths that the generated swath path nearest to the current geographic location is subsequent to the base swath path; dividing the difference by the determined number of swath paths to produce a swath width remark distance; and adding the swath width remark distance to the original swath width to produce a modified swath width.