US6445983B1
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Sensor-fusion navigator for automated guidance of off-road vehicles
Assignee: CNH Industrial America LLC
•
Filing: 2000-07-07
•
Granted: 2002-09-03
•
Expires: 2020-07-07
Abstract
Abstract An automatically guided agricultural vehicle with multiple sensors is disclosed. The automatically guided agricultural vehicle includes guidance parameter identification using multi-sensor data fusion for real-time vehicle guidance. To insure robust navigation, a map-based guidance and sensor-based guidance are disclosed and integrated because no individual sensing technology is ideally suited for vehicle automation under all modes of use. The appropriate sensor and operational mode will depend on the field status of time or operation. A fiber optic gyroscope (FOG) and a real-time kinematic GPS (RTK-GPS) and machine vision are added to the guidance system in order to improve reliability of the system for vehicle guidance. The navigator includes key functions of selecting control mode, correcting position by vehicle roll/pitch inclinations, Kalman filtering, and calculating a steering angle.
Inventors
- 👤 Monte A. Dickson
- 👤 Noboru Noguchi
- 👤 Qin Zhang
- 👤 John F. Reid
- 👤 Jeffrey D. Will
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-28 13:42
CPC Classifications
G; G01; G01C; G01C21/00; G01C21/10; G01C21/12; G01C21/16; G01C21/165; G01C21/1656; A; A01; A01B; A01B69/00; A01B69/007; A01B69/008; G05; G05D; G05D1/00; G05D1/02; G05D1/021; G05D1/0231; G05D1/0246; G05D1/0268; G05D1/027; G05D1/0274; G05D1/0276; G05D1/0278
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 11
Claim 1
Independent Claim
130 words
An automatic guidance system for an agricultural vehicle, the guidance system comprising: at least two sensors configured to gather information representative of at least one of vehicle relative position and attitude wherein at least one of the sensors is a vision sensor; an information processor having a memory and a central processing unit, and the information processor coupled to the at least two sensors; and a program in the memory of the information processor configured to be executed by the central processing unit, the program configured to select a mode of operation, from at least two modes of operation, based on the information from the at least one sensor, each mode of operation running a different control program, wherein the at least two modes of operation includes a vision mode.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
130 words
An automatic guidance system for an agricultural vehicle, the guidance system comprising: at least two sensors configured to gather information representative of at least one of vehicle relative position and attitude wherein at least one of the sensors is a vision sensor; an information processor having a memory and a central processing unit, and the information processor coupled to the at least two sensors; and a program in the memory of the information processor configured to be executed by the central processing unit, the program configured to select a mode of operation, from at least two modes of operation, based on the information from the at least one sensor, each mode of operation running a different control program, wherein the at least two modes of operation includes a vision mode.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
19 words
The guidance system of claim 1 , wherein the at least two sensors includes a global positioning system receiver.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
125 words
An automatic guidance system for an agricultural vehicle, the guidance system comprising: at least two sensors configured to gather information representative of at least one of vehicle relative position and attitude wherein at least one of the sensors is a gyroscope; an information processor having a memory and a central processing unit, and the information processor coupled to the at least two sensors; and a program in the memory of the information processor configured to be executed by the central processing unit, the program configured to select a mode of operation, from at least two modes of operation, based on the information from the at least one sensor, each mode of operation running a different control program, wherein the gyroscope is a fiber optic gyroscope.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
125 words
An automatic guidance system for an agricultural vehicle, the guidance system comprising: at least two sensors configured to gather information representative of at least one of vehicle relative position and attitude wherein at least one of the sensors is a gyroscope; an information processor having a memory and a central processing unit, and the information processor coupled to the at least two sensors; and a program in the memory of the information processor configured to be executed by the central processing unit, the program configured to select a mode of operation, from at least two modes of operation, based on the information from the at least one sensor, each mode of operation running a different control program, wherein the gyroscope is a fiber optic gyroscope.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
19 words
The guidance system of claim 3 , wherein the at least two modes of operation includes a gyroscope mode.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
19 words
The guidance system of claim 3 , wherein the at least two sensors includes a global positioning system receiver.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
25 words
The guidance system of claim 5 , wherein the at least two modes of operation includes a combined global positioning system receiver and gyroscope mode.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
21 words
The guidance system of claim 6 , wherein the combined global positioning system receiver and gyroscope mode uses a Kalman filter.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
23 words
The guidance system of claim 3 , wherein the program is configured to select a mode of operation by using a rule-based methodology.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
17 words
The guidance system of claim 1 , wherein the vision mode of operation is given greatest priority.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
US3834036A
Cited
US4165796A
Cited
US4515221A
Cited
US4211921A
Cited
US4298084A
Cited
US4366756A
Cited
US4505094A
Cited
US4528804A
Cited
US4640365A
Cited
USRE34080E
Cited
US4729449A
Cited
US4821807A
Cited
US4868752A
Cited
US5040116A
Cited
US4918441A
Cited
US5060290A
Cited
US5548516A
Cited
US5610815A
Cited
US5646843A
Cited
US5646845A
Cited
US5680313A
Cited
US5680306A
Cited
US5838562A
Cited
US5657226A
Cited
US5648901A
Cited
US5684696A
Cited
US5956250A
Cited
US5640323A
Cited
US5615116A
Cited
US5612883A
Cited
US5367457A
Cited
US5163002A
Cited
US5103924A
Cited
US5357432A
Cited
US5430810A
Cited
US5279068A
Cited
US5207739A
Cited
US5410479A
Cited
US5442552A
Cited
US5621460A
Cited
WO1996017279A1
Cited
AU3974795A
Cited
US5661817A
Cited
US5751576A
Cited
US5928309A
Cited
US5995894A
Cited
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 2005-09-02 | 2006-03-04 | 2006-09-03 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2009-09-02 | 2010-03-04 | 2010-09-03 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2013-09-02 | 2014-03-04 | 2014-09-03 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |