Agricultural machine and system for revisiting a planted plot, and related method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11291152-B2
Application number	US-201815966253-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 30, 2018
Priority date	Oct 4, 2013
Publication date	Apr 5, 2022
Grant date	Apr 5, 2022

Abstract

This machine includes a tool (30) actuated by an actuating module (32); a dual-frequency satellite positioning module (40) able to take into account corrections relative to the disruptions affecting the propagation of radio navigation signals emitted by each of the visible radio navigation satellites and that are caused by the ionosphere, so as to determine an absolute position of the machine, and consequently of the tool, which is precise to within a centimeter; and a computer (50) able to compare the instantaneous absolute position of the tool and an absolute position of a current revisiting point, selected from among the revisiting points of a revisiting plan, the computer then being able to command the actuation module.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An agricultural revisiting machine performing a
revisiting operation of a planted parcel, the machine comprising:
an actuator;
a tool actuated by the actuator;
a dual-frequency satellite positioning module including a dual-frequency receiver and configured to determine an absolute position of a center of the machine based on signal from the receiver, wherein the absolute position of the center of the machine is precise to within a centimeter; and
a computer configured to store a revisiting plan for a parcel in which a first species of seeds/plants are sown and acquire the absolute position of the center of the machine from the dual-frequency satellite positioning module, the computer being configured to command the actuator to operate the tool, wherein the revisiting plan is determined based on a farming plan of the parcel and defines a plurality of revisiting points at which a sowing operation is performed on the parcel of seeds/plants of a second species,
wherein the computer is further configured to:
determine an absolute position of the tool based on a distance between the absolute position of the center of the machine and a position of the tool and an orientation of the tool relative to the center of the machine, wherein the position of the tool and the orientation of the tool are determined based on a state of the actuator;
compare the absolute position of the tool and an absolute position of a current revisiting point from among the plurality of revisiting points of the revisiting plan, and
command the actuator to actuate the tool based on a relative distance between the absolute position of the tool and the absolute position of the current revisiting point.

2. The machine according to claim 1 , wherein, the first plant species having been planted on the parcel, the tool is a sowing tool, and each of the revisiting points of the plurality of revisiting points corresponds to a point of the parcel where a seed of the second species must be sown.

3. The machine according to claim 1 , wherein the computer is further configured to select the current revisiting point of the revisiting plan based on a journey followed by the machine through the parcel.

4. The machine according to claim 1 , wherein the computer is further configured to determine and/or follow a journey allowing a movement of the machine through the parcel such that the tool can perform the revisiting operation for each revisiting point of the revisiting plan.

5. The machine according to claim 4 , wherein the journey is determined under a constraint that, at all points of the journey, an imprint of the machine does not interfere with an imprint associated with a plant that has already been planted.

6. The machine according to claim 5 , wherein the imprint of the machine and the imprint associated with the plant that has already been planted are of a footprint or steric footprint type.

7. The machine according to claim 1 , wherein the satellite positioning module is configured to acquire corrections broadcast by a network of reference stations.

8. The machine according to claim 7 , wherein the satellite positioning module is configured to implement a Precise Point Positioning algorithm for processing radio navigation signals of a precise point positioning type with undifferentiated whole ambiguity resolution.

9. An agricultural method for revisiting a parcel planted with a first species, geographical points where plants of the first species were planted being known, the method comprising:
storing, by a computer of an agricultural machine, a revisiting plan of the planted parcel, wherein based on an agricultural operation to be performed during a revisiting operation and the geographical points where the plants of the first species were planted, the revisiting plan includes a plurality of geographical revisiting points, wherein the agricultural machine includes the computer, an appropriate tool actuated automatically by an actuator and a dual-frequency receiver;
revisiting the parcel using the agricultural machine equipped with the appropriate tool actuated automatically by an actuator and based on a command from the computer;
determining an absolute position of a center of the agricultural machine based on data from the dual-frequency receiver, wherein the absolute position of the center of the machine is precise to within a centimeter;
determining, by the computer of the agricultural machine, an absolute position of the tool based on the absolute position of the center of the machine and a position of the tool and an orientation of the tool relative to the center of the machine, wherein the position of the tool and the orientation of the tool are determined based on a state of the actuator;
comparing the absolute position of the tool and an absolute position of a current revisiting point from among a plurality of revisiting points of the revisiting plan; and
commanding, by the computer, the actuator to actuate the tool based on a relative distance between the absolute position of the tool and the absolute position of the current revisiting point,
wherein the revisiting operation is in the parcel where seeds/plants of the first species have been sowed/planted earlier and comprises a sowing/planting operation of seeds/plants of a second species.

10. The method according to claim 9 , wherein, the tool being a sowing tool, the revisiting points of the revisiting plan correspond to geographical points where seeds of the second species must be sown, and revisiting the parcel further comprises sowing seeds of the second species at each of the revisiting points.

11. The method according to claim 9 further comprises:
defining a farming plan for a parcel; and
planting the first species according to a sowing plan extracted from the farming plan, wherein revisiting the parcel is based on the revisiting plan extracted from the farming plan.

12. The method according to claim 9 further comprises determining an optimal revisiting journey that must be followed by the machine so that the tool performs a required agricultural operation, during which at all points of the journey, an imprint of the machine must not interfere with an imprint associated with a plant that has already been planted.

Assignees

• Centre Nat Etd Spatiales

Inventors

• Laurichesse Denis

Classifications

• A01B69/008 Primary

  automatic · CPC title

• A01C21/00

  Methods of fertilising {, sowing or planting} · CPC title

• G01S19/13

  Receivers · CPC title

• A01C7/00

  Sowing · CPC title

• A01B79/005

  Precision agriculture · CPC title