System and method for autonomous control of agricultural machinery and equipment

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2021011471-A1
Application number	US-202016931117-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jul 16, 2020
Priority date	Jul 19, 2016
Publication date	Jan 14, 2021
Grant date	—

Abstract

A system and method of controlling agriculture equipment which combines geographical coordinates, machine settings, machine position, path plans, user input, and equipment parameters to generate executable commands based of a variety of different in-field agricultural operation objectives for a vehicle equipped with an automatic or electronically controlled locomotion systems capable of reading and executing the commands.

First claim

1 . (canceled)

2 . A system for intercommunication between autonomous agricultural vehicles comprising:
an executive controller unit configured for installation with at least one agricultural vehicle, wherein the executive controller unit includes:
a communications module configured to communicate with one or more agricultural vehicles with multiple communication networks including at least a first communication network and a different second communication network; and
a vehicle controller configured to autonomously operate the at least one agricultural vehicle; and
wherein the communications module is configured to communicate with one or more agricultural vehicles in each of a complete network configuration and a partial network configuration:
in the complete network configuration the communications module is configured to communicate with a remote server separate from the executive controller unit and communicate with the one or more agricultural vehicles with the first and second communication networks; and
in the partial network configuration the communications module is configured to communicate with the one or more agricultural vehicles with one or more of the first or second communication networks; and
wherein the vehicle controller is configured to autonomously operate the at least one agricultural vehicle in each of the complete and partial network configurations.

3 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the communications module is configured to communicate with the one or more agricultural vehicles in each of the complete network configuration, the partial network configuration, and a second partial network configuration:
in the second partial network configuration the communications module is configured to communicate with the one or more agricultural vehicles with the first or second communication networks if the other of the second or first communications networks is unavailable.

4 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the multiple communications networks include one or more of Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee, Z-Wave, EnOcean, synapse network appliance protocol (SNAP), radio, cellular or satellite based networks.

5 . The system of claim 4 , wherein the multiple communications networks include one or more mesh type networks.

6 . The system of claim 2 , wherein communication networks, including the first and second communication networks, of multiple communications networks include different operating frequencies or frequency ranges.

7 . The system of claim 2 comprising a plurality of the executive control units configured for installation with a plurality of agricultural vehicles including the at least one agricultural vehicle and the one or more agricultural vehicles, respectively; and
wherein the communications modules of each of the executive control units are configured to communicate with each of the agricultural vehicles having the executive control units with the multiple communication networks.

8 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the communications module is configured to directly communicate with the one or more agricultural vehicles with the multiple communication networks.

9 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the communications module of the at least one agricultural vehicle is configured to communicate with the one or more agricultural vehicles with one or more mesh networks, gateways, switches, repeaters, routers, modems associated with one or more of the first or second communication networks.

10 . The system of claim 2 comprising the at least one agricultural vehicle and the one or more agricultural vehicles.

11 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the executive controller unit includes a vehicle telematics unit.

12 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the remote server is independent from the executive controller unit.

13 . The system of claim 2 , wherein in the complete network configuration the communications module is configured to communicate with the remote applications server with one or more of the first or second communications networks.

14 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the vehicle controller is configured to arrest autonomous operation of the at least one agricultural vehicle if another communications module of another executive controller previously included in the first or second communications networks is unavailable on the first and second communications networks.

15 . A method for autonomously operating multiple agricultural vehicles comprising:
interconnecting multiple agricultural vehicles with multiple communications networks, interconnecting includes:
establishing a first communication network between the multiple agricultural vehicles; and
establishing a second communication network between the multiple agricultural vehicles different from the first communication network;
interconnecting the multiple agricultural vehicles with a remote server with one or more of the first or second communications networks; and autonomously operating the multiple agricultural vehicles in each of complete and partial network configurations including:
in the complete network configuration communicating messages between the multiple agricultural vehicles and the remote server application with one or more of the first or second communications networks; and
in the partial network configuration communicating messages between the multiple agricultural vehicles with one or more of the first or second communications networks.

16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein autonomously operating the multiple agricultural vehicles includes autonomously operating the multiple agricultural vehicles in a second partial network configuration including communicating messages between the multiple agricultural vehicles with one of the first or second communications networks if the other of the second or first communications networks is unavailable.

17 . The method of claim 15 , wherein autonomously operating the multiple agricultural vehicles in the partial network configuration includes autonomously operating the multiple agricultural vehicles if the remote server application is unavailable.

18 . The method of claim 15 , wherein interconnecting the multiple agricultural vehicles includes interconnecting communication modules with the first and second communication networks, the communication modules associated with respective agricultural vehicles of the multiple agricultural vehicles.

19 . The method of claim 15 , wherein communicating messages between multiple agricultural vehicles in the complete and partial network configurations includes directly communicating messages between the agricultural vehicles of the multiple agricultural vehicles with one or more of the first or second communication networks.

20 . The method of claim 15 , wherein communicating messages between multiple agricultural vehicles in the complete and partial network configurations includes communicating messages between a first agricultural vehicle and a second agricultural vehicle with one or more mesh networks, gateways, switches, repeaters, routers or modems associated with one or more of the first or second communication networks.

21 . The method of claim 15 , wherein interconnecting the multiple agricultural vehicles with multiple communication networks includes:
establishing a third communication network between the multiple agricultural vehicles different from the first and second communication networks.

22 . The method of claim 15 , wherein interconnecting the mul

Assignees

• Raven Ind Inc

Inventors

• Hurd Colin Josh

Classifications

• A01B69/008 Primary

  automatic · CPC title

• G05D1/692

  involving a plurality of disparate vehicles · CPC title

• G05D1/223

  Command input arrangements on the remote controller, e.g. joysticks or touch screens · CPC title

• G05D1/246

  using environment maps, e.g. simultaneous localisation and mapping [SLAM] · CPC title

• G05D1/226

  Communication links with the remote-control arrangements · CPC title