Agricultural machine for revisiting a planted plot; associated method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9974222-B2
Application number	US-201415026791-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 3, 2014
Priority date	Oct 4, 2013
Publication date	May 22, 2018
Grant date	May 22, 2018

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, comprising:
a tractor;
a trailer, the trailer being hitched to the tractor;
an actuating module;
a tool actuated by the actuating module, the tool and the actuating module being carried by the trailer;
a dual-frequency satellite positioning module carried by the trailer, the dual-frequency satellite positioning module taking into account corrections relative to disruptions affecting a propagation of radio navigation signals emitted by each visible radio navigation satellite of a set of visible radio navigation satellites and caused by an ionosphere, so as to determine, at each moment, an absolute position of the machine, and consequently of the tool, which is precise to within a centimeter; and,
one of a computer and an inertial measurement unit located on the tractor for determination of a position thereof, the one of a computer and an inertial measurement unit using, as input, measurements done by the satellite positioning module and implementing a kinematic model of the agricultural revisiting machine, the one of a computer and an inertial measurement unit comparing the absolute position of the tool and an absolute position of a current revisiting point, selected among revisiting points of a revisiting plan stored in a storage means of the one of the computer and the inertial measurement unit, the one of the computer and the inertial measurement unit commanding the actuation module based on a relative distance between the absolute position of the tool and the absolute position of the current revisiting point,
wherein the one of a computer and an inertial measurement unit is adapted for the revisiting operation to be performed in a parcel where seeds/plants of a first species have been sowed/planted earlier and the revisiting operation comprises one of a post-sowing/planting operation to be performed on the plants of the first species and a sowing/planting operation of seeds/plants of a second species.

2. The machine according to claim 1 , wherein the tool is a hoeing tool, said revisiting plan includes a plurality of revisiting points, each revisiting point corresponding to a point of the parcel where a plant of the first plant species has been planted, and the computer commands the actuating module of the tool to hoe a soil around a current revisiting point selected in the revisiting plan.

3. 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 corresponds to a point of the parcel where a seed of the second species must be sown.

4. The machine according to claim 1 , wherein the computer selects the current revisiting point of the revisiting plan based on a journey followed by the machine through the parcel.

5. The machine according to claim 1 , wherein the computer determines and/or follows a journey allowing a movement of the machine through the parcel such that the tool can perform the revisiting operation for each point of the revisiting plan.

6. The machine according to claim 5 , wherein the journey is determined under a constraint, this constraint consisting of imposing 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.

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

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

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

10. A system comprising:
computing means for developing a farming plan for a parcel and to extract a sowing plan and revisiting plan from said farming plan;
a first machine for sowing a seed of the first species according to the sowing plan; and
a second machine, according to claim 1 , able to perform the revisiting operation for the planted parcel, according to the revisiting plan.

11. The system according to claim 10 , the computing means is configured to determine, under a constraint, a journey that must be followed by the second machine to perform the revisiting operation, the constraint consisting of imposing that, at any point of the journey, an imprint of the machine does not interfere with an imprint associated with a plant that has already been planted.

12. 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:
a step for developing a revisiting plan of the planted parcel, 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 including a plurality of geographical revisiting points; and
a revisiting step, using an agricultural machine comprising a trailer and a tractor, the trailer equipped with an appropriate tool actuated automatically by an actuating module and with a dual-frequency receiver, the tractor equipped with one or more of an inertial measurement unit and a computer, the one or more of the inertial measurement unit and the computer using measurements by a satellite positioning module and implementing a kinematic model of the machine;
determining an absolute position of the tool, that is precise to within a centimeter, by implementing processing of received radio navigation signals, which takes into account corrections relative to disruptions affecting propagation of the radio navigation signals emitted by a visible radio navigation satellite among a set of visible radio navigation satellite and caused by an ionosphere, and by commanding an actuating unit as a function of the absolute position of the tool and a current geographical revisiting point, selected in the revisiting plan,
wherein the revisiting operation is in a parcel where seeds/plants of a first species have been sowed/planted earlier and comprises one of a post-sowing/planting operation to be performed on the plants of the first species or a sowing/planting operation of seeds/plants of a second species.

13. The method according to claim 12 , wherein, the tool being a hoeing tool, the revisiting points of the revisiting plan correspond to points where plants of the first species have been planted, and the revisiting step consists of actuating the tool to hoe soil around each of the revisiting points.

14. The method according to claim 12 , wherein, the tool being a sowing tool, the revisiting points of the revisiting plan correspond to geographical points where seeds of a second species must be sown, and in that the revisiting step consists of sowing seeds of the second species at each of the revisiting points.

15. The method according to claim 12 , including a step for defining a farming plan for a parcel, a step for planting the first species according to a sowing plan extracted from the farming plan, and at least one revisiting step according to a revisiting plan extracted from the farming plan.

16. The method according to claim 12 , including a step for determining an optimal revisiting journey that must be followed by t

Assignees

• Centre Nat Etd Spatiales

Inventors

• Laurichesse Denis

Classifications

• A01C21/00

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

• A01B39/02

  with non-rotating tools · CPC title

• A01B79/005

  Precision agriculture · CPC title

• A01B69/008 Primary

  automatic · CPC title

• G01S19/13

  Receivers · CPC title