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US 11,531,334 B2Granted
System and method for autonomous control of agricultural machinery and equipment
AssigneeRaven Industries, Inc.
InventorColin Josh Hurd
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
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.
Claims39
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;
- 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, wherein autonomous operation includes driving of the agricultural vehicle.
7 more elements
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 driving of the multiple agricultural vehicles in the complete and partial network configurations, autonomously operating includes:
- 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.
8 more elements
A system for intercommunication between autonomous agricultural vehicles comprising:
- a plurality of executive controller units configured for installation with multiple agricultural vehicles, respectively;
- wherein each executive controller unit of the plurality of executive controller units includes:
- a communications module configured to communicate with other communications modules of the plurality of executive controller units with first and second communications networks;
- and
- a vehicle controller configured to autonomously operate drive an associated agricultural vehicle of the multiple agricultural vehicles;
- and
- wherein the communications modules of the plurality of executive controllers are configured to communicate through the first and second communications networks with direct and indirect communications:
- in direct communications a first communications module of an initiating agricultural vehicle directly communicates with a second communications module of a target agricultural vehicle with one or more of the first or second communications networks and the vehicle controllers are configured to drive the associated initiating and target agricultural vehicles;
- and
- in indirect communications the first communications module of the initiating agricultural vehicle indirectly communicates with the second communications module of the target agricultural vehicle with one or more of the first or second communications networks having one or more intervening network components between the initiating agricultural vehicle and the target agricultural vehicle and the vehicle controllers are configured to drive the associated initiating and target agricultural vehicles.
7 more elements
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 executive controller units or mobile devices;
- a vehicle controller configured to autonomously operate an associated agricultural vehicle of the at least one agricultural vehicle;
- and
- a progress monitor configured to monitor and log agricultural operation progress of the at least one agricultural vehicle in a field of an agricultural operation;
- wherein the communications module is configured to communicate the monitored and logged agricultural operation progress of the at least one agricultural vehicle with the one or more executive controller units or mobile devices.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.