Machine Guidance for Optimal Working Direction of Travel

A specialized machine guidance apparatus for completing farming operations on a field with operational and spatial field efficiency, the apparatus comprising:

• a guidance system disposed in communication with a GPS receiver of an agricultural work machine having a farm implement configured to effect farming operations as the agricultural work machine traverses the field, the guidance system having a memory and a processor, wherein the memory includes a stored program executable by the processor, the stored program configured to:
• (a) capture a boundary and topographical features of the field, to generate a total farmable field area;
• (b) capture physical parameters of the farm implement, including a dimension transverse to forward movement of the agricultural work machine as the agricultural work machine traverses the field;
• (c) identify a parallel pass start point along the field boundary, usable by the agricultural work machine to begin farming operations with parallel passes traversing the field;
• (d) generate a plurality of splayed options for initial directions of travel from the parallel pass start point;
• (e) generate a plurality of path estimates for the agricultural work machine with said physical parameters to travel to cover the total farmable field area, each of the path estimates extending from and including a plurality of passes parallel to a respective one of the splayed options;
• (f) calculate a spatial field efficiency for each of the path estimates by comparing the farmable field area to the area covered by the farm implement when following the path estimates, using the formula:
• Spatial Field Efficiency %=(Farmable Area of the Field)/(Area Covered by the Farm Implement)*100;
• (g) select the path estimate having highest spatial field efficiency and designate the splayed option of the path estimate having the highest spatial field efficiency as the desired initial working direction of travel;
• (h) instruct the agricultural work machine to commence farming operations by moving from the parallel pass start point in the desired initial working direction(s) of travel.