System and method of assisted or automated grain unload synchronization

A system comprising:

• an agricultural harvester including—
• a crop processor for reducing crop material to processed crop,
• an unload conveyor for transferring a stream of processed crop out of the agricultural harvester,
• a first controller,
• a first communications gateway for sending and receiving wireless signals, and
• a camera for capturing images of an area proximate the agricultural harvester and generating image data;
• a receiving vehicle including—
• a grain bin for storing processed crop received from the agricultural harvester,
• a visual marker,
• a second controller, and
• a second communications gateway for sending and receiving wireless signals;
• the first controller for—
• receiving the image data from the camera,
• identifying, from the image data, the visual marker,
• generating, from the visual marker, location data indicating a location of the receiving vehicle relative to the agricultural harvester, and
• communicating the location data to the receiving vehicle using the first communications gateway,
• the second controller for—
• receiving the location data using the second communications gateway, and
• using the location data to generate automated navigation data, the automated navigation data to automatically control operation of the receiving vehicle to align the grain bin with the unload conveyor.

A method comprising:

• capturing images of an area proximate an agricultural harvester using a camera on the agricultural harvester and generating image data from the capture images;
• identifying from the image data, using one or more computing devices, a visual marker corresponding to a receiving vehicle;
• determining from the visual marker, using the one or more computing devices, a location of the receiving vehicle relative to the agricultural harvester;
• and
• generating, using the one or more computing devices, automated navigation data based on the location of the receiving vehicle, the automated navigation data to automatically control operation of at least one of the agricultural harvester and the receiving vehicle to align an unload conveyor of the agricultural harvester with a grain bin of the receiving vehicle.