Crop loss monitoring system for an agricultural harvester

A method for monitoring crop loss during operation of an agricultural harvester, comprising:

• receiving, via a controller comprising a memory and a processor, a left sensor signal from a left sensor indicative of crop particle impacts on a left side of a row unit of the agricultural harvester, wherein the left sensor is configured to be positioned on the left side of the row unit;
• receiving, via the controller, a right sensor signal from a right sensor indicative of crop particle impacts on a right side of the row unit, opposite the left side, wherein the right sensor is configured to be positioned on the right side of the row unit;
• determining, via the controller, whether the row unit is misaligned to a left side of a row of agricultural crops within a field or to a right side of the row of agricultural crops;
• determining, via the controller, crop loss based on feedback from the left sensor alone in response to determining the row unit is misaligned to the left side of the row of agricultural crops, and determining the crop loss based on feedback from the right sensor alone in response to determining the row unit is misaligned to the right side of the row of agricultural crops;
• and
• outputting, via the controller, a signal indicative of the crop loss.

A crop loss monitoring system for an agricultural harvester, comprising:

• a deck plate actuator configured to control spacing between a pair of deck plates of a row unit of the agricultural harvester;
• a left sensor configured to be positioned on a left side of the row unit, wherein the left sensor is configured to output a left sensor signal indicative of crop particle impacts on the left side of the row unit;
• a right sensor configured to be positioned on a right side of the row unit, opposite the left side, wherein the right sensor is configured to output a right sensor signal indicative of crop particle impacts on the right side of the row unit;
• and
• a controller communicatively coupled to the deck plate actuator, to the left sensor, and to the right sensor, wherein the controller comprises a processor and a memory, and the controller is configured to:
• receive the left sensor signal from the left sensor;
• receive the right sensor signal from the right sensor;
• determine whether the row unit is misaligned to a left side of a row of agricultural crops within a field or to a right side of the row of agricultural crops;
• determine crop loss based on feedback from the left sensor alone in response to determining the row unit is misaligned to the left side of the row of agricultural crops, and determine the crop loss based on feedback from the right sensor alone in response to determining the row unit is misaligned to the right side of the row of agricultural crops;
• and
• control the deck plate actuator to move the pair of deck plates based on the crop loss.