Trajectory path planner for a vision guidance system

An automatic guidance system for an agricultural vehicle, the guidance system comprising:

• an electromagnetic sensor for gathering information about field characteristics, the electromagnetic sensor configured to provide a signal representative of the field characteristics, the signal representative of pixels of an image;
• a controller configured to receive the digital signal representative of the field characteristics;
• and
• a trajectory planner configured to plan a trajectory and to determine a steering angle correction for the vehicle based on the digital signal representative of the field characteristics, wherein the trajectory planner utilizes path curvature and vehicle speed to determine a look-ahead point.

A method of steering a vehicle, comprising:

• sensing electromagnetic radiation with an electromagnetic sensor;
• communicating a signal representative of the sensed electromagnetic radiation, and representative of pixels of an image, to a processing device;
• determining a look-ahead point in front of the vehicle;
• determining a path proceeding substantially through the look-ahead point;
• and
• updating a trajectory matrix with a point extracted from the image.

A method of steering a vehicle, comprising:

• sensing electromagnetic radiation with an electromagnetic sensor;
• communicating a signal representative of the sensed electromagnetic radiation, and representative of pixels of an image, to a processing device;
• determining a look-ahead point in front of the vehicle;
• determining a path proceeding substantially through the look-ahead point;
• and
• determining whether the path is substantially curved.

An agricultural vehicle configured to be guided through a field by an automatic guidance system, the agricultural vehicle comprising:

• a visual means for gathering visual input about field characteristics in the format of a digitized image, including pixel information;
• a means for determining a look-ahead point in front of the vehicle;
• a means for determining a path proceeding substantially through the look-ahead point;
• and
• a means for updating a trajectory matrix with a point extracted from the image.

An agricultural vehicle configured to be guided through a field by an automatic guidance system, the agricultural vehicle comprising:

• a visual means for gathering visual input about field characteristics in the format of a digitized image, including pixel information;
• a means for determining a look-ahead point in front of the vehicle;
• a means for determining a path proceeding substantially through the look-ahead point;
• and
• a means for determining whether the path is substantially curved.