초록 ▼

An inertial compensation assembly suitable for use in a GPS based navigation system for a ground vehicle, in particular, an agricultural ground vehicle such as a tractor, combine, or the like, provides inertial augmentation to compensate GPS navigation information such as position, course, and track

An inertial compensation assembly suitable for use in a GPS based navigation system for a ground vehicle, in particular, an agricultural ground vehicle such as a tractor, combine, or the like, provides inertial augmentation to compensate GPS navigation information such as position, course, and track spacing for errors caused by variation of ground vehicle attitude (i.e., roll and yaw) over non-level terrain.

대표청구항 ▼

1. A method for determining an effective track spacing for an implement of a ground vehicle traversing non-level terrain, comprising determining a roll angle for the ground vehicle; ascertaining the slope of the non-level terrain using the determined roll angle; and calculating the effective tr

1. A method for determining an effective track spacing for an implement of a ground vehicle traversing non-level terrain, comprising determining a roll angle for the ground vehicle; ascertaining the slope of the non-level terrain using the determined roll angle; and calculating the effective track spacing, the effective track spacing compensating for the slope of the non-level terrain. 2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the roll angle of the ground vehicle is calculated from the lateral acceleration of the ground vehicle, the lateral acceleration of the ground vehicle being measured by an accelerometer. 3. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the effective track spacing is calculated by the formula: E=I·cos(S) where E is the effective track spacing, I is the track width of the implement on level terrain, and S is the slope. 4. An inertial compensation assembly for a navigation system of a ground vehicle, the navigation system including a global positioning system receiver assembly for receiving a positioning signal from a global positioning system, the positioning signal being used to generate a global positioning system based position and course for the ground vehicle, the inertial compensation assembly comprising: a gyroscope assembly for determining a yaw angle for the ground vehicle; an accelerometer assembly for determining a lateral acceleration of the ground vehicle; and a processing assembly coupled to the gyroscope assembly and accelerometer assembly for determining position and course information for the ground vehicle by correcting the global positioning system position and course using the determined yaw angle and the determined lateral acceleration, wherein the position and course information is inertially compensated for roll and yaw of the ground vehicle as the ground vehicle traverses non-level terrain. 5. The inertial compensation assembly as claimed in claim 4, wherein the processing assembly calculates a yaw rate and a gyroscopic course from the yaw angle measured by the gyroscope assembly. 6. The inertial compensation assembly as claimed in claim 5, wherein the processing assembly determines the course information using the equation: CC=[GR/FMEAS]+[(CGPS-CG)·Kc/CFR]+Pf