RTK-Based Vehicle Tracking and Unmanned Operation for Agriculture

Mark Farwell and Doug Caldwell, Mohamed Abousalem

Abstract:	In this paper, the development of key technologies in the field of autonomous land navigation will be presented along with a plan for using these technologies to develop complete navigation system for agriculture. These technologies leverage recent advancement in commercial off-the-shelf technology for satellite positioning equipment and are the result of two years of systems development for the military target community. A discussion of the system elements reveals a reliance on modular design using commercial off-the-shelf components whenever possible. This will enable the proposed system for agriculture to not only be developed in a timely manner, but will result in a simple to use, cost effective system. The key technologies that can be used in a system for agriculture will be discussed in detail. They include (1) High-performance, full-feature, vehicle-independent, autonomous vehicle navigation using a single GPS antenna and no other sensors. (2)Coordinated, configurable multi-vehicle navigation. (3) A Leader-Follower mode of operation. (4) Automatic path (and detour) generation. (5) The ability to integrate the navigation system with on-board vehicle equipment and systems. (6) A system design and graphical user interfaces that enable simple and effective user control.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 12th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 1999) September 14 - 17, 1999 Nashville, TN
Pages:	2047 - 2054
Cite this article:	Farwell, Mark, Caldwell, Doug, Abousalem, Mohamed, "RTK-Based Vehicle Tracking and Unmanned Operation for Agriculture," Proceedings of the 12th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 1999), Nashville, TN, September 1999, pp. 2047-2054.
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