Automatic steering system for unmanned vehicle, e.g. agricultural machine - uses global navigation system to provide position information for comparison with predetermined path information programmed on board

摘要

The system drives the tracks or wheels of an unmanned vehicle using hydraulic reversible motors (5,6) controlled by valves (7,8) whose relative control can be used for controlling both heading and speed. The vehicle carries a navigation computer (10) which receives positional information from an external positioning system (12,13). A ground station computer (14) has been supplied with a digitized map over a predetermined path (15). The ground station computer is in two-way radio communication with the vehicle navigation computer which is supplied with the path information. An established path received from the external positioning system is compared with to the predetermined path and the vehicle navigation is modified to compensate for deviation.