AUTOMATIC NAVIGATION OF AGRICULTURAL VEHICLE USING A LOW COST ATTITUDE SENSOR

Abstract

In this research, low cost navigation sensor unit composed of three vibratory gyroscopes and two inclinometers and the DGPS for the agricultural vehicle was developed. The sensor can provide the position corrected by inclination, heading angle and roll/pitch inclinations. The microcomputer (H8S2612) was installed to measure the sensors data and calculate the corrected position, corrected heading and corrected inclination by itself without using laptop computer and high resolution A/D converter. To measure the accuracy of developed sensor unit, the field test was conducted. The developed sensor unit could estimate the heading angle with 1.59 and roll angle with 0.41 and pitch angle with 0.65. This accuracy was equivalent to the accuracy of RTK-GPS and IMU system using high resolution A/D converter and laptop computer. Judging from a viewpoint of a function, accuracy and cost, the developed sensor unit achieved the target specification as a navigation system and it is possible to utilize to the agricultural vehicle automation and the precision farming effectively.