Farming 4.0: 3D environment monitoring for mobile agricultural machines

Jul 13, 2020

One important aspect of Farming 4.0, the digitization of agriculture, involves providing visual perception solutions for mobile agricultural machines and harvesting robots. The Visionary snapshot cameras from SICK for 3D environment monitoring allow equipment such as combine harvesters to navigate as sensory organs along edging, enable robots to pick only ripe fruit or to precisely determine the harvest volume in transfer vehicles, rental, storage and silo facilities. These are not only “visionary”, but available.

Level monitoring on transfer vehicles is one of the many mobile agricultural machine and harvesting robot applications that can be reliably solved using Visionary snapshot cameras for 3D environmental monitoring by SICK.
Level monitoring on transfer vehicles is one of the many mobile agricultural machine and harvesting robot applications that can be reliably solved using Visionary snapshot cameras for 3D environmental monitoring by SICK.

 

On one hand, the driving force behind using technology for environment monitoring in mobile agricultural machines is the desire to enable active driver assistance with the aim of avoiding collisions and property damage. On the other hand, these types of sensors also provide valuable data for fully autonomous work processes, which are increasingly being implemented in IoT precision farming application scenarios. After all, sensors in agricultural machines are no longer anything out of the ordinary. Equipped with approximately 90 sensors, combine harvesters and other large agricultural machines often have more electronic encoders on board than cars do.

 

For users and OEMs: technology neutral product selection for optimum application solutions

Collision avoidance while turning, maneuvering and reversing, navigation of autonomous agricultural machines during field work and harvesting, ripeness detection and gripping reliability for harvesting robots, targeted pesticide applications able to visually differentiate between crops and weeds, level monitoring on transfer vehicles or determining harvest volume in rental, storage and silo facilities are all common but diverse applications. These characteristics, however, place special requirements on sensors for 3D environment monitoring.

 

The portfolio of 3D snapshot cameras from SICK including the extremely rugged Visionary-B, the close range, high-precision Visionary-S, and the Visionary-T for accurate data even at long distances, boasts the special advantage being able solve all currently known detection and measurement applications with mobile agricultural machines and harvesting robots from one single portfolio. Consulting that is technology-neutral and focused on the technical and economic optimization of applications uses a direct comparison of these three different 3D snapshot technologies, ensuring that the most suitable Visionary product is always used for each customer application. Plug and play solutions for original equipment or for retrofitted mobile machines are available as well as variants for integrators and software specialists looking to integrate the raw data from the Visionary products into their own software solutions.

 

Level monitoring on transfer vehicles is one of the many mobile agricultural machine and harvesting robot applications that can be reliably solved using Visionary snapshot cameras for 3D environmental monitoring by SICK.
Level monitoring on transfer vehicles is one of the many mobile agricultural machine and harvesting robot applications that can be reliably solved using Visionary snapshot cameras for 3D environmental monitoring by SICK.
Level monitoring on transfer vehicles is one of the many mobile agricultural machine and harvesting robot applications that can be reliably solved using Visionary snapshot cameras for 3D environmental monitoring by SICK.
Level monitoring on transfer vehicles is one of the many mobile agricultural machine and harvesting robot applications that can be reliably solved using Visionary snapshot cameras for 3D environmental monitoring by SICK.

 

Visionary-B: rugged solution with a wide field of vision

The 3D Visionary-B driver assistance system is specially designed for use in extremely harsh outdoor conditions. Depending on the product variant, the kit consists of at least a stereo sensor head with degree of protection IP69k, an evaluation unit and a monitor to be mounted in the driver's cab. Using stereo-vision, two synchronized cameras at the detection angle 125° x 75° take pictures from slightly different perspectives and use triangulation to create a 3D image of the environment. The working distance is up to seven meters for applications focused solely on detection and up to 15 meters for measuring applications with 3D raw data output. Visionary-B displays detected objects on the monitor in the driver's cab and sounds an alarm signal according the degree of relevance for collisions in the specific work environment. If Visionary-B is integrated directly into a complex sensor and visualization system on a vehicle, or if reliable raw data is required, obstacles and warnings can also be processed and displayed on a central vehicle terminal.

 

SICK's Visionary-B, Visionary-T and Visionary-S offer a complete portfolio of 3D snapshot sensors that provide users and integrators with universal solutions for 3D environmental monitoring on mobile agricultural machines - all from a single source.
SICK's Visionary-B, Visionary-T and Visionary-S offer a complete portfolio of 3D snapshot sensors that provide users and integrators with universal solutions for 3D environmental monitoring on mobile agricultural machines - all from a single source.
SICK's Visionary-B, Visionary-T and Visionary-S offer a complete portfolio of 3D snapshot sensors that provide users and integrators with universal solutions for 3D environmental monitoring on mobile agricultural machines - all from a single source.
SICK's Visionary-B, Visionary-T and Visionary-S offer a complete portfolio of 3D snapshot sensors that provide users and integrators with universal solutions for 3D environmental monitoring on mobile agricultural machines - all from a single source.