Method, apparatus and system for agricultural vehicle monitoring
A method for monitoring a stereo vision system of an agricultural vehicle comprising: receiving a communication signal relating to a parameter of the agricultural vehicle; acquiring, based on the state signal, an operational image of an agricultural operation of the agricultural vehicle; generating a disparity image from the operational image; determining a disparity of the disparity image; and displaying a disparity indicator relating to the disparity of the disparity image to an operator of the agricultural vehicle.
1 . A method for monitoring a stereo vision system of an agricultural vehicle comprising:
receiving a state signal relating to a parameter of the agricultural vehicle;
acquiring, based on the state signal, an operational image of an agricultural operation of the agricultural vehicle;
generating a disparity image from the operational image;
determining a disparity of the disparity image; and
displaying a disparity indicator relating to the disparity of the disparity image to an operator of the agricultural vehicle, wherein the disparity is a disparity health of the disparity image, the disparity health determined by segmenting the disparity image into cells and comparing the cells against a disparity health threshold.
2 . The method of claim 1 wherein the state signal is provided over a common area network on the agricultural vehicle, the state signal relating to at least one of elevator state, elevator performance and agricultural vehicle yaw.
3 . The method of claim 1 wherein the state signal is compared to a threshold and wherein if the state signal exceeds the threshold the operational image is not acquired and if the signal falls below the threshold the operational image is acquired.
4 . The method of claim 1 wherein the state signal is compared to a threshold and wherein if the state signal falls below the threshold the operational image is not acquired and if the state signal exceeds the threshold the operational image is acquired.
5 . The method of claim 1 wherein the disparity indicator notifies an operator that a lens of the stereo vision system is dirty.
6 . The method of claim 1 wherein the disparity indicator notifies an operator of under exposure condition impacting the stereo vision system.
7 . The method of claim 1 wherein the disparity indicator notifies an operator of over exposure condition impacting the stereo vision system.
8 . The method of claim 1 wherein the disparity indicator notifies an operator that the stereo vision system is functioning normally.
9 . The method of claim 1 wherein the operational image of the agricultural operation comprises at least a left image from a left camera and a right image a right camera of the stereo vision system.
10 . The method of claim 1 wherein the agricultural vehicle is a sugarcane harvester and the stereo vision system comprises at least one camera associated with an elevator of the sugarcane harvester.
11 . The method of claim 2 wherein the elevator performance relates to whether the elevator is empty.
12 . The method of claim 2 wherein the elevator state relates to whether or not the elevator is in a steady state.
13 . The method of claim 2 wherein agricultural vehicle yaw relates to whether or not the yaw of the agricultural vehicle is changing.
14 . The method of claim 1 wherein the disparity indicator relates to at least one of a cleanliness indicator of the stereo vision system, an under exposure condition impacting the stereo vision system and an over exposure condition impacting the stereo vision system.
15 . A system for monitoring an agricultural vehicle comprising:
a communication network configured to relay a communication signal relating to a parameter of the agricultural vehicle;
a stereo vision system for generating an operational image of an agricultural operation of the agricultural vehicle; and
a controller for receiving the communication signal and the operational image, the controller generating, based in part on the communication signal, a disparity image from the operational image, generating a disparity of the disparity image, and providing a disparity indicator relating to the disparity image to an operator of the agricultural vehicle, wherein the disparity is a disparity health of the disparity image, the disparity health determined by segmenting the disparity image into cells and comparing the cells against a disparity health threshold.
16 . An apparatus for monitoring an agricultural vehicle comprising:
a communication network configured to relay a communication signal relating to a parameter of the agricultural vehicle;
a stereo vision system for generating an operational image of an agricultural operation of the agricultural vehicle; and
a controller for receiving the communication signal and the operational image, the controller generating, based in part on the communication signal, a disparity image from the operational image, generating a disparity of the disparity image, and providing a disparity indicator relating to the disparity image to an operator of the agricultural vehicle, wherein the disparity is a disparity health of the disparity image, the disparity health determined by segmenting the disparity image into cells and comparing the cells against a disparity health threshold.