The invention relates to a device and a method for optical quality control of the coating or staining of a kernel-type substrate, in particular seed with a color and contrast intensive coating composition.

A combine for reaping culms in a field while traveling, and accumulating, in a grain tank 2, grains obtained by threshing reaped culms, includes: a yield calculator for calculating a yield per unit of travel, which is a yield per unit of travel distance; a work travel determiner 53 for determining non-harvest work travel that does not involve grain harvesting, and harvest work travel that involves grain harvesting; a harvest map data generator 66 for generating harvest map data in which the yield per unit of travel, a travel route on which the combine has traveled in a field, and a result of determination performed by the work travel determiner are associated with one another; and a harvest information recorder for recording the harvest map data.

A grain management system includes a combine and a management server 8. The combine includes a grain measurer 30 for outputting a measured value related to a component of harvested grains supplied to a grain tank 16, and a data transmitter 51a for transmitting the measured value and field identification information for specifying the field to the management server 8 via a communication line. The management server 8 includes a receiver 81b for receiving the field identification information and the measured value from the combine, a table manager 83 for determining a measured value-grain component value table for deriving a grain component value using the measured value based on the field identification information, and a grain component value computer 82 for obtaining the grain component value based on the measured value, using the measured value-grain component value table that is determined by the table manager 83.

Systems, and methods for controlling a modular system for improved real-time yield monitoring and sensor fusion of crops in an orchard are disclosed. According to some embodiments of the invention, a modular system for improved real-time yield monitoring and sensor fusion may include a collection vehicle, a modular processing unit, a volume measurement module, a three-dimensional point-cloud scanning module, an inertial navigation system, and a post-processing server. As the collection vehicle travels through an orchard, the volume measurement module calculates volume measurements of the windrow, the three-dimensional point-cloud scanning module assembles point-clouds of each plant in the orchard, and the inertial navigation system calculates geodetic positions of the collection vehicle. The modular processing unit may fuse the collected data together and transmit the fused data set to a post-processing server. The post-processing server may process the geodetic position data for errors which may be used for geo-referencing the fused data.

One or more information maps are obtained by an agricultural work machine. The one or more information maps map one or more agricultural characteristic values at different geographic locations of a field. An in-situ sensor on the agricultural work machine senses an agricultural characteristic as the agricultural work machine moves through the field. A predictive map generator generates a predictive map that predicts a predictive agricultural characteristic at different locations in the field based on a relationship between the values in the one or more information maps and the agricultural characteristic sensed by the in-situ sensor. The predictive map can be output and used in automated machine control.

Embodiments of a kernel-level grain monitoring system include a grain camera positioned to capture bulk grain sample images of a currently-harvested grain taken into and processed by a combine harvester, a moisture sensor, and a display device. A controller architecture is coupled to the grain camera, to the moisture sensor, and to the display device. The controller architecture is configured to: (i) analyze the bulk grain sample images, as received from the grain camera, to determine an average per kernel (APK) volume representing an estimated volume of a single average kernel of the currently-harvested grain; (ii) repeatedly calculate one or more topline harvesting parameters based, at least in part, on the determined APK volume and the moisture sensor data; and (iii) selectively present the topline harvesting parameters on the display device for viewing by an operator of the combine harvester.

A harvesting machine includes: a crop tank; a measuring device that measures an amount of crop that has been stored in the crop tank; an unloader apparatus that discharges crop that has been stored in the crop tank; a device control part that executes precise measurement oriented device setting processing; a measurement control part including a precise measurement execution part that performs, precise measurement which involves the precise measurement oriented device setting processing, and a simplified measurement execution part that executes, simplified measurement; an operational instruction processing part that outputs a precise measurement instruction and a simplified measurement instruction in response to an operation performed by a manual operation device; and a measurement result recording part that rewrites a simplified measurement result recorded based on a preceding simplified measurement instruction, with a precise measurement result that is based on a succeeding precise measurement instruction.

A grain measurement device (76) comprises a chamber (80) having an inlet (82) and an outlet (84) for grain that is to be tested. A spectrometer is equipped with a light source (89) and a detector (91) for light which was generated by the light source (89) and was transmitted through the sample. The detector (91) is connected to an analyzer (134) for wavelength-resolved analysis of the received light. A mounting (93) of one of the light source (89) or detector (91) can be moved with respect to the other (91, 89 by a drive (106), which moves the mounting (93) for purposes of conveying the sample either in the flow direction (130) or in the opposite direction, in order to break up the sample or to avoid bridging and/or jamming of the sample in the measurement chamber (80).

A sensor generates a sensor signal indicative of a sensed variable. A first filter is applied to the sensor signal, and filters the sensor signal based on a first set of sensor data, to generate a first filtered signal. A second filter is applied to the sensor signal, based on a second set of sensor data that is greater than the first set of sensor data, to generate a second filtered sensor signal. The first and second filtered sensor signals are compared to generate a control signal that can be used to control a controllable subsystem of a mobile machine.

A sensor generates a sensor signal indicative of a sensed variable. A first filter is applied to the sensor signal, and filters the sensor signal based on a first set of sensor data, to generate a first filtered signal. A second filter is applied to the sensor signal, based on a second set of sensor data that is greater than the first set of sensor data, to generate a second filtered sensor signal. The first and second filtered sensor signals are compared to generate a control signal that can be used to control a controllable subsystem of a mobile machine.