Design of a deviation detection sensor and an auto-follow row system for corn harvesters

The auto-follow row technology is the basic technology to realize the uncrewed operation of corn harvesters, which helps to improve the quality and efficiency of corn harvest. A deviation detection sensor and an auto-follow row system are designed to address the difficulty for corn harvesters to harvest the corn sowing with different row spacing. The auto-follow row system is comprised of the auto-follow row controller, two deviation detection sensors, sensors for acquiring the state of the corn harvester, and the hydraulic steering system. The deviation detection sensor uses the touch rod to detect the lateral deviation and sends it to the auto-follow row controller through the Controller Area Network (CAN) bus. The auto-follow row controller obtained the lateral deviation, calculated the target steering angle according to the pure pursuit method based on the yaw angle estimation model and fuzzy control model, and adjusted the posture of the harvester by controlling the steering actuator. Two types of corn harvesters were reformed and mounted the auto-follow row system for simulation and field tests. The average errors of the auto-follow row system in the simulation tests and the field tests were 0.040 m and 0.046 m, respectively. The relative deviations within ±0.075 m were 98.33% and 97.22%, respectively, which met the operating requirements of corn harvesters. The test results show that the auto-follow row system can be applied to many kinds of corn harvesters and provide a reference for designing a completely unmanned system for corn harvesters.