Precision Agriculture: Vehicle Control Systems2 min read

3D Neurosurgical image navigation school work tuned me into navigation in general. GPS applications for agriculture drew me to Trimble, where we produced early market leaders in steering aids and automatic steering systems.

My first win was a differential GPS receiver coded to drive a “lightbar” steering aid. User interface, multiple pattern options, and, “curve” offset through novel curve segmentization and offset algorithm.

Patent Granted: “Light Bar with Tilt Sensor (US 6567747 B1)

Differential Reciever Application: Steering-to-Path aid for Human Operator

PSO Patterns

Precision (sub-inch) GPS and Inertial Sensor Driven Automatic Steering Systems

Designed inner steering control loop and operator override detection scheme for the first automatic tractor steering system leveraging Trimble’s precision (sub-inch) GPS and inertial measurement unit.

My product design work included digital board design and IO for the black box below, mixed-signal IMU sampling circuitry, and thermal regulation block for an inertial measurement unit (also inside the box).

2008 Return To Trimble

After some year away from the above efforts to work on some novel and interesting optical telecommunications and medical electronics I re-engaged precision

Embedded Sensor Firmware