AN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT HAVING MULTIPLE AGENTS FOR MAPPING FIELDS

摘要

An agricultural implement in accordance with the present invention includes a supporting member (14) affixed to a farm vehicle (10), such as a tractor. The supporting member (14) supports a plurality of sensors (160) that each have a unique physical location along the supporting member (14) such that the sensors (160) traverse parallel paths as the vehicle (10) moves across a field. Information gathered by the sensors (160) can be combined with information as to the vehicle's position to create a map of the field. For example, information indicative of the presence or absence of weeds at specific locations in a field can be used to create a weed-map. To insure that such maps accurately depict a field, the agricultural implement includes a control unit (120) configured to automatically assign each sensor unit (160) a unique address based upon the physical location of each sensor (160).