Following a swath with for instance a forage harvester is a tedious task for the operator. The objective of the swath guidance system is to measure the swath with a laser scanner and to make a machine follow the swath automatically. This was implemented on a combine harvester which has the same steering mechanisme as a forage harvester.

Challenge: nonlinear system. The response of the wheels strongly depends on the field circumstances.

Reference:

• A. Vanrenterghem, T.Coen, P. Calmeyn, and J. De Baerdemaeker. Autopilot for a harvester. In Proceedings of the IFAC workshop on Bio-Robotics, Information Technology and Intelligent Control for Bioproduction Systems, Sapporo, Japan, 2006.
• T. Coen, A. Vanrenterghem, W. Saeys, and J. De Baerdemaeker. Autopilot for a combine harvester. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture,63(1):57-64,2008.