Patent ID: 7801677

Claim:
A real-time path-directed controller for navigating a vehicle along a desired path across a field for agricultural applications, said controller comprising: (a) a position sensor, said position sensor producing a vehicle position signal to a vehicle position signal conditioning module, said vehicle position signal conditioning module producing a conditioned vehicle position signal to a controller summer; (b) a heading conditioning module, said heading conditioning module receiving the vehicle position signal and conditioning the vehicle position signal to produce a conditioned heading signal to the controller summer; (c) a control apparatus sensor, said control apparatus sensor producing a control apparatus signal to a control apparatus signal conditioning module, said control apparatus signal conditioning module producing a conditioned control apparatus signal to the controller summer; and (d) a controller summer summing the conditioned vehicle position signal, the conditioned heading signal, and the conditioned control apparatus signal to produce a controller summer signal to a controller summer conditioning module so as to produce a control apparatus control signal to a control apparatus controller so as to direct the control apparatus and thereby direct the vehicle by feedback control along the desired path.