Patent ID: 8401704

Claim:
A GNSS-based control system for irrigation equipment including a boom assembly with a main boom section, an extension boom section hingedly connected to the main boom section and boom drives mounted on said main and extension boom sections respectively, which control system includes: a first GNSS antenna mounted on the boom assembly; a GNSS receiver mounted on the boom assembly and connected to the first GNSS antenna; a second GNSS antenna mounted on the extension boom section and connected to the receiver; a controller including a processor connected to and receiving input signals from said receiver, said processor being adapted for computing position solutions for said antennas using GNSS ranging signals received by said receiver; said controller being adapted for controlling said extension boom section drives using said position solutions; said boom assembly including multiple spray nozzles; each said spray nozzle having a variable discharge rate; said processor being adapted for selectively and individually controlling said spray nozzle discharge rates based on GNSS-defined positions of said extension boom section; an RTK base including a base GNSS antenna, a base RTK receiver connected to said base antenna and a base RTK transmitter connected to said base antenna; said RTK base adapted to service multiple fields located in proximity to said RTK base; said controller being programmed with a GNSS-defined location of an obstacle located in a field in the path of said boom assembly; said extension boom section having a stop position in proximity to said GNSS-defined obstacle location; and said stop position being GNSS-defined.