Application notes

Application Note
Advanced Sensing for Efficient Autonomous Harvesting
P/N 54D0011-1A 052014 © 2014 LeddarTech Inc. Printed in Canada. All rights reserved.
The Challenge
Our customer in this instance was a manufacturer of autonomous and semi-autonomous farming
systems. The company wanted to integrate advanced optics in their machinery in order to better detect
the edge of crops, speeding up harvesting and minimizing any product loss. Specifically, their aim was
to enable their harvesting vehicles to "sweep" the fields more precisely and avoid missing any sections
and ultimately help farmers increase productivity.
LeddarTech’s Solution: Leddar™ M16 Multi-Element Sensing Module
In this case, we recommended our 16-element sensing module, as its accurate and robust ranging
capabilities allow for easy differentiation between the heights of the harvested vs. non-harvested crops.
Moreover, the dust created by this task does not have a significant impact on the performance of this
sensor, so the detection and ranging capabilities remain accurate in such an environment.
Product features:
 Large detection area with immunity to ambient light and dust
 Ease of integration and ruggedness
 Best cost/performance ratio as compared with competing detection technologies.
The Outcome
The Leddar™M16 was an excellent solution for this particular application, as it was easily integrated
into the controller of the autonomous vehicle’s on-board navigation computer. The customer was
therefore able to include value-added ranging features in their new, high-performance autonomous
farming systems, allowing vehicles to follow crops more precisely and ultimately increasing overall
harvesting efficiency.
Fig. 1 Leddar™ sensor physically installed on the harvesting section of the vehicle
Product References
 Leddar™M16 Multi-Element Sensing Module