Bosch has been awarded the coveted "Systems & Components Trophy – Engineers' Choice" from the German Agricultural Society (DLG) for its new off-highway surround sensing concept. The modular surround sensing system from Bosch for agricultural technology is made up of specially adapted sensor systems, which can be combined in a flexible manner to suit individual requirements. "I am delighted that we were able to impress the specialist jury of development engineers from the field of agricultural technology with our innovative system. We have optimized the Bosch off-highway surround sensing system for off-highway applications. It ensures utmost flexibility during installation and in use while also making work with agricultural machinery significantly easier and safer," states Stefan Schenk, who is responsible for the Off-Road operating unit at Robert Bosch GmbH.
The award-winning off-highway surround sensing system from Bosch uses ultrasonic and radar sensors for object recognition, distance measurement, and collision avoidance. While the ultrasonic technology is optimized for the near-field range, radar systems are suitable for near- and far-field monitoring. The surround sensing system can thus be used for collision warning and avoidance and distance measuring purposes – e.g., in the case of sprayer booms or during grape harvests. In such applications, the surround sensing system ensures that an optimum distance is maintained between the harvester and the vines or that the driver is notified of obstacles in good time to avoid collisions. Furthermore, thanks to the high-precision object localization, the system warns the driver and delivers the exact distance and position of other objects. This facilitates parallel operation of two machines, for example.
The multicamera system from Bosch represents the perfect supplement to the ultrasonic and radar sensors. It offers a complete 360° view around the vehicle with four near-field cameras. Using the same camera technology, the system can be enhanced with a collision warning system, which notifies the driver of any stationary or moving objects in the critical environment of the vehicle.
Bosch launched two versions of the 24 V ultrasonic sensor system for near-field monitoring of the working area at the beginning of January. Although both 24 V systems feature identical hardware, there are differences in processing the sensor data and thus the functional scope of the different versions. While the basic system simply measures the distance of a specific obstacle, the high-end solution also features object localization. "In the future, agricultural machinery will be able to perform many operations completely automatically. With its off-highway surround sensing system, Bosch has laid the foundation for efficient development of additional assistance functions in the off-highway sector," explains Stefan Schenk with an eye on the future.
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