Patent attributes
Disclosed is a method for automatically controlling a blade of a motor grader. At least one global navigation satellite system (GNSS) antenna and at least one inertial measurement unit (IMU) are mounted on the motor grader. No GNSS antenna is mounted on the blade; and no pole is used for mounting. With each GNSS antenna, GNSS navigation signals are received, and a position of each GNSS antenna is computed. With each IMU, three orthogonal accelerations and three orthogonal angular rotation rates are measured. With at least one processor, a blade position and a blade orientation are computed, based at least in part on the GNSS and IMU measurements. The blade elevation and the blade slope angle (and, in some embodiments, the blade side shift) are automatically controlled, based at least in part on the computed blade position, the computed blade orientation, and a digital job site model.
