Global shutter cameras help capture fast-moving objects without any rolling shutter artifacts. Get to know how they enhance the performance of auto farming vehicles and robots. Also learn the most popular auto farming applications where they are highly recommended.
Capturing a frame all at once is particularly helpful when the vehicle or object is in fast motion.
Global Shutter Camera with Ultra Wide Angle
For instance, let us consider an automated weeding robot. Be it for removing weeds and unwanted growth, or spreading pesticides, movement of the plants as well as the motion of the robot can cause challenges to reliable image capture. If we use a rolling shutter camera in this case, the robot might not be able to locate the exact coordinates of the weed. This will hugely impact the accuracy and speed of the robot, and might as well lead to the robot not being able to perform its desired task.
A global shutter camera comes to the rescue in this scenario. With a global shutter camera, an agricultural robot can locate the exact coordinates of a fruit or vegetable, identify its type, or assess its growth accurately.
Most popular embedded vision applications in auto farming where global shutter is recommended
While there are many camera based applications within auto farming, it is to be noted that not every application requires a global shutter camera. Further, in the same type of robot, some use cases would require a global shutter camera, while certain others might not. The need for a particular shutter type is defined entirely by the end application and the type of robot you are building. Also, we already discussed weeding robots in the previous section. So, here we look at some of the other popular auto farming use cases where a global shutter camera is preferred over a rolling shutter one.
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) or agricultural drones
Drones are used in agriculture for the purposes of plant counting, measuring crop density, calculating vegetation indices, determining water needs, etc. They help to continuously monitor crops from planting to the harvesting stage. While all drones do not need a global shutter camera, in cases where image capture has to happen when the drone is in fast motion, a rolling shutter camera might result in image deformations.
Agricultural trucks and tractors
Large agricultural trucks and tractors are used for various farm-related tasks such as transporting animal food, hauling grass or hay, pushing and pulling agricultural equipment, etc. With advancements in technology, many of these vehicles have started becoming autonomous and driverless. In manned trucks, cameras are typically part of a surround-view system that helps the driver get a 360-degree view of the vehicle’s surroundings to avoid collisions and accidents. In unmanned vehicles, cameras help in automated navigation by accurately measuring the depth of objects and obstacles. In both cases, a global shutter camera might be required if any object in the scene of interest moves fast enough making it not possible to capture the image using a normal rolling shutter camera.
Sorting and packing robots
These robots are used to sort and pack fruits, vegetables, and other produce from a farm. Some packing robots have to sort, pick, and pack static objects, in which case a global shutter camera is not required. However, if the objects to be sorted or packed are placed on a moving surface – say a conveyor belt – then a global shutter camera produces a better quality image output.
Conclusion
As discussed before, selection of the shutter type of a camera has to be done on a case to case basis. There is no one size fits all approach here. In a vast majority of agricultural use cases, a rolling shutter camera with a high frame rate, or just a normal rolling shutter camera should do the job. When you choose a camera or sensor, it is always recommended to take the help of an imaging partner who has experience in integrating cameras into agricultural robots and vehicles.
We are a Global Shutter Camera Module supplier. If you are interested in our products, please contact us now!
Post time: Nov-20-2022
