US Patent 9485905 Harvester with predictive ground speed regulation

A combine harvester (10), has driven wheels or tracks (14) for moving the combine harvester; a system for detecting characteristics of crop plants (96) in front of the combine harvester and for calculating an expected mass throughput of the combine harvester from the detected physical characteristics; an electronic control (80), configured to control the ground speed of the combine harvester to maintain a desired mass throughput of the combine harvester in consideration of the expected mass throughput of the combine harvester; and a sensor (86) for detecting a combine harvester parameter that is indicative of an actual mass throughput of the combine harvester; wherein the electronic control is configured to compare an output value of the sensor to a value indicating the expected mass throughput and to use a result of the comparison as feedback to control the speed of the combine harvester.