A spectral imaging system configured to obtain spectral measurements in a plurality of spectral regions is described herein. The spectral imaging system comprises at least one optical detecting unit having a spectral response corresponding to a plurality of absorption peaks of a target chemical species. In an embodiment, the optical detecting unit may comprise an optical detector array, and one or more optical filters configured to selectively pass light in a spectral range, wherein a convolution of the responsivity of the optical detector array and the transmission spectrum of the one or more optical filters has a first peak in mid-wave infrared spectral region between 3-4 microns corresponding to a first absorption peak of methane and a second peak in a long-wave infrared spectral region between 6-8 microns corresponding to a second absorption peak of methane.

Systems and methods for detecting determining a volume of urine in an absorbent article such as a diaper. A diaper loading application obtains a first measurement of ambient light received from a photodetector while a light source is off and a second measurement from the photodetector while the light source is transmitting light on an absorbent article. The application determines a normalized measurement of light reflected from an absorbent article by removing an ambient light signal from the second measurement based on the first measurement. The application determines, from the normalized measurement, a presence of urine in the absorbent article. The application further determines an estimated volume of urine in the absorbent article, wherein the determining is based on an elapsed time since the presence of urine and an activity state of an infant wearing the absorbent article.

The spectroscopic measuring instrument includes: a spectrometer to make measurement of a reflection spectrum of an object relative to a light source and output measurement information representing a result of the measurement; a shadow projector including obstacle(s) to allow light from the light source to cast shadow(s) on an object surface; an imaging device to output image information representing an image of an imaging area including the object surface; a storage interface removably connectable to a computer readable medium; and a processing device. The processing device is connected to the spectrometer, the imaging device and the storage interface, and performs a measurement process of storing the measurement information from the spectrometer and the image information from the imaging device in the computer readable medium connected to the storage interface.

An information processing system includes a storage, an interface device, and a computing circuit. The storage stores a database, in which spectrum data concerning light from a light source and a measurement condition data at a time of measurement of the light are associated with a plant status data concerning growth of a plant and/or a harvest data concerning a harvest of the plant. The interface device receives an input of a user measurement condition which is to be applied at a time of measurement of the plant by a user and which includes data concerning angles at the time of measurement and data concerning a plant status and/or a harvest to be predicted. The computing circuit determines at least two wavelengths contained in the light from the light source to be measured under the user measurement condition by referring to the database based on the user measurement condition.

A method for building and using soil models that determine soil properties from soil spectrum data is provided. In an embodiment, building soil model may be accomplished using soil spectrum data received via hyperspectral sensors from a land unit. A processor updates the soil spectrum data by removing interference signals from the soil spectrum data. Multiple ground sampling locations within the land unit are then determined based on the updated soil spectrum data. Soil property data are obtained from ground sampling at the ground sampling locations. Soil models that correlate the updated soil spectrum data with the soil property data are created based on the updated soil spectrum data and the soil property data. The soil models are sent to a storage for future use.

The spectroscopic measuring instrument includes: a spectrometer to make measurement of a reflection spectrum of an object relative to a light source and output measurement information representing a result of the measurement; a shadow projector including obstacle(s) to allow light from the light source to cast shadow(s) on an object surface; an imaging device to output image information representing an image of an imaging area including the object surface; a storage interface removably connectable to a computer readable medium; and a processing device. The processing device is connected to the spectrometer, the imaging device and the storage interface, and performs a measurement process of storing the measurement information from the spectrometer and the image information from the imaging device in the computer readable medium connected to the storage interface.

An information processing system includes a storage, an interface device, and a computing circuit. The storage stores a database, in which spectrum data concerning light from a light source and a measurement condition data at a time of measurement of the light are associated with a plant status data concerning growth of a plant and/or a harvest data concerning a harvest of the plant. The interface device receives an input of a user measurement condition which is to be applied at a time of measurement of the plant by a user and which includes data concerning angles at the time of measurement and data concerning a plant status and/or a harvest to be predicted. The computing circuit determines at least two wavelengths contained in the light from the light source to be measured under the user measurement condition by referring to the database based on the user measurement condition.

A method for determining national crop yields during the growing season is provided. In an embodiment, a server computer system receives agricultural data records for a particular year that represent covariate data values related to plants at a specific geo-location at a specific time. The system aggregates the records to create geo-specific time series for a geo-location over a specified time. The system creates aggregated time series from a subset of the geo-specific time series. The system selects a representative feature from the aggregated time series and creates a covariate matrix for each specific geographic area in computer memory. The system determines a specific crop yield for a specific year using linear regression to calculate the specific crop yield from the covariate matrix. The system determines a forecasted crop yield for the specific year using a sum of the specific crop yields for the specific year, as adjusted.

A device for measuring a reflectivity of an object at the seabottom, includes a spectral probe, a first white board, a second white board, a distance meter, and a shaft; the first white board and the second white board respectively have a known reflectivity; the first white board and the second white board are connected to the shaft, wherein the first white board and the second white board are spaced along an axial direction of the shaft and staggered from each other along a radial direction of the shaft; the spectral probe is configured to collect spectral data of the first white board, the second white board and the object at the seabottom; the distance meter is configured to collect distance data between the spectral probe and the object at the seabottom.

A method is provided for determining soil properties for an area of land, from soil spectrum data. In an embodiment, the method includes receiving soil spectrum data records from hyperspectral sensors that represent a mean soil spectrum of a specific geo-location of the area of land and removing interference signals from the spectrum data records to create soil spectral bands. The method also includes predicting a plurality of soil property datasets based on a partial least-square regression and the soil spectral bands and selecting specific soil property datasets from the plurality of soil property datasets to represent soil properties of the specific geo-location, wherein the specific soil property datasets include property data and spectral band data for spectral bands used to determine the property data. The specific soil property datasets may then be used to generate a crop prescription of recommended hybrid seeds or population densities for the specific geo-location.