METHOD FOR AN "ON-THE-FLY" TREATMENT OF AN AGRICULTURAL FIELD USING A SOIL SENSOR

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for treatment of an agricultural field, the method comprising the steps: 1) receiving (S10) a parametrization (10) for controlling a treatment device (200) by the treatment device (200) from a field manager system (100); 2) receiving (S20) from at least one soil sensor (400) real-time soil information on the real-world situation of the geographical location G1 in the agricultural field; 3) processing (S30) the real-time soil information to generate processed information (30), 4) determining (S40) a control signal (50) for controlling a treatment arrangement (270) of the treatment device (200) based on the received parametrization (10) and the processed information (30), 5) executing (S50) a treatment on the geographical location G2 in the agricultural field, wherein the treatment is executed based on the control signal (50) real-time after receiving the real-time soil information in such a way that the distance between location G1 and location G2 does not exceed 100 meters.

Claims

1. A method for treatment of an agricultural field (300), the method comprising the steps: 1) receiving (S10) a parametrization (10) for controlling a treatment device (200) by the treatment device (200) from a field manager system (100); 2) receiving (S20)—from at least one soil sensor (400)—real-time soil information on the real-world situation of the geographical location G1 in the agricultural field (300); 3) processing (S30) the real-time soil information to generate processed information (30); 4) determining (S40) a control signal (50) for controlling a treatment arrangement (270) of the treatment device (200) based on the received parametrization (10) and the processed information (30); and 5) executing (S50) a treatment on the geographical location G2 in the agricultural field (300), wherein the treatment is executed based on the control signal (50) real-time after receiving the real-time soil information in such a way that the distance between location G1 and location G2 does not exceed 100 meters.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the parametrization (10) is dependent on offline field data (Doff) relating to expected conditions on the agricultural field (300).

3. A method according to claim 1, comprising the additional steps: receiving the offline field data (Doff) by the field manager system (100); determining the parametrization (10) of the treatment device (200) dependent on the offline field data (Doff) and determining a dosage level (40) or determining at least one treatment product type (41); and providing the determined parametrization (10) and the determined dosage level (40) or the determined treatment product type (41) to the treatment device (200).

4. A method according to claim 1, wherein the physical distance between the soil sensor (400) and the soil is less than 100 cm at the time of obtaining real-time soil information on the real-world situation in the agricultural field (300).

5. A method according to claim 1, wherein the soil sensor (400) is a non-optical spectrometer, an optical spectrometer, an infrared spectrometer, an electric conductivity sensor, a magnetic susceptibility (EM) sensor, a gamma-ray sensor, a Lidar sensor, a near-infrared sensor, or a photoconductive-layer-containing optical sensor.

6. A method according to claim 1, wherein the soil sensor (400) is an infrared spectrometer optionally supplemented by one of the sensors selected from non-optical spectrometer, optical spectrometer, electric conductivity sensor, gamma-ray sensor, magnetic susceptibility (EM) sensor, and/or optionally supplemented by a camera.

7. A method according to claim 1, wherein the soil sensor (400) is a photoconductive-layer-containing optical sensor optionally supplemented by one of the sensors selected from non-optical spectrometer, optical spectrometer, electric conductivity sensor, gamma-ray sensor, magnetic susceptibility (EM) sensor, and/or optionally supplemented by a camera.

8. A method according to claim 1, wherein the soil sensor (400) is mechanically attached to the treatment device (200).

9. A method according to claim 1, wherein the soil sensor (400) is not mechanically attached to the treatment device (200) and is directly or indirectly communicatively coupled to the treatment device (200).

10. A method according to claim 1, wherein the treatment device (200) is designed as a smart seed applicator, wherein the treatment arrangement (270) is a seeding arrangement.

11. A method according to claim 1, wherein the treatment device (200) is designed as a smart fertilizer applicator, wherein the treatment arrangement (270) is a fertilizing arrangement.

12. A method according to claim 1, wherein the treatment device (200) is designed as a smart sprayer, wherein the treatment arrangement (270) is a nozzle arrangement.

13. A method according to claim 1, wherein the treatment device (200) is designed as a smart irrigation applicator, wherein the treatment arrangement (270) is an irrigation arrangement.

14. A method according to claim 1, comprising the steps: receiving online field data (Don) by the treatment device (200) relating to current conditions on the agricultural field (300); and determining the control signal (50) dependent on the determined parametrization (10), the processed information (30), and the determined online field data (Don).

15. A method according to claim 14, wherein the online field data (Don) relates to current machine data, weather condition data, and current plantation growth data.

16. A method according to claim 1, comprising the step: adjusting the parametrization (10) and/or the dosage level (40) or the at least one treatment product type (41) using a machine learning algorithm.

17. A method according to claim 1, comprising the step: processing (S30) the real-time soil information to generate processed information (30) using a machine learning algorithm.

18. A method according to claim 1, wherein determining a parametrization (10) comprises determining a tank recipe for a treatment product tank of the treatment device (200).

19. A treatment device (200) for treatment of an agricultural field (300), comprising: a soil sensor (400); a processing unit (500) being adapted for processing the real-time soil information on the real-world situation of the geographical location G1 in the agricultural field (300) as received from the soil sensor (400) and generating processed information (30); a parametrization interface (250) being adapted for receiving a parametrization (10) from a field manager system (100); a treatment arrangement (270) being adapted for treating the agricultural field (300) dependent on the control signal (50) and being adapted for executing a treatment on the geographical location G2 in the agricultural field (300) real-time after receiving the real-time soil information in such a way that the distance between location G1 and location G2 does not exceed 100 meters; and a treatment control unit (210) being adapted for determining a control signal (50) for controlling a treatment arrangement (270) based on the parametrization (10) which it receives from the parametrization interface (240) and based on the processed information (30).

20. The treatment device of claim 19, comprising an online field data interface (240) being adapted for receiving online field data (Don) relating to current conditions on the agricultural field (300), wherein the treatment control unit (210) is adapted for determining a control signal (50) for controlling a treatment arrangement (270) dependent on the received parametrization (10) and the processed information (30) and/or the online field data (Don).

Description

[0151] The above mentioned and other aspects of the invention will be apparent from and elucidated further with reference to the embodiments described by way of examples in the following description and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which

[0152] FIG. 1 illustrates one example of a treatment device comprising one of the four different types of soil sensors;

[0153] FIG. 2 illustrates one example of an executed treatment of the treatment device comprising a mechanically attached soil sensor;

[0154] FIG. 3 illustrates one example of an executed treatment of the treatment device comprising a mobile soil sensor not mechanically attached but communicatively coupled to the treatment device and moving depending on the movement of the treatment device;

[0155] FIG. 4 illustrates a flow diagram showing the operation of the method of the present invention.

[0156] FIG. 5 illustrates an embodiment of an exemplary computing architecture 700 suitable for implementing various embodiments as previously described.

[0157] FIG. 6 is a block diagram depicting an exemplary communications architecture 800 suitable for imple-menting various embodiments as previously described.

[0158] It should be noted that the figures are purely diagrammatic and not drawn to scale. In the figures, elements which correspond to elements already described may have the same reference numerals. Examples, embodiments or optional features, whether indicated as non-limiting or not, are not to be understood as limiting the invention as claimed.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0159] FIG. 1 illustrates one example of a treatment device (200) comprising one of the four different types of soil sensors: The treatment device (200) comprises a treatment arrangement (270) which is mechanically attached to the treatment device. The treatment device comprises either [0160] a soil sensor (400/402) mechanically attached to the treatment device (200), [0161] a soil sensor (400/404) which is not mechanically attached but communicatively coupled to the treatment device (200), and fixed on the specific location of the agricultural field, for example soil moisture sensor fixed in the soil, or [0162] a soil sensor (400/406) which is not mechanically attached but communicatively coupled to the treatment device (200), and mobile or movable depending on the movement of the treatment device, for example a soil sensor which is part of or mounted on an aerial vehicle, an unmanned aerial vehicle, a drone, or a robot, [0163] a soil sensor (400/408) which is not mechanically attached but communicatively coupled to the treatment device (200), and mobile or movable independent from on the movement of the treatment device, for example a soil sensor is part of or mounted on an aerial vehicle, an unmanned aerial vehicle, or a satellite

[0164] FIG. 2 illustrates one example of an executed treatment of the treatment device comprising a mechanically attached soil sensor.

[0165] The upper part of FIG. 2 illustrates the following processes: The processing unit (500) which can be either mechanically attached to the soil sensor (400/402), mechanically attached to the treatment device (200) or is located on another computing resource communicatively coupled to the soil sensor (400/402), receives real-time soil information (20)—e.g. soil reflectance data—on the real-world situation of the geographical location G1 in the agricultural field from the soil sensor (400/402) and processes this information to obtain processed information (30), e.g. the nitrogen content of the soil, which is then provided to the treatment control unit (210). The parametrization interface (240), which receives the parametrization (10) from the field manager system (100), provides the parametrization (10) to the treatment control unit (210). The treatment control unit (210) is mechanically attached or communicatively coupled to the treatment device (200), or is mechanically attached or communicatively coupled to the treatment arrangement (270). After the parametrization (10) and the processed information (30) have been provided to the treatment control unit (210), the treatment control unit (210) determines a control signal (50) for controlling the treatment arrangement (270). This control signal (50) is provided to the treatment arrangement (270).

[0166] The middle part of FIG. 2 illustrates that, during the time of the processes described in the upper part of FIG. 2, the treatment device (200) has now moved further in the agricultural field, and the treatment arrangement (270) now executes the treatment dependent on the control signal (50) on the geographical location G2 in the agricultural field.

[0167] The lower part of FIG. 2 illustrates that the distance between the geographical locations G1 and G2 does not exceed 100 meters.

[0168] FIG. 3 illustrates one example of an executed treatment of the treatment device comprising a mobile soil sensor not mechanically attached but communicatively coupled to the treatment device and moving depending on the movement of the treatment device.

[0169] The upper part of FIG. 3 illustrates the following processes: The processing unit (500) which can be either mechanically attached to the soil sensor (400/404), mechanically attached to the treatment device (200) or is located on another computing resource communicatively coupled to the soil sensor (400/404), receives real-time soil information (20)—e.g. soil reflectance data—on the real-world situation of the geographical location G1 in the agricultural field from the soil sensor (400/404) and processes this information to obtain processed information (30), e.g. the nitrogen content of the soil, which is then provided to the treatment control unit (210). The parametrization interface (240), which receives the parametrization (10) from the field manager system (100), provides the parametrization (10) to the treatment control unit (210). The treatment control unit (210) is mechanically attached or communicatively coupled to the treatment device (200), or is mechanically attached or communicatively coupled to the treatment arrangement (270). After the parametrization (10) and the processed information (30) have been provided to the treatment control unit (210), the treatment control unit (210) determines a control signal (50) for controlling the treatment arrangement (270). This control signal (50) is provided to the treatment arrangement (270).

[0170] The middle part of FIG. 3 illustrates that, during the time of the processes described in the upper part of FIG. 3, the treatment device (200) has now moved further in the agricultural field, and the treatment arrangement (270) now executes the treatment dependent on the control signal (50) on the geographical location G2 in the agricultural field.

[0171] The lower part of FIG. 3 illustrates that the distance between the geographical locations G1 and G2 does not exceed 100 meters.

[0172] FIG. 4 illustrates a flow diagram showing the operation of the method of the present invention. In step (S10), a parametrization (10) for controlling a treatment device (200) by the treatment device (200) from a field manager system (100) is received. In step (S20), real-time soil information on the real-world situation of the geographical location G1 in the agricultural field is received from a soil sensor. In step (S30), real-time soil information (20)—e.g. soil reflectance data—on the real-world situation of the geographical location G1 in the agricultural field is received from the soil sensor. In step (S40), this information is processed to obtain processed information (30), e.g. the nitrogen content of the soil. In step (S50), a treatment on the geographical location G2 in the agricultural field (300) is executed, for example by applying a treatment product to the agricultural field in a specific dosage.

[0173] The above-described methods may be embodied as instructions on a computer readable medium or as part of a computing architecture, particularly part of the computing architecture 700 as illustrated in FIG. 5. The soil sensor 400, the processing unit 500, the field manager system 100, the treatment device 200, the treatment control unit 210, the online field data interface 240, the parametrization interface 250, or the treatment arrangement 270 may be embodied as part of a computing architecture, particularly part of the computing architecture 700 as illustrated in FIG. 5.

[0174] FIG. 5 illustrates an embodiment of an exemplary computing architecture 700 suitable for implementing various embodiments as previously described. In one embodiment, the computing architecture 700 may comprise or be implemented as part of an electronic device, such as a computer 701. The embodiments are not limited in this context.

[0175] As used in this application, the terms “system” and “component” are intended to refer to a computer-related entity, either hardware, a combination of hardware and software, software, or software in execution, examples of which are provided by the exemplary computing architecture 700. For example, a component can be, but is not limited to being, a process running on a processor, a processor, a hard disk drive, multiple storage drives (of optical and/or magnetic storage medium), an object, an executable, a thread of execution, a program, and/or a computer. By way of illustration, both an application running on a server and the server can be a component. One or more components can reside within a process and/or thread of execution, and a component can be localized on one computer and/or distributed between two or more computers. Further, components may be communicatively coupled to each other by various types of communications media to coordinate operations. The coordination may involve the uni-directional or bi-directional exchange of information. For instance, the components may communicate information in the form of signals communicated over the communications media. The information can be implemented as signals allocated to various signal lines. In such allocations, each message is a signal. Further embodiments, however, may alternatively employ data messages. Such data messages may be sent across various connections. Exemplary connections include parallel interfaces, serial interfaces, and bus interfaces.

[0176] The computing architecture 700 includes various common computing elements, such as one or more processors, multi-core processors, co-processors, memory units, chipsets, controllers, peripherals, interfaces, oscillators, timing devices, video cards, audio cards, multimedia input/output (I/O) components, power supplies, and so forth. The embodiments, however, are not limited to implementation by the computing architecture 700.

[0177] As shown in FIG. 5, the computing architecture 700 comprises a computer processing unit 702, a system memory 704 and a system bus 706. The computer processing unit 702 can be any of various commercially available processors, including without limitation an AMD® Athlon®, Duron® and Opteron® processors; ARM® application, embedded and secure processors; IBM® and Motorola® DragonBall® and PowerPC® processors; IBM and Sony® Cell processors; Intel® Celeron®, Core (2) Duo®, Itanium®, Pentium®, Xeon®, and XScale® processors; and similar processors. Dual microprocessors, multi-core processors, and other multi processor architectures may also be employed as the computer processing unit 702.

[0178] The system bus 706 provides an interface for system components including, but not limited to, the system memory 704 to the computer processing unit 702. The system bus 706 can be any of several types of bus structure that may further interconnect to a memory bus (with or without a memory controller), a peripheral bus, and a local bus using any of a variety of commercially available bus architectures. Interface adapters may connect to the system bus 706 via a slot architecture. Example slot architectures may include without limitation Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP), Card Bus, (Extended) Industry Standard Architecture ((E)ISA), Micro Channel Architecture (MCA), NuBus, Peripheral Component Interconnect (Extended) (PCI(X)), PCI Express, Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA), and the like.

[0179] The computing architecture 700 may comprise or implement various articles of manufacture. An article of manufacture may comprise a computer-readable storage medium to store logic.

[0180] Examples of a computer-readable storage medium may include any tangible media capable of storing electronic data, including volatile memory or non-volatile memory, removable or non-removable memory, erasable or non-erasable memory, writeable or re-writeable memory, and so forth. Examples of logic may include executable computer program instructions implemented using any suitable type of code, such as source code, compiled code, interpreted code, executable code, static code, dynamic code, object-oriented code, visual code, and the like. Embodiments may also be at least partly implemented as instructions contained in or on a non-transitory computer-readable medium, which may be read and executed by one or more processors to enable performance of the operations described herein.

[0181] The system memory 704 may include various types of computer-readable storage media in the form of one or more higher speed memory units, such as read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), Double-Data-Rate DRAM (DDRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), static RAM (SRAM), programmable ROM (PROM), erasable programmable ROM (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), flash memory, polymer memory such as ferroelectric polymer memory, ovonic memory, phase change or ferroelectric memory, silicon-oxide-nitride-oxide-silicon (SONOS) memory, magnetic or optical cards, an array of devices such as Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) drives, solid state memory devices (e.g., USB memory, solid state drives (SSD) and any other type of storage media suitable for storing information. In the illustrated embodiment shown in FIG. 5, the system memory 704 can include non-volatile memory 708 and/or volatile memory 710. A basic input/output system (BIOS) can be stored in the non-volatile memory 708.

[0182] The computing architecture 700 may include various types of computer-readable storage media in the form of one or more lower speed memory units, including an internal (or external) hard disk drive (HDD) 712, a magnetic floppy disk drive (FDD) 714 to read from or write to a removable magnetic disk 716, and an optical disk drive 718 to read from or write to a removable optical disk 720 (e.g., a CD-ROM or DVD). The HDD 712, FDD 714 and optical disk 720 can be connected to the system bus 706 by an HDD interface 722, an FDD interface 724 and an optical drive interface 726, respectively. The HDD interface 722 for external drive implementations can include at least one or both of Universal Serial Bus (USB) and IEEE 694 interface technologies.

[0183] The drives and associated computer-readable media provide volatile and/or nonvolatile storage of data, data structures, computer-executable instructions, and so forth. For example, a number of program modules can be stored in the drives and memory units 708, 712, including an operating system 728, one or more application programs 730, other program modules 732, and program data 734. In one embodiment, the one or more application programs 730, other program modules 732, and program data 734 can include, for example, the various applications and/or components of the #the soil sensor 400, processing unit 500, the field manager system 100, the treatment device 200, the treatment control unit 210, the online field data interface 240, the parametrization interface 250, or the treatment arrangement 270.

[0184] A user can enter commands and information into the computer 701 through one or more wire/wireless input devices, for example, a keyboard 736 and a pointing device, such as a mouse 738. Other input devices may include microphones, infra-red (IR) remote controls, radio-frequency (RF) remote controls, game pads, stylus pens, card readers, dongles, finger print readers, gloves, graphics tablets, joysticks, keyboards, retina readers, touch screens (e.g., capacitive, resistive, etc.), trackballs, trackpads, sensors, styluses, and the like. These and other input devices are often connected to the computer processing unit 702 through an input device interface 740 that is coupled to the system bus 706, but can be connected by other interfaces such as a parallel port, IEEE 694 serial port, a game port, a USB port, an IR interface, and so forth.

[0185] A monitor 742 or other type of display device is also connected to the system bus 706 via an interface, such as a video adaptor. The monitor 742 may be internal or external to the computer 701. In addition to the monitor 742, a computer typically includes other peripheral output devices, such as speakers, printers, and so forth.

[0186] The computer 701 may operate in a networked environment using logical connections via wire and/or wireless communications to one or more remote computers, such as a remote computer 744. The remote computer 744 can be a workstation, a server computer, a router, a personal computer, portable computer, microprocessor-based entertainment appliance, a peer device or other common network node, and typically includes many or all of the elements described relative to the computer 701, although, for purposes of brevity, only a memory/storage device 746 is illustrated. The logical connections depicted include wire/wireless connectivity to a local area network (LAN) 748 and/or larger networks, for example, a wide area network (WAN) 750. Such LAN and WAN networking environments are commonplace in offices and companies, and facilitate enterprise-wide computer networks, such as intranets, all of which may connect to a global communications network, for example, the Internet.

[0187] When used in a LAN networking environment, the computer 701 is connected to the LAN 748 through a wire and/or wireless communication network interface or adaptor 752. The adaptor 752 can facilitate wire and/or wireless communications to the LAN 748, which may also include a wireless access point disposed thereon for communicating with the wireless functionality of the adaptor 752.

[0188] When used in a WAN networking environment, the computer 701 can include a modem 754, or is connected to a communications server on the WAN 750, or has other means for establishing communications over the WAN 750, such as by way of the Internet. The modem 754, which can be internal or external and a wire and/or wireless device, connects to the system bus 706 via the input device interface 740. In a networked environment, program modules depicted relative to the computer 701, or portions thereof, can be stored in the remote memory/storage device 746. It will be appreciated that the network connections shown are exemplary and other means of establishing a communications link between the computers can be used.

[0189] The computer 701 is operable to communicate with wire and wireless devices or entities using the IEEE 802 family of standards, such as wireless devices operatively disposed in wireless communication (e.g., IEEE 802.13 over-the-air modulation techniques). This includes at least Wi-Fi (or Wireless Fidelity), WiMax, and Bluetooth™ wireless technologies, among others. Thus, the communication can be a predefined structure as with a conventional network or simply an ad hoc communication between at least two devices. Wi-Fi networks use radio technologies called IEEE 802.13x (a, b, g, n, etc.) to provide secure, reliable, fast wireless connectivity. A Wi-Fi network can be used to connect computers to each other, to the Internet, and to wire networks (which use IEEE 802.3-related media and functions).

[0190] FIG. 6 is a block diagram depicting an exemplary communications architecture 800 suitable for implementing various embodiments as previously described. The communications architecture 800 includes various common communications elements, such as a transmitter, receiver, transceiver, radio, network interface, baseband processor, antenna, amplifiers, filters, power supplies, and so forth. The embodiments, however, are not limited to implementation by the communications architecture 800.

[0191] As shown in FIG. 6, the communications architecture 800 includes one or more clients 802 and servers 804. The clients 802 and the servers 804 are operatively connected to one or more respective client data stores 806 and server data stores 808 that can be employed to store information local to the respective clients 802 and servers 804, such as cookies and/or associated contextual information.

[0192] The clients 802 and the servers 804 may communicate information between each other using a communication framework 810. The communications framework 810 may implement any wellknown communications techniques and protocols. The communications framework 810 may be implemented as a packet-switched network (e.g., public networks such as the Internet, private networks such as an enterprise intranet, and so forth), a circuit-switched network (e.g., the public switched telephone network), or a combination of a packet-switched network and a circuit-switched network (with suitable gateways and translators).

[0193] The communications framework 810 may implement various network interfaces arranged to accept, communicate, and connect to a communications network. A network interface may be regarded as a specialized form of an input output interface. Network interfaces may employ connection protocols including without limitation direct connect, Ethernet (e.g., thick, thin, twisted pair 10/100/1000 Base T, and the like), token ring, wireless network interfaces, cellular network interfaces, IEEE 802.8a-x network interfaces, IEEE 802.16 network interfaces, IEEE 802.20 network interfaces, and the like. Further, multiple network interfaces may be used to engage with various communications network types. For example, multiple network interfaces may be employed to allow for the communication over broadcast, multicast, and unicast networks. Should processing requirements dictate a greater amount speed and capacity, distributed network controller architectures may similarly be employed to pool, load balance, and otherwise increase the communicative bandwidth required by clients 802 and the servers 804. A communications network may be any one and the combination of wired and/or wireless networks including without limitation a direct interconnection, a secured custom connection, a private network (e.g., an enterprise intranet), a public network (e.g., the Internet), a Personal Area Network (PAN), a Local Area Network (LAN), a Metropolitan Area Network (MAN), an Operating Missions as Nodes on the Internet (OMNI), a Wide Area Network (WAN), a wireless network, a cellular network, and other communications networks.

[0194] The components and features of the devices described above may be implemented using any combination of discrete circuitry, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), logic gates and/or single chip architectures. Further, the features of the devices may be implemented using microcontrollers, programmable logic arrays and/or microprocessors or any combination of the foregoing where suitably appropriate. It is noted that hardware, firmware and/or software elements may be collectively or individually referred to herein as “logic” or “circuit.”

[0195] It will be appreciated that the exemplary devices shown in the block diagrams described above may represent one functionally descriptive example of many potential implementations. Accordingly, division, omission or inclusion of block functions depicted in the accompanying figures does not infer that the hardware components, circuits, software and/or elements for implementing these functions would be necessarily be divided, omitted, or included in embodiments.

[0196] At least one computer-readable storage medium may include instructions that, when executed, cause a system to perform any of the methods or computer-implemented methods described herein.