System, apparatus, and method for remote soil moisture measurement and control
First Claim
1. A system for remote moisture monitoring and control, comprising:
- a) at least one measurement vehicle, further including;
a vehicle body, wherein the vehicle body is selected from the group consisting of a ground vehicle body and an aviation vehicle body;
a vehicle control unit, which is attached to the vehicle body; and
at least one transceiver antenna, which is configured to send and receive electromagnetic signals, wherein the electromagnetic signals are reflected back from a ground surface layer of soil in a field; and
b) a moisture control server, which is connected to the measurement vehicle, via a network;
wherein the vehicle control unit is configured to control transmission of an outbound electromagnetic signal with a predetermined incident wave power, via the transceiver antenna;
wherein the vehicle control unit is configured to determine a reflected power of an inbound electromagnetic signal, which is received via the transceiver antenna, wherein the inbound electromagnetic signal is a reflection in the soil of the outbound electromagnetic signal;
wherein the moisture control server is configured to determine a soil moisture of the field by lookup of a calculated dielectric constant in a soil calibration table that correlates dielectric constant with soil moisture;
wherein the moisture control server is configured to calculate the calculated dielectric constant via a reflection calculation, based on a predetermined dielectric constant of air, the incident wave power, and the reflected power;
wherein the transceiver antenna is constructed to transmit a set of transmission signals at varying frequency, each respective transmission signal at a different frequency, and to receive, for each respective transmitted signal, a reflected electromagnet signal that indicates soil moisture at a particular soil depth, whereby evaluating the reflected signals from the plurality of transmitted signals enables soil moisture to be profiled as a function of soil depth.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system for remote moisture monitoring and control includes: a measurement vehicle, including a vehicle body, a vehicle control unit, a transmitter antenna, and a receiver antenna; a moisture control server, including a processor, a non-transitory memory, an input/output, and antenna manager, a multi spectrum analyzer, a sensor manager, an irrigation manager, a soil simulator and a data bus; a vehicle storage facility; an irrigation controller; irrigation valves; a mobile control device; ground sensors. Also disclosed is a method including piloting measurement vehicle; obtaining moisture measurements, including controlling outbound transmission, determining reflected power, calculating dielectric constant via reflection calculation, determining soil moisture via lookup in soil calibration table; obtaining sensor measurements; calculating soil model; and adjusting irrigation.
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Citations
22 Claims
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1. A system for remote moisture monitoring and control, comprising:
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a) at least one measurement vehicle, further including; a vehicle body, wherein the vehicle body is selected from the group consisting of a ground vehicle body and an aviation vehicle body; a vehicle control unit, which is attached to the vehicle body; and at least one transceiver antenna, which is configured to send and receive electromagnetic signals, wherein the electromagnetic signals are reflected back from a ground surface layer of soil in a field; and b) a moisture control server, which is connected to the measurement vehicle, via a network; wherein the vehicle control unit is configured to control transmission of an outbound electromagnetic signal with a predetermined incident wave power, via the transceiver antenna; wherein the vehicle control unit is configured to determine a reflected power of an inbound electromagnetic signal, which is received via the transceiver antenna, wherein the inbound electromagnetic signal is a reflection in the soil of the outbound electromagnetic signal; wherein the moisture control server is configured to determine a soil moisture of the field by lookup of a calculated dielectric constant in a soil calibration table that correlates dielectric constant with soil moisture; wherein the moisture control server is configured to calculate the calculated dielectric constant via a reflection calculation, based on a predetermined dielectric constant of air, the incident wave power, and the reflected power; wherein the transceiver antenna is constructed to transmit a set of transmission signals at varying frequency, each respective transmission signal at a different frequency, and to receive, for each respective transmitted signal, a reflected electromagnet signal that indicates soil moisture at a particular soil depth, whereby evaluating the reflected signals from the plurality of transmitted signals enables soil moisture to be profiled as a function of soil depth. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A method for remote moisture monitoring and control, comprising:
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a) piloting a measurement vehicle, wherein the measurement vehicle is piloted over a field; and b) obtaining moisture measurements at a plurality of soil depths, wherein the measurement vehicle obtains moisture measurements from the field, comprising; controlling transmission of a plurality of outbound electromagnetic signals, each signal targeted to a different soil depth, and each outbound electromagnetic signal with a predetermined incident wave power; determining a reflected power of an inbound electromagnetic signal for each of the respective outbound electromagnetic signals, wherein each inbound electromagnetic signal is a reflection in soil of the field of the outbound electromagnetic signal; calculating, for each respective inbound electromagnet signal, a calculated dielectric constant via a reflection calculation, based on a predetermined dielectric constant of air, the incident wave power, and the reflected power; determining, for each respective inbound electromagnet signal, a soil moisture of the field by lookup of the calculated dielectric constant in a soil calibration table that correlates dielectric constant with soil moisture; and evaluating the inbound electromagnet signals to determine soil moisture as a function of soil depth. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22)
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Specification