PASTURE MANAGEMENT

• US 20100283603A1
• Filed: 06/08/2006
• Published: 11/11/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/08/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: C-Dax Ltd., Massey University
• Original Assignee: C-Dax Systems Limited, Farmworks Limited, Massey University
• Inventors: Murray, Robert, Yule, Ian, Laan, Willem-Peter Vander, Stewart, James Frederick, Lawrence, Hayden, Sanson, Colin
• Granted Patent: US 8,823,519 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/540
• CPC Class Codes: A01B 79/005 Precision agriculture
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2021/8466 Investigation of vegetal material, e.g. leaves, plants, fruits
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/0098 Plants or trees wood G01N33/46
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/08 for measuring distance only indirect measurement G01S17/46; active triangulation systems G01S17/48
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/46 Indirect determination of position data
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/87 Combinations of systems using electromagnetic waves other than radio waves
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/88 Lidar systems specially adapted for specific applications

Abstract

A plant matter sensor, the sensor includes a pair of parallel spaced apart sensor arms and a control console, a first of the arms having a plurality of emitter means spaced along its length, each emitter configured and arranged to, in use, emit a signal substantially perpendicularly to the arm to be received by a corresponding receiver on the second arm. The console contains controller means to, in use, control the rate, strength and regularity of the signal emitted by each of the said emitters, collectors to, in use, collect data from each receiver as to the existence or absence of receipt of a signal, a processor to process data received from the controllers and the collectors and determine the height of any plant matter traversed by the plant matter sensor and predetermined intervals, and storage to store the plant matter height data generated by the processor for subsequent download or analysis.

Claims

1. A plant matter sensor, the sensor comprising a pair of parallel spaced apart substantially vertically disposed sensor arms and a control console, a first of said arms having a plurality of emitter means spaced along its length, each emitter means configured and arranged to, in use, emit a signal substantially perpendicularly to the said arm to be received by a corresponding receiver means on the second arm, the control console containing control means to, in use, control the rate, strength and regularity of the signal emitted by each of the said emitter means, collection means to, in use, collect data from each receiver means as to the existence or absence of receipt of a signal, processor means to process data received from the control means and the collection means and determine the height of any plant matter traversed by the plant matter sensor and predetermined intervals, and storage means to store the plant matter height data generated by the processor means for subsequent download or analysis.

3. A sensor according to claim 1 wherein the sensor emitter means are optimised to emit a high intensity pulse of infra-red light and said receiver means are optimised to receive said high intensity pulse of infra-red light.

4. A sensor according to claim 3 wherein the sensor includes twelve emitter means paired with twelve receiver means and wherein the emitter means operate as four banks of three, with every fourth emitter means along the length of the first sensor arm being part of the same bank.

7. A sensor according to claim 4 wherein each bank of emitter means emits a pulse of infra-red light in series, preferably with each bank emitting a pulse of no more than 100 milliseconds long.

8. A sensor according to claim 1 wherein the sensor is adapted to be able to take at least 200 readings per second.

11. A sensor according to claim 1 wherein the processor means monitors the receiver means for faults, so that if a potential fault is detected the console is able to provide an alert to an operator.

12. A sensor according to claim 1 further including a GPS receiver such that, in use, each set of data collected by the collection means is geo-referenced as to its collection position.

13. A sensor according to claim 1 configured and arranged as a pasture sensor to determine pasture density as kilograms of dry matter per hectare.

16. A sensor according to claim 13 wherein the control console further includes a user input interface to enable an operator to input the appropriate time of year and pasture type so that the processor uses the appropriate conversion calculations when calculating pasture density.

17. A sensor according to claim 13 wherein the number of pairs of emitter means and receiver means and the sensor reading rate is sufficient to generate a constant silhouette of the plant matter along the line of sensor travel.

18. A sensor according to claim 17 wherein the processor means is adapted to automatically determine the pasture type based on real-time analysis of the silhouette by the processor means.

20. A sensor according to claim 18 wherein the processor means is adapted to determine in real-time an appropriate metabolised energy value for each particular plant in the silhouette on the basis of recognition via the silhouette.

21. A sensor according to claim 1 further including wireless data transfer means to wirelessly upload and download data.

2. (canceled)

5-6. -6. (canceled)

9-10. -10. (canceled)

14-15. -15. (canceled)

19. (canceled)

22-23. -23. (canceled)

27-28. -28. (canceled)

31. A sensor assembly comprising a sensor mounted in a support frame wherein the sensor comprises a pair of parallel spaced apart substantially vertically disposed sensor arms and a control console, a first of said arms having a plurality of emitter means spaced along its length, each emitter means configured and arranged to, in use, emit a signal substantially perpendicularly to the said arm to be received by a corresponding receiver means on the second arm, the control console containing control means to, in use, control the rate, strength and regularity of the signal emitted by each of the said emitter means, collection means to, in use, collect data from each receiver means as to the existence or absence of receipt of a signal, processor means to process data received from the control means and the collection means and determine the height of any plant matter traversed by the plant matter sensor and predetermined intervals, and storage means to store the plant matter height data generated by the processor means for subsequent download or analysis and wherein the support frame comprises attachment means for attaching the support frame to a towing vehicle, sensor mounting means for mounting the sensor and maintaining it in a substantially vertical orientation, and ground engagement means to maintain the sensor at a predetermined level above the ground during operation.

24. A sensor assembly according to claim 31 wherein the ground engagement means comprise a pair of parallel spaced apart skids wherein each skid further includes a downwardly projecting blade running substantially the length of the underside of said skid.

25. A sensor assembly according to claim 31 further including wheels for transporting the sensor from one location to another while not in use such that the ground engagement means are no long in ground engagement.

26. A sensor assembly according to claim 25 wherein the transport wheels are adapted to move from a transport position to a second position whereat the ground engagement means are in ground engagement and said transport wheels serve as stabilizers against the support frame tipping over sideways;

when at said second position.

29. A sensor assembly according to claim 31 further including a pair of spaced apart deflector guards configured and arranged to, in use, present a defined bandwidth of pasture passing between the sensor arms.

30. A sensor assembly according to claim 29 wherein the defined bandwidth of pasture is 20-200 millimetres narrower than space between sensor arms.

32. A sensor assembly according to claim 24 configured and arranged so as to be sufficiently heavy that, in use, the ground beneath the skids is slightly flattened as the skids pass over thereby achieving a smoother ride.

33. A sensor assembly according to claim 32 adapted to travel at a rate of 15-25 kph during operation.

34-53. -53. (canceled)