TURF MANAGEMENT

• US 20120084115A1
• Filed: 09/30/2010
• Published: 04/05/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toro Company (Toro)
• Original Assignee: Toro Company (Toro)
• Inventors: Cline, Van Willis, Rice, Kathleen Sue, Carson, Troy David
• Granted Patent: US 9,872,445 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7.27
• CPC Class Codes: A01G 25/00 Watering gardens, fields, sports grounds or the like special apparatus or adaptations for fertilising-liquids A01C23/00; nozzles or outlets, spraying apparatus B05B
• CPC Class Codes: A01G 25/02 Watering arrangements located above the soil which make use of perforated pipe-lines or pipe-lines with dispensing fittings, e.g. for drip irrigation
• CPC Class Codes: A01G 25/16 Control of watering
• CPC Class Codes: A01G 25/167 Control by humidity of the soil itself or of devices simulating soil or of the atmosphere; Soil humidity sensors
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0633 Workflow analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/02 Agriculture; Fishing; Forestry; Mining
• CPC Class Codes: Y02A 40/10 in agriculture

Abstract

A turf management system includes an irrigation system for providing water to the turf at a turf site, and an irrigation evaluation system for evaluating the performance of the irrigation system. The irrigation evaluation system segments the turf site into irrigation management units, where each of the irrigation management units includes at least one sprinkler head. Qualities of the turf are measured to generate collected data points. The data points are used by the irrigation evaluation system to compute a value for the turf in each of the irrigation management units. The values can then be used to identify irrigation management units having common characteristics. The values can be used to define irrigation management zones for controlling the irrigation system.

Claims

1. A method of evaluating an irrigation system at a turf site, the turf site including turf, the method comprising:

segmenting the turf site into a plurality of irrigation management units, wherein each irrigation management unit of the turf site includes at least one sprinkler head; and

for each irrigation management unit, computing with a computing device a value representing a characteristic of the turf within the irrigation management unit.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the value is a water content value, and further comprising:

assigning each irrigation management unit to one of a plurality of irrigation management zones based at least in part on the water content value, wherein at least some of the irrigation management zones include more than one irrigation management unit.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

programming an irrigation control system to commonly control the sprinkler heads within one of the irrigation management zones.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

installing an in-ground moisture sensor into the turf within the one of the irrigation management zones; and

programming the irrigation control system to provide water to the turf within the one of the irrigation management zones based at least in part on data from the in-ground moisture sensor.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein assigning further comprises assigning each irrigation management unit to one of the plurality of irrigation management zones based at least in part on a soil salinity value.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein assigning further comprises:

computing an aspect value for at least some of the irrigation management units;

computing a steepness value for at least some of the irrigation management units;

computing topography values for at least some of the irrigation management units based at least in part on the aspect values and the steepness values; and

assigning at least some of the irrigation management units to one of the plurality of irrigation management zones based at least in part on the topography values.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein segmenting further comprises:

computing boundaries for the irrigation management units based on the locations of the sprinkler heads, wherein all points within each irrigation management unit are closer to or equally distanced from the at least one sprinkler head within the irrigation management zone than any other sprinkler head at the turf site.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein at least one of the boundaries is perpendicular to an imaginary line extending through two of the sprinkler heads, and passing through the midpoint of the line.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

generating a graphical representation of the values, the graphical representation including a diagram of at least a portion of the turf site and illustrating boundaries of the irrigation management units.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

collecting a plurality of data points for the turf site using a mobile data collection vehicle, the mobile data collection vehicle including a plurality of instruments including a soil moisture sensor coupled to ground penetrating probes, wherein the data collection vehicle is arranged and configured to collect at least some of the plurality of data samples without stopping; and

computing with the computing device the value representing the characteristic of the turf within the irrigation management unit utilizing at least some of the collected data points.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein each data point is associated with a location, and further comprising:

interpolating at least some of the collected data points using Kriging techniques to generate fine data points, and wherein at least some of the fine data points are used to compute the value representing the characteristic of the turf.

12. An irrigation system for providing water to turf at a turf site, the irrigation system comprising:

sprinkler heads;

water lines connected to a source of water and to valves that control the flow of water through the sprinkler heads; and

at least one control system including a computing device, the computing device operably connected to the valves to selectively open the valves to allow water to flow through the sprinkler heads and onto the turf,

wherein the computing device is programmed to commonly control a first plurality of the sprinkler heads within a first irrigation management zone according to a first set of control parameters, and is programmed to commonly control a second plurality of sprinkler heads within a second irrigation management zone according to a second set of control parameters,

wherein the first plurality of sprinkler heads are all positioned in turf having a first common characteristic, and wherein the second plurality of sprinkler heads are all positioned in turf having a second common characteristic.

13. The irrigation system of claim 12, wherein the first and second control parameters identify a duration and a frequency.

14. The irrigation system of claim 12, wherein the control system is programmed to commonly control the first plurality of sprinkler heads according to the first set of control parameters when operating in a leaching mode, wherein the first set of control parameters cause the irrigation management system to provide a leaching fraction of water to the turf in the first irrigation management zone.

15. The irrigation system of claim 14, further comprising:

an in-ground salinity sensor positioned in the turf within the first irrigation management zone, wherein the control system is triggered to operate in the leaching mode by the in-ground salinity sensor.

16. The irrigation system of claim 12, wherein the first irrigation management zone includes only one moisture sensor, and wherein the control system utilizes the moisture sensor to determine when to water the turf in the first irrigation management zone.

17. A method of evaluating and controlling an irrigation system at a turf site including turf, the method comprising:

transporting a data collection vehicle to a turf site, the data collection vehicle including at least a location identification device and at least one instrument adapted to measure a quality of the turf;

collecting data points using the data collection vehicle, by moving the data collection vehicle across the turf while operating the instrument, the data points including a value indicative of the measured quality of the turf and a location where the data point was obtained;

identifying areas of the turf site having similar qualities using the data points; and

defining irrigation management zones, wherein each irrigation management zone includes areas of the turf site having similar qualities.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

providing irrigation management zone information to a person authorized to operate the irrigation system at the turf site.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the information includes at least one graphical representation of the turf site illustrating the locations of the irrigation management zones.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the information includes control parameters for the irrigation system.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein the turf includes a ground covering and a layer of soil.