CROP MONITORING SYSTEM

• US 20150130936A1
• Filed: 11/06/2014
• Published: 05/14/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/08/2013
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Dow Agrosciences LLC (Corteva, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Dow Agrosciences LLC (Corteva, Inc.)
• Inventors: Yang, Yang, Wright, Terry R., Setlur, Pradeep, Coram, Tristan
• Application Number:
  US14/535,107
• Publication Number:
  US 20150130936A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/144
• CPC Class Codes: B64B 1/44 adapted to maintain predetermined altitude
• CPC Class Codes: B64B 1/50 Captive balloons
• CPC Class Codes: B64B 1/66 Mooring attachments
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 39/022 Tethered aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 47/08 Arrangements of cameras
• CPC Class Codes: B64F 1/12 for anchoring aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: B64F 1/14 Towers or masts for mooring airships or balloons
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 10/60 Tethered aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 20/87 Mounting of imaging devices, e.g. mounting of gimbals
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2201/202 using tethers for connecting to ground station
• CPC Class Codes: F03D 5/00 Other wind motors controlling thereof F03D7/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/0098 Plants or trees wood G01N33/46
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/00 Control of position, course, altitude or attitude of land, water, air or space vehicles, e.g. using automatic pilots drive control systems specially adapted for autonomous road vehicles B60W60/00
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0094 involving pointing a payload, e.g. camera, weapon, sensor, towards a fixed or moving target
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0866 specially adapted to captive aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 10/70 Wind energy

Abstract

A system for high temporal and high spatial resolution monitoring of a field of plants is disclosed. Illustratively, the system includes a plurality of ground based reference objects, a balloon adapted to be positioned above the field of plants, and a balloon positioning system coupled to the balloon and configured to position the balloon relative to the field of plants. An imaging system is supported by the balloon and includes a location system, at least one camera, and at least one gimbal configured to orient the at least one camera. The imaging system captures at least one image of the field of plants including the plurality of ground based reference objects in the at least one image.

Claims

1. A system for monitoring a field of plants, the system comprising:

a plurality of ground based reference objects, each located at a known reference elevation, a known reference latitude, and a known reference longitude;

a balloon adapted to be positioned above the field of plants;

a balloon positioning system coupled to the balloon and configured to position the balloon relative to the field of plants;

an imaging system supported by the balloon, the imaging system including

a location system which determines a balloon elevation, a balloon latitude, and a balloon longitude,

at least one camera, and

at least one gimbal configured to orient the at least one camera, wherein the imaging system captures at least one image of the field of plants including the plurality of ground based reference objects in the at least one image.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of ground based reference objects each include a position reference panel having a unique identifier, the unique identifier being visible to the imaging system to identify the position reference panel.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the balloon positioning system includes a plurality of winches supported below the balloon, and a plurality of tethers extending between the winches and the balloon.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein four winches and tethers provide lateral and longitudinal positioning of the balloon.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein a fifth winch and tether provides for elevational positioning of the balloon.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the location system includes a global positioning system receiver for detecting at least the balloon latitude and the balloon longitude.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the location system further includes an altimeter for detecting the balloon elevation.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one camera includes a multispectral camera for acquiring at least one image in a plurality of channels of the electromagnetic spectrum.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the at least one camera further includes a thermal imaging camera supported in parallel to the multispectral camera, the thermal imaging camera configured to receive at least one image in a desired thermal wavelength.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the at least one camera further includes a digital camera providing a visual feedback for guidance and target aiming.

11. The system of claim 1, further comprising a controller in communication with the balloon positioning system and the imaging system.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the controller includes a driving computer that controls the balloon positioning system and the location system, and an imaging computer that processes data from the at least one camera.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the imaging computer geo-rectifies the at least one image, radiometric calibrates the at least one image, and establishes regions of interest in the at least one image.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the imaging computer further calculates the value of temperature and vegetation indices for each region of interest, establishes a time sequence of surface temperature and vegetation indices of each region of interest, and statistically analyzes data and select candidates for advancement in each region of interest.

15. The system of claim 12, further comprising a network cable extending between the controller and the imaging system supported by the balloon, a lower internet switch including a first port coupled to the driving computer and a second port coupled to the imaging computer, and an upper internet switch including a port coupled to the at least one camera.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one gimbal is configured to rotate the at least one camera about three axes for pointing the at least one camera in desired directions to acquire images in the field of study.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the at least one gimbal is configured to rotate the at least one camera 360 degrees about a z-axis, at least 180 degrees about an x-axis, and at least 180 degrees about a y-axis.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the imaging system includes a position sensor operably coupled to the at least one gimbal and configured to detect the angular orientation of the at least one gimbal and the direction of the at least one camera.

19. A method of monitoring a field of plants, the method comprising the steps of:

positioning a plurality of ground based reference objects relative to the field of plants, each located at a known reference position including a known reference elevation, a known reference latitude, and a known reference longitude;

obtaining a first aerial image of the field of plants, the first aerial image being taken at a respective image position which corresponds to an image elevation, an image latitude, and an image longitude; and

assigning a position to each pixel in the first aerial image based on the image position and the known positions of the ground based reference objects captured in the first aerial image.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising the step of positioning an aerial platform above the field of plants at the image elevation, the image latitude, and the image longitude.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the aerial platform comprises a balloon filled with a gas lighter than air, a plurality of winches, and a plurality of tethers extending between the balloon and the winches, and the step of positioning includes the steps of floating the balloon above the field of plants and controlling the winches to position the balloon.

22. The method of claim 20, further comprising the step of detecting changes in the image elevation, the image latitude, and the image longitude, and repositioning the aerial platform to the prior image elevation, image latitude, and longitude prior to obtaining a second aerial image.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising the steps of acquiring and processing spatial-temporal resolution data from successive first and second images.

24. The method of claim 22, further comprising the steps of:

obtaining a second aerial image of the field of plants, the second aerial image being taken at a respective position which corresponds to an image elevation, an image latitude, and an image longitude; and

for the second image assigning a position to each pixel in the second image based on the image position and the known positions of the ground based reference objects captured in the second image.

25. The method of claim 19, further comprising the step of radiometric calibrating the image.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising the step of establishing regions of interests in each image.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising the step of calculating values of temperature and vegetation indices for each region of interest.

28. The method of claim 27, further comprising establishing time sequence of surface temperature and vegetation indices of each region of interest.