Intelligent agricultural systems

• US 20170181389A1
• Filed: 12/24/2015
• Published: 06/29/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/24/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Jain, Sandeep K.
• Granted Patent: US 10,070,598 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: A01B 79/005 Precision agriculture
• CPC Class Codes: A01C 14/00 Methods or apparatus for planting not provided for in other groups of this subclass
• CPC Class Codes: A01C 21/007 Determining fertilization requirements
• 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: A01G 27/008 Component parts, e.g. dispensing fittings, level indicators
• CPC Class Codes: A01M 21/00 Apparatus for the destruction of unwanted vegetation, e.g. weeds control of undesirable vegetation on roads or permanent ways of railways E01H11/00
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

An agricultural data collection system may include a plurality of self-powered agricultural data collection devices disposed across an agricultural area. The agricultural data collection system may also include a plurality of self-powered agricultural output devices that control the distribution of one or more agricultural resources across at least a portion of the agricultural area. The plurality of self-powered agricultural data collection devices and the plurality of self-powered agricultural output devices may communicate wirelessly to selectively implement an agricultural management method that uses data collected by the self-powered agricultural data collection devices to provide agricultural resources where needed within localized agricultural areas within a larger agricultural area. At times, the agricultural management method may include an adaptive method that employs machine learning principles to optimize agricultural production within the agricultural area.

Claims

1. An agricultural resource management system, comprising:

a plurality of self-powered data collection devices disposed across at least a portion of an agricultural area, each of the self-powered data collection devices including;

an energy collector;

an environmental sensor;

a communication interface;

a control circuit communicably coupled to the environmental sensor;

a storage device communicably coupled to the control circuit, the storage device including machine-readable instructions, that when executed by the control circuit, cause the control circuit to;

collect environmental data within a localized agricultural area proximate the self-powered data collection device via the environmental sensor;

exchange at least a portion of the collected environmental data with at least some of the remaining plurality of self-powered data collection devices;

cooperatively monitor and control distribution of an agricultural resource across at least a portion of the agricultural area that includes the respective localized agricultural area proximate the respective self-powered data collection device.

2. The agricultural resource management system of claim 1, further comprising:

at least one self-powered output device to control the distribution of the agricultural resource across at least a portion of the agricultural area, each self-powered output device including;

an energy collector;

a final control element;

a communication interface;

a control circuit communicably coupled to the final control element;

a storage device communicably coupled to the control circuit, the storage device including machine-readable instructions, that when executed by the control circuit, cause the control circuit to;

receive a command to from at least one of the plurality of self-powered data collection devices; and

responsive to receiving the command, distribute an agricultural resource across the portion of the agricultural area.

3. The agricultural resource management system of claim 1 wherein the energy collector comprises a solar energy collection device.

4. The agricultural resource management system of claim 1 wherein the communication interface comprises at least one of:

a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) communication interface or a Zigbee®

Mesh communication interface.

5. The agricultural resource management system of claim 2 wherein the environmental sensor comprises at least one of:

a moisture sensor, a nitrogen sensor, a phosphorous sensor, a potassium sensor, or an iron sensor.

6. The agricultural resource management system of claim 5 wherein the final control element comprises at least one of:

an irrigation valve or a fertilizer feed valve.

7. The agricultural resource management system of claim 2 wherein the environmental sensor comprises at least one of:

an herbicide specific sensor or an insecticide specific sensor.

8. The agricultural resource management system of claim 7 wherein the final control element comprises:

an herbicide application valve or an insecticide application valve.

9. A self-powered agricultural data collection device, comprising:

an energy collector;

an environmental sensor;

a communication interface;

a control circuit communicably coupled to the environmental sensor;

a storage device communicably coupled to the control circuit, the storage device including machine-readable instructions, that when executed by the control circuit, cause the control circuit to;

collect environmental data within a localized agricultural area proximate the self-powered data collection device via the environmental sensor;

exchange at least a portion of the collected environmental data with at least some of a plurality of self-powered data collection devices;

cooperatively monitor and control, with the at least some of the plurality of self-powered data collection devices, at least one output device that distributes an agricultural resource across at least a portion of an agricultural area that includes the respective localized agricultural area proximate the respective self-powered data collection device.

10. The self-powered agricultural data collection device of claim 9 wherein the energy collector comprises a solar energy collection device.

11. The self-powered agricultural data collection device of claim 9 wherein the communication interface comprises at least one of:

a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) communication interface or a Zigbee®

Mesh communication interface.

12. The self-powered agricultural data collection device of claim 9 wherein the environmental sensor comprises at least one of:

a moisture sensor, a nitrogen sensor, a phosphorous sensor, a potassium sensor, or an iron sensor.

13. The self-powered agricultural data collection device of claim 9 wherein the environmental sensor comprises at least one of:

an herbicide specific sensor or an insecticide specific sensor.

14. An agricultural data collection method, comprising:

collecting environmental data within a localized agricultural area proximate each respective one of a plurality of self-powered agricultural data collection devices via an environmental sensor communicably coupled to each respective one of the self-powered agricultural data collection devices;

exchanging at least a portion of the collected environmental data with at least some of the plurality of self-powered data collection devices; and

cooperatively determining, by at least a portion of the plurality of self-powered agricultural data collection devices, a control strategy for at least one self-powered agricultural output device that distributes an agricultural resource across at least a portion of the localized agricultural area proximate each respective one of the plurality of self-powered agricultural data collection devices.

15. The agricultural data collection method of claim 14, further comprising:

causing the at least one self-powered agricultural output device to distribute the agricultural resource across at least a portion of the localized agricultural area proximate each respective one of the plurality of self-powered agricultural data collection devices per the cooperatively determined control strategy.

16. The agricultural data collection method of claim 14, further comprising:

collecting energy from the ambient environment via an energy collector operably coupled to each respective one of the plurality of self-powered agricultural data collection devices.

17. The agricultural data collection method of claim 16, further comprising:

storing at least a portion of the collected energy using an energy storage device operably coupled to each respective one of the plurality of self-powered agricultural data collection devices.

18. The agricultural data collection method of claim 14 wherein collecting energy from the ambient environment via an energy collector operably coupled to each respective one of the plurality of self-powered agricultural data collection devices comprises:

collecting energy from the ambient environment via a solar energy collector operably coupled to each respective one of the plurality of self-powered agricultural data collection devices.

19. The agricultural data collection method of claim 14 wherein exchanging at least a portion of the collected environmental data with at least some of the plurality of self-powered data collection devices comprises:

exchanging at least a portion of the collected environmental data with at least some of the plurality of self-powered data collection devices via a wireless communication interface operably coupled to each respective one of the plurality of self-powered agricultural data collection devices.

20. The agricultural data collection method of claim 19 wherein exchanging at least a portion of the collected environmental data with at least some of the plurality of self-powered data collection devices via a wireless communication interface comprises:

exchanging at least a portion of the collected environmental data with at least some of the plurality of self-powered data collection devices via a wireless communication interface that includes at least one of;

a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) communication interface or a Zigbee®

Mesh communication interface.

21. The agricultural data collection method of claim 14 wherein collecting environmental data within a localized agricultural area proximate each respective one of a plurality of self-powered agricultural data collection devices comprises:

collecting environmental data within a localized agricultural area using an environmental sensor operably coupled to each respective one of the plurality of self-powered agricultural data collection devices.

22. The agricultural data collection method of claim 21 wherein collecting environmental data within a localized agricultural area using an environmental sensor operably coupled to each respective one of the plurality of self-powered agricultural data collection devices comprises:

collecting environmental data within a localized agricultural area using an environmental sensor that includes at least one of;

a moisture sensor, a nitrogen sensor, a phosphorous sensor, a potassium sensor, or an iron sensor.

23. The agricultural data collection method of claim 14 wherein cooperatively determining a control strategy for at least one self-powered agricultural output device comprises:

cooperatively determining a control strategy for at least one self-powered agricultural output device that includes at least one of;

an irrigation valve or a fertilizer feed valve.

24. The agricultural data collection method of claim 21 wherein collecting environmental data within a localized agricultural area using an environmental sensor operably coupled to each respective one of the plurality of self-powered agricultural data collection devices comprises:

collecting environmental data within a localized agricultural area using an environmental sensor that includes at least one of;

an herbicide specific sensor or an insecticide specific sensor.

25. The agricultural data collection method of claim 14 wherein cooperatively determining a control strategy for at least one self-powered agricultural output device comprises:

cooperatively determining a control strategy for at least one self-powered agricultural output device that includes at least one of;

an herbicide application valve or an insecticide application valve.