APPARATUS AND METHODS FOR IN-FIELD DATA COLLECTION AND SAMPLING

• US 20170223947A1
• Filed: 08/14/2015
• Published: 08/10/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/15/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Monsanto Technology LLC (Bayer AG)
• Original Assignee: Monsanto Technology LLC (Bayer AG)
• Inventors: Gall, Michael, Carter, Edward, Cullen, Richard, Prange, Josh, Deppermann, Kevin, Xiang, Haitao
• Granted Patent: US 10,568,316 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: A01B 79/005 Precision agriculture
• CPC Class Codes: A01M 7/0089 Regulating or controlling systems the delivery being related to the movement of a vehicle B05B9/06
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/4738 Diffuse reflection precedence is given to G01N21/55 - G01N21/57 if specular component is taken into consideration, e.g. also for testing fluids, fibrous materials
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 27/043 of a granular material
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 27/414 Ion-sensitive or chemical field-effect transistors, i.e. ISFETS or CHEMFETS
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/24 Earth materials G01N33/42 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/245 for agricultural purposes
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30188 Vegetation; Agriculture
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0004 Industrial image inspection

Abstract

A mobile platform structured and operable to perform: in-field phenotype and/or genotype data acquisition; image data acquisition; tissue sampling; selection and/or counting of plants growing in a plot; plant height measurement; product and treatment application to plants growing in the plot (e.g., prescriptive and localized insecticide products); sampling of soil where such plants are growing; removal of weeds in such plots; and real-time analysis of all such data and/or samples acquired/collected. Additionally, when combined with location positioning technology and path planning, such a vehicle is further structured and operable to re-enter a field numerous times throughout a season to accurately and repeatably monitor growing conditions, plant response or prescriptive application of a product.

Claims

1. A mobile analytic system, said system comprising:

a mobile platform structured and operable to transverse a field including a plurality of plots and at least one plot including a plurality of plants;

a computer based data processing system; and

an analytics suite disposed on the mobile platform, the analytic suite comprising;

at least a portion of the data processing system;

at least one data collection device structured and operable to acquire and communicate data to the data processing system in real-time;

at least one location positioning system structured and operable to acquire data for the location of the mobile platform as the mobile platform traverses the field, and the location of at least one of a perimeter of the field, a perimeter of at least one plot, and a location of at least one plant within the field and within the respective plot, wherein

the data processing system is structured and operable to, in real-time, receive, store and analyze data acquired by the system, such data including the acquired image data, and associate and store location data with at least one bit of data acquired.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising at least one robotic appendage mounted to the mobile platform and structured and operable to at least one of obtain data to be analyzed by the data processing system and carry out a course of action stipulated by the data processing system upon analysis of the acquired data.

3. The system of claim 2 further comprising at least one solution applicator structured and operable to apply a solution to at least one of:

the at least one selected plant;

at least one selected animal, at least one selected microbe and at least one selected section of soil.

4. The system of claim 4, wherein the at least one data collection device of the analytics suite comprises at least one imaging device for acquiring at least one of two-dimensional image data, three-dimensional image data, and line-scan image data for at least one of:

the at least one plant;

at least one animal; and

at least one microbe.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the acquired image data is analyzed by data collection device to at least one of detect, characterize and quantify at least one of an amount and a quality of plant residue in a growing area.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the at least one data collection device of analytics suite further comprises a light imaging detection and ranging (LIDAR) device structured and operable to measure various dimensions of at least one of:

the at least one plant;

at least one animal; and

at least one microbe.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the analytics suite further comprises an illumination detection device structured and operable to capture light intensity data that corresponds to at least one image data acquired, whereby the light intensity for at least one image data can be normalized by the data processing system.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the at least one data collection device of the analytics suite further comprises at least one of:

at least one optical sensor, at least one chemosensory device;

at least one light sensor;

at least ion selective electrode;

at least electrical conductivity sensor;

at least one DNA sensor; and

at least one illumination sensor.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the analytics suite further comprises at least one of:

an ion selective electrode structured and operable to test the soil at specified areas;

a conductivity sensor structured and operable to test the soil at specified areas; and

a deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) detection sensor structured and operable to test the soil at specified areas.

10. A method for performing in-field data acquisition regarding one or more characteristic of at least one of a plurality of plants within a field, said method comprising:

mapping, in real-time, a geospatial location of at least one plant growing in a field, utilizing a global positioning system (GPS) of a mobile analytics system, as a mobile platform of the mobile analytics system traverses the field;

acquiring, in real-time, various data associated with the at least one plant as the mobile platform traverses the field utilizing various devices of an analytics suite of the mobile analytics system, wherein the data comprises at least image data of the at least one plant acquired via at least one imaging device of the analytics suite;

associating and storing, in real-time, location data with at least one bit of data acquired, via a data processing system of the mobile analytics system;

analyzing, in real-time, the acquired data, via the data processing system, to determine at least one of;

at least one genotypic characteristic of the at least one plant,

at least one phenotypic characteristic of the at least one plant; and

at least one plant performance characteristic of the at least one plant;

determining, in real-time, via the data processing system, whether a responsive course of action is needed to be implemented by the mobile analytics system based on the analyzed data; and

carrying out, in real-time, via the mobile analytics system, the determined responsive course of action.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein acquiring, in real-time, various data for the at least one plant as the mobile platform traverses the field further comprises collecting at least one of plant tissue samples from selected plants, air samples from at least one location within the field, and soil samples from at least one location within the field.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein analyzing, in real-time, the acquired data further comprises analyzing the acquired data to determine at least one environmental characteristic at at least one location in the field.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

recording and storing, via the data processing system, historical data each time the mobile analytics system operationally traverses the field, the historical data comprising;

the image, phenotypic and genotypic data for each respective traversal of the field;

data regarding the collected samples for each respective traversal of the field;

the resulting data analysis for each respective traversal of the field;

any course of action determined and taken for each respective traversal of the field; and

the location data for each respective traversal of the field; and

utilizing the historical data during subsequent real-time data analyzes by the data processing system during subsequent operational traverses of the field by the mobile analytics system.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

mapping the field, prior to operationally traversing the field to acquire data, by mapping the location of at least the four corners of the field; and

calibrating the historical location data to be used during the present operational traversal of the field utilizing the field mapping location data.

15. A method for performing in-field data acquisition regarding one or more characteristic of at least one of a plurality of plants within a field, said method comprising:

mapping, in real-time, a geospatial location of at least one plant growing in a field, utilizing a global positioning system (GPS) of a mobile analytics system, as a mobile platform of the mobile analytics system traverses the field;

acquiring, in real-time, various data for the at least one plant as the mobile platform traverses the field utilizing various devices of an analytics suite of the mobile analytics system, wherein the data comprises at least image data of the at least one plant acquired via at least on imaging device of the analytics suite;

associating and storing, in real-time, location data with each bit of data acquired, via a data processing system of the mobile analytics system;

analyzing, in real-time, the acquired data, via the data processing system, to determine at least one of;

at least one genotypic characteristic of the at least plant, and

at least one phenotypic characteristic of the at least one plant,

wherein the analysis of the acquired data comprises utilizing historical data acquired and stored during at least one previous operational traversal of the field by the mobile analytics system;

determining, in real-time, via the data processing system, whether a responsive course of action is needed to be implemented by the mobile analytics system based on the analyzed data; and

carrying out, in real-time, via the mobile analytics system, the determined responsive course of action.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein acquiring, in real-time, various data for the at least one plant as the mobile platform traverses the field further comprises acquiring at least one of:

genotypic data from the at least one plant, phenotypic data from the at least one plant, plant performance data from the at least one plant, data related to at least one of soil health and composition from a location in the field; and

chemosensory data from a location in the field.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein acquiring, in real-time, various data for the at least one plant as the mobile platform traverses the field further comprises collecting at least one of plant tissue samples from selected plants, air samples from at least one location within the field, and soil samples from at least one location within the field.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein analyzing, in real-time, the acquired data further comprises analyzing the acquired data to determine at least one environmental characteristic at at least one location in the field.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising recording and storing, via the data processing system, the historical data each time the mobile analytics system operationally traverses the field, the historical data comprising:

the image, phenotypic and genotypic data for each respective traversal of the field;

data regarding the collected samples for each respective traversal of the field;

the resulting data analysis for each respective traversal of the field;

any course of action determined and taken for each respective traversal of the field; and

the location data for each respective traversal of the field.

20. The method of claim 19 further comprising:

mapping the field, prior to operationally traversing the field to acquire data, by mapping the location of at least the four corners of the field; and

calibrating the historical location data to be used during the present operational traversal of the field utilizing the field mapping location data.