Soil sampling "on the fly"
First Claim
1. An agricultural system for the acquiring of soil samples from a field of land, the system comprising:
- vehicle movable across the field and including an implement configured to perform at least one agricultural operation while in motion;
a soil sample acquiring apparatus supported by the vehicle and configured to acquire samples of soil from the field while the vehicle is in motion, wherein the soil sample acquiring apparatus includes a longitudinal track assembly and a soil sample acquisition device, the longitudinal track assembly configured to cause the soil sample acquisition device to move in a direction opposite to the direction of motion of the vehicle when the soil sample acquisition device is engaged in the soil, whereby relative motion between the soil sample acquisition device and the field is substantially zero;
a location signal generating circuit supported by the vehicle configured to generate location signals, each location signal corresponding to one sample acquired location within the field; and
a data recorder supported by the vehicle and configured to record the location signals.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A site-specific precision farming system for acquiring soil samples from a field of land using a vehicle remaining in the operative motion normal to a field or crop operation being performed simultaneously is disclosed. The system includes a tractor, harvester, or other agricultural vehicle provided with an implement or other device appropriate to the operation being simultaneously performed; a soil sample acquiring device movable with respect to the vehicle such that the device is substantially stationary with respect to the soil while it acquires a sample; a locational identification system; a device for inserting each soil sample into an individual container and for marking the sample site locational identification thereon as alphanumeric indicia or as a barcode; and an on-board computer for control of the above processes. The vehicle may be provided with soil analysis equipment for real-time soil sample analysis or with sensors for other soil or crop parameters, and the computer may then log the resulting site-specific data correlated with the corresponding locational data to a portable memory device for removal to an off-site computer for data archiving and for generation of a prescriptive map. These data may instead be communicated to the off-site computer in real time, so that the off-site computer may function as a host computer monitoring and controlling a plurality of vehicles concurrently.
-
Citations
30 Claims
-
1. An agricultural system for the acquiring of soil samples from a field of land, the system comprising:
-
vehicle movable across the field and including an implement configured to perform at least one agricultural operation while in motion; a soil sample acquiring apparatus supported by the vehicle and configured to acquire samples of soil from the field while the vehicle is in motion, wherein the soil sample acquiring apparatus includes a longitudinal track assembly and a soil sample acquisition device, the longitudinal track assembly configured to cause the soil sample acquisition device to move in a direction opposite to the direction of motion of the vehicle when the soil sample acquisition device is engaged in the soil, whereby relative motion between the soil sample acquisition device and the field is substantially zero; a location signal generating circuit supported by the vehicle configured to generate location signals, each location signal corresponding to one sample acquired location within the field; and a data recorder supported by the vehicle and configured to record the location signals. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
-
-
18. A method for acquiring a plurality of soil samples from an agricultural field of land while work is being performed on the field by a work vehicle moving over the field, the vehicle including an agricultural implement, the method comprising the steps of:
-
(a) acquiring samples of the soil utilizing a soil sample acquiring apparatus, the apparatus including a longitudinal track assembly and a sample acquiring device, the device movably supported to the vehicle by the longitudinal track assembly whereby the device remains stationary with respect to the soil while the sample is acquired; (b) receiving location signals; (c) processing the location signals in a control circuit supported by the vehicle to generate location data representative of the plurality of locations; and (d) recording the location data. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
-
Specification