Method of determining and treating the health of a crop
First Claim
1. A process for determining the health of crops in a field, said field containing regions having differing areas of nutrient containing crops, comprising the steps of:
- establishing, in a field in which the health of the crops is to be determined, at least one predetermined reference area of crops in each of said regions to provide more region specific reference values for said field, said reference areas having a determined nutrient content;
georeferencing aerial photographs of multiple regions of said field;
determining the green plane in the photographs thus taken; and
preparing a relative greenness map of the regions based upon said nutrient reference areas;
wherein said nutrient reference areas include strips of nutrient enriched crops to form nutrient enriched references, and said regions are formed by subdividing said reference strips until each region meets an established level of variability.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A process for determining the health of crops in a field and treating the crops in accordance with that determination. The process first establishes, in a field in which the health of the crops is to be determined, at least one predetermined reference area of crops having a determined nutrient, e.g. nitrogen, content. Then, georeferenced aerial photographs are taken of at least a portion of the field. From the photographs, the green plane is determined. From the green plane, a relative greenness map of the field based upon the nitrogen reference area is prepared. The greenness map may be transmitted to a farm vehicle on the field and thereafter, the field may be selectively treated in accordance with the nutrient deficiencies detected and recorded on the greenness map.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. A process for determining the health of crops in a field, said field containing regions having differing areas of nutrient containing crops, comprising the steps of:
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establishing, in a field in which the health of the crops is to be determined, at least one predetermined reference area of crops in each of said regions to provide more region specific reference values for said field, said reference areas having a determined nutrient content;
georeferencing aerial photographs of multiple regions of said field;
determining the green plane in the photographs thus taken; and
preparing a relative greenness map of the regions based upon said nutrient reference areas;
wherein said nutrient reference areas include strips of nutrient enriched crops to form nutrient enriched references, and said regions are formed by subdividing said reference strips until each region meets an established level of variability. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
establishing reference points in said field to facilitate global positioning accuracy of photographed areas of the field.
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15. A process for determining the health of crops in accordance with claim 12, including the step of:
establishing reference points in said field to facilitate the formation of a composite photographic representation of said field.
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16. A process for determining the health of crops in accordance with claim 15, including the steps of:
applying nutrient to said field in accordance with said greenness application map in georeferenced areas of nutrient deficiency.
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17. A process for determining the health of crops in accordance with claim 11, including the steps of segmenting red and near infrared planes to determine the overall coverage of crop in the field.
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18. A process for treating crops in accordance with claim 1, including the step of:
basing said relative greenness map based upon greenness values.
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4. A process for determining the health of crops in a field, said field containing regions having differing areas of nitrogen containing crops, comprising the steps of:
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establishing, in a field in which the health of the crops is to be determined, at least one predetermined reference area of crops in each of said regions to provide more region specific reference values for said field, said reference areas having a determined nitrogen content;
georeferencing aerial photographs of multiple regions of said field;
determining the green plane in the photographs thus taken; and
preparing a relative greenness map of the regions based upon said nitrogen reference area;
wherein said nutrient reference areas include strips of nutrient enriched crops to form nutrient enriched references, and said regions are formed by subdividing said reference strips until each region meets an established level of variability. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6)
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Specification