System and method for creating agricultural decision and application maps for automated agricultural machines

• US 6,236,907 B1
• Filed: 12/30/1996
• Issued: 05/22/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/1995
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Ag-Chem Sales Company Incorporated (AGCO Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Ag-Chem Sales Company Incorporated (AGCO Corporation)
• Inventors: Jin, Youxuan, Hauwiller, Joseph I.
• Primary Examiner(s): Grant, William
• Assistant Examiner(s): GAIN, EDWARD F
• Application Number:
  US08/774,627
• Time in Patent Office: 1,604 Days
• Field of Search: 701/50, 702/5, 700/9, 700/240, 700/241, 700/244, 700/283, 700/284, 111/200
• US Class Current: 700/283
• CPC Class Codes: A01B 79/005 Precision agriculture

Abstract

A system for creating application maps for controlling a dispensing apparatus based upon field data, the system including a system for maintaining field data. The field data may be georeferenced relative to geographic coordinates of the location of the field data. Application rate equations for correlating field data relative to desired output may be selectively defined based upon selected field data and desired output to produce application maps for a particular field. A processor is designed to selectively access field data for a particular field to execute application rate equations for the field data to produce an application map which may be used for variable rate application of material by dispensing apparatus based upon the selected field data and the desired output.

Claims

1. A system for creating application maps for use in a controller, the system comprising:

a data storage system for storing geographic data, attribute data, and recommendation equations, wherein the attribute data comprises crop selling price data and crop input cost data; and

a processor operably coupled to the data storage system which creates application maps by retrieving a recommendation equation, selected geographic data and the attribute data, and processing the geographic data and attribute data as a function of a recommendation equation.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the recommendation equations are pre-defined.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the recommendation equations are user specific.

4. The system of claim 3 and further comprising a user interface having a display and an input device allowing a user to define the desired recommendation equation.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the data storage system further stores commercial product information, including a composition of the commercial product.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein the processor further comprises a formulation instruction assembly for determining the dispensing rate by field location of a commercial product based on the desired dispensing rates by field location of a component of the commercial product.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein the formulation instruction assembly provides instructions for correlating the dispensing rates by location of multiple commercial products based on the desired dispensing rates by location of the components of the commercial products.

8. The system of claim 6 wherein the formulation instruction assembly determines the dispensing rate by field location of a commercial product based on the desired dispensing rate by location of a plurality of components of a commercial product.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the recommendation equation is not pre-compiled by the system, and the system further comprises:

an interpreter module for compiling a desired recommendation equation for execution by the processor.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein the geographic data comprises spatial field data which is georeferenced relative to the geographic coordinates to which the data relates.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the geographic coordinates are longitude and latitude.

12. The system of claim 10 wherein the data storage system comprises a spatial database for storing the spatial field data based on data type.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the spatial field data is converted to quadcode format.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein the data storage system comprises a database management system coupled to the spatial database for correlating spatial field data relative to a particular field based on field boundary data.

15. The system of claim 12 wherein spatial field data is maintained independently of a field and the spatial field data is associated with a particular field based on the geographic coordinates of the spatial field data and field boundary data.

16. The system of claim 1 wherein geographic data comprises recorded spread data of a material to a field by location.

17. The system of claim 1 wherein geographic data comprises yield monitor data.

18. The system of claim 1 wherein attribute data further comprises weather data.

19. The system of claim 1 wherein the recommendation equations define a relationship between field productivity potential and nutrient levels.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein the field productivity potential is variable across the field.

21. The system of claim 1 wherein the recommendation equations define a relationship between application rates of a material and desired yield.

22. The system of claim 21 wherein the desired yield is constant throughout the field.

23. The system of claim 21 wherein the desired yield is variable across the field.

24. The system of claim 21 and further comprising a user interface system allowing a user to create a yield map defining areas of different yield goals based on variable soil characteristics of the field.

25. The system of claim 24 wherein the user interface system comprises:

a display device for displaying a yield map; and

an input device allowing a user to select boundary areas and to assign specific yield goals to the selected boundary areas.

26. The system of claim 1 wherein the processor processes the attribute data as a function of a recommendation equation to create an application map based on a desired cost of application.

27. The system of claim 26 wherein the application map is created based on a desired rate of return.

28. A method for creating a product application map for variable rate application of material to a field, the method comprising:

collecting geographic data of a field;

storing the geographic data by location in a data storage system;

storing attribute data of the field in the data storage system, wherein the attribute data comprises farm input costs and crop selling price;

storing recommendation equations in the data storage system;

selecting a recommendation equation;

selecting certain geographic data and the attribute data; and

creating a product application map based on the selected geographic data, the attribute data, and the selected recommendation equation.

29. The method of claim 28 and further comprising printing the product application map.

30. The method of claim 28 wherein storing the geographic data by location comprises storing the geographic data in a spatial database based on data type.

31. The method of claim 30 wherein storing the geographic data by location further comprises utilizing a database management system to correlate the spatial field data to a particular field based on field boundary data.

32. The method of claim 28 wherein creating the product application map comprises processing the selected geographic data as a function of the recommendation equation to achieve a desired yield.

33. The method of claim 32 wherein creating the product application map comprises processing the selected attribute data as a function of the recommendation equation to achieve a desired rate of return.

34. The method of claim 28 wherein creating the product application map further comprises allowing a user to override the selected recommendation equation.

35. The method of claim 28 wherein the geographic data further comprises spread rate data relating to material applied to a field.

36. A geographic information system for use in site specific farming applications, the geographic information system comprising:

a data storage system;

farm input cost data and crop selling price data stored in the data storage system; and

an expert system for processing the farm input cost data and crop selling price data based on a user defined relationship between the farm input cost and crop selling price data and a desired output to produce a site specific application map.

37. The geographic information system of claim 36 and further comprising a user interface system operably coupled to the expert system.

38. The geographic information system of claim 37 wherein the relationship between the farm input cost and selling price data and the desired output can be altered by a user using the user interface system.

39. The geographic information system of claim 36 wherein the desired output comprises a desired rate of return.