Turf management

• US 9,872,445 B2
• Filed: 09/30/2010
• Issued: 01/23/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toro Company (Toro)
• Original Assignee: Toro Company (Toro)
• Inventors: Cline, Van Willis, Rice, Kathleen Sue, Carson, Troy David
• Primary Examiner(s): LOFTIS, JOHNNA RONEE
• Application Number:
  US12/895,339
• Publication Number:
  US 20120084115A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,672 Days
• Field of Search: 705 723, 700284
• CPC Class Codes: A01G 25/00 Watering gardens, fields, sports grounds or the like special apparatus or adaptations for fertilising-liquids A01C23/00; nozzles or outlets, spraying apparatus B05B
• CPC Class Codes: A01G 25/02 Watering arrangements located above the soil which make use of perforated pipe-lines or pipe-lines with dispensing fittings, e.g. for drip irrigation
• CPC Class Codes: A01G 25/16 Control of watering
• 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: G06Q 10/0633 Workflow analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/02 Agriculture; Fishing; Forestry; Mining
• CPC Class Codes: Y02A 40/10 in agriculture

Abstract

A turf management system includes an irrigation system for providing water to the turf at a turf site, and an irrigation evaluation system for evaluating the performance of the irrigation system. The irrigation evaluation system segments the turf site into irrigation management units, where each of the irrigation management units includes at least one sprinkler head. Qualities of the turf are measured to generate collected data points. The data points are used by the irrigation evaluation system to compute a value for the turf in each of the irrigation management units. The values can then be used to identify irrigation management units having common characteristics. The values can be used to define irrigation management zones for controlling the irrigation system.

Claims

1. A method of controlling an irrigation system at a turf site, the turf site including turf, the method comprising:

operating a mobile data collection device including a sensor configured to collect data at a plurality of data point locations on the turf site;

receiving, using at least one computing device, the data including a plurality of data points collected using the mobile data collection device;

segmenting the turf site into a plurality of non-overlapping, contiguous irrigation management units using the at least one computing device, by;

determining, using the at least one computing device, locations of sprinkler heads based on the data points; and

automatically defining, using the at least one computing device, boundaries of the irrigation management units around the sprinkler heads based on the locations of the sprinkler heads, wherein;

(i) each irrigation management unit respectively contains only a single one of the sprinkler heads therein; and

(ii) all of the turf within each irrigation management unit is closer to the single one of the sprinkler heads than to any other of the sprinkler heads;

determining data points of the plurality of data points that have data point locations within the boundaries of the irrigation management units;

for each irrigation management unit, computing, using the at least one computing device, a value representing a characteristic of the turf within the irrigation management unit utilizing at least some of the data points having the data point locations within the irrigation management unit;

generating a user interface, using the at least one computing device, the user interface including;

a graphical representation of at least a portion of the turf site;

a graphical representation of the boundaries of the irrigation management units on the at least the portion of the turf site; and

a graphical representation of the values representing the characteristic of the turf within the irrigation management units; and

automatically providing water to turf within at least one of the irrigation management units using the irrigation system at the turf site based at least in part on the value representing the characteristic of the turf within the at least one irrigation management unit, wherein automatically providing the water comprises;

generating one or more signals based at least in part on the value representing the characteristic of the turf; and

actuating a valve coupled to a water delivery line associated with a source of water by providing the one or more signals to the valve via a wired or wireless connection to the valve, wherein actuating the valve causes water to be provided to the turf.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the value is a water content value, and further comprising:

assigning each irrigation management unit to one of a plurality of irrigation management zones based at least in part on the water content value, wherein at least some of the irrigation management zones include more than one irrigation management unit.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

programming an irrigation control system to commonly control the sprinkler heads within one of the irrigation management zones.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

installing an in-ground moisture sensor into the turf within the one of the irrigation management zones; and

programming the irrigation control system to provide water to the turf within the one of the irrigation management zones based at least in part on data from the in-ground moisture sensor.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein assigning further comprises assigning each irrigation management unit to one of the plurality of irrigation management zones based at least in part on a soil salinity value.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein assigning further comprises:

computing an aspect value for at least some of the irrigation management units;

computing a steepness value for at least some of the irrigation management units;

computing topography values for at least some of the irrigation management units based at least in part on the aspect values and the steepness values; and

assigning at least some of the irrigation management units to one of the plurality of irrigation management zones based at least in part on the topography values.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the boundaries is perpendicular to an imaginary line extending through two of the sprinkler heads, and passing through the midpoint of the line.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

generating a graphical representation of the values, the graphical representation including a diagram of at least a portion of the turf site and illustrating boundaries of the irrigation management units.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

collecting a plurality of data points for the turf site using a mobile data collection vehicle, the mobile data collection vehicle including a plurality of instruments including a soil moisture sensor coupled to ground penetrating probes, wherein the data collection vehicle is arranged and configured to collect at least some of the plurality of data samples without stopping; and

computing with the computing device the value representing the characteristic of the turf within the irrigation management unit utilizing at least some of the collected data points.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein each data point is associated with a location, and further comprising:

interpolating at least some of the collected data points using Kriging techniques to generate fine data points, and wherein at least some of the fine data points are used to compute the value representing the characteristic of the turf.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transporting a data collection vehicle to a turf site, the data collection vehicle including at least a location identification device and at least one instrument adapted to measure a quality of the turf;

collecting data points using the data collection vehicle, by moving the data collection vehicle across the turf while operating the instrument, the data points including a value indicative of the measured quality of the turf and a location where the data point was obtained;

wherein computing a value representing a characteristic of the turf within the irrigation management unit utilizes the values indicative of the measured quality of the turf within the irrigation management unit;

identifying irrigation management units having similar qualities using the values representing the characteristic of the turf within the irrigation management units; and

defining irrigation management zones, wherein each irrigation management zone includes one or more irrigation management units having similar qualities.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

providing irrigation management zone information to a person authorized to operate the irrigation system at the turf site.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the information includes at least one graphical representation of the turf site illustrating the locations of the irrigation management zones.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the information includes control parameters for the irrigation system.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the turf includes a ground covering and a layer of soil.

16. A method of watering a turf site, the turf site including turf, the method comprising:

operating a mobile data collection device including a sensor configured to collect data at a plurality of data point locations on the turf site;

receiving the data including a plurality of data points collected using the mobile data collection device, the data points identifying at least one characteristic of the turf at the turf site at the plurality of data point locations;

determining, using the at least one computing device, sprinkler head locations of at least two sprinkler heads in a portion of the turf site;

segmenting the portion of the turf site into a plurality of units using the at least one computing device, the units being defined by boundaries, the segmenting comprising;

determining a midpoint between the at least two sprinkler head locations;

defining at least one of the boundaries as a perpendicular bisector extending through the midpoint; and

defining the other boundaries of the plurality of units;

determining data points of the plurality of data points that have data point locations within the boundaries of the units;

computing scores associated with the at least one characteristic of the turf within the units utilizing the obtained data points having the data point locations within the units, using the at least one computing device;

generating a user interface, using the at least one computing device, the user interface including;

a graphical representation of at least a portion of the turf site;

a graphical representation of the boundaries of the units on the at least the portion of the turf site; and

a graphical representation of the scores; and

automatically providing water to turf within at least one of the units based at least in part on the at least one characteristic of the turf within the at least one of the units, wherein automatically providing the water comprises;

generating one or more signals based at least in part on the computed scores; and

actuating a valve coupled to a water delivery line associated with a source of water by providing the one or more signals to the valve via a wired or wireless connection to the valve, wherein actuating the valve causes water to be provided to the turf.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein computing scores comprises:

determining data points having data point locations within the boundaries of one of the units;

computing a score using the data points having data point locations within the boundaries of the one of the units; and

computing other scores for other units in the portion of the turf site.

18. A method of watering a turf site, the turf site including turf, the method comprising:

operating a mobile data collection device to collect a plurality of data points for the turf site, the mobile data collection device including a location identification device and an instrument adapted to measure a quality of the turf, and the data points including a value indicative of the measured quality of the turf and a location where the data point was obtained;

determining, using the location identification device, sprinkler head locations of at least two sprinkler heads in a portion of the turf site;

segmenting, using a computing device, the portion of the turf site into a plurality of non-overlapping, contiguous irrigation management units, the irrigation management units being defined by boundaries, the segmenting comprising;

defining at least one of the boundaries of the irrigation management units based on the locations of the sprinkler heads, wherein;

each irrigation management unit contains only a single one of the sprinkler heads therein; and

all of the turf within each irrigation management unit is closer to the single one of the sprinkler heads than to any other of the sprinkler heads;

for each irrigation management unit, computing, using the computing device, a value representing a characteristic of the turf within the irrigation management unit utilizing the value indicative of the measured quality of the turf within the irrigation management unit, the value including a water content value;

assigning each irrigation management unit into one of a plurality of irrigation management zones, at least one of the irrigation management zones including more than one irrigation management units, the assigning comprising;

identifying irrigation management units having a similar quality based on the values representing the characteristic of the turf within the irrigation management units;

defining the irrigation management zones, each irrigation management zone including one or more irrigation management units having a similar quality;

modifying the irrigation management zones based on soil salinity values; and

modifying the irrigation management zones based on topography values;

generating a user interface, using the at least one computing device, the user interface including;

a graphical representation of at least a portion of the turf site;

a graphical representation of the boundaries of the irrigation management units on the at least the portion of the turf site;

a graphical representation of the values representing the characteristic of the turf within the irrigation management units;

a graphical representation of the plurality of irrigation management zones; and

programming an irrigation control system to commonly control the sprinkler heads included in each of the irrigation management zones; and

providing water to turf within at least one of the irrigation management zones using the programmed irrigation control system, wherein providing the water comprises;

generating one or more signals based at least in part on the topography values; and

actuating a valve coupled to a water delivery line associated with a source of water by providing the one or more signals to the valve via a wired or wireless connection to the valve, wherein actuating the valve causes water to be provided to the turf.

19. A method of watering a turf site, the turf site including turf, the method comprising:

operating a mobile data collection device including a sensor configured to collect data at a plurality of data point locations on the turf site;

receiving, using at least one computing device, the data including a plurality of data points collected using a mobile data collection device, the data points including a value indicative of a quality of the turf and a location where each of the data points was obtained;

determining, using the at least one computing device, sprinkler head locations of a plurality of sprinkler heads in a portion of the turf site;

segmenting, using the at least one computing device, the portion of the turf site into a plurality of non-overlapping, contiguous irrigation management units, each irrigation management unit defined to contains only a single one of the plurality of sprinkler heads;

for each irrigation management unit, computing, using the at least one computing device, a value representative of a characteristic of the turf within the irrigation management unit utilizing at least some of the data points;

assigning, using the at least one computing device, each irrigation management unit to one of a plurality of irrigation management zones, at least one of the irrigation management zones including at least two irrigation management units having a similar quality, the similar quality determined based on the values representative of the characteristic of the turf;

generating, using the at least one computing device, irrigation management zone information, the irrigation management zone information configured to program an irrigation control system to commonly control the sprinkler heads within each of the irrigation management zones;

generating a user interface, using the at least one computing device, the user interface including;

a graphical representation of at least a portion of the turf site;

a graphical representation of the boundaries of the irrigation management units on the at least the portion of the turf site;

a graphical representation of the values representing the characteristic of the turf within the irrigation management units;

a graphical representation of the plurality of irrigation management zones; and

providing water to turf within at least one of the irrigation management zones based at least in part on the values representative of the characteristic of the turf within the irrigation management units of the at least one of the irrigation management zones, wherein automatically providing the water comprises;

generating one or more signals based at least in part on the value representing the characteristic of the turf; and

actuating a valve coupled to a water delivery line associated with a source of water by providing the one or more signals to the valve through a wired or wireless connection, wherein actuating the valve causes water to be provided to the turf.