Agricultural Crop Analysis Drone

• US 20170334560A1
• Filed: 07/25/2017
• Published: 11/23/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/17/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Topcon Positioning Systems Incorporated (Topcon Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Topcon Positioning Systems Incorporated (Topcon Corporation)
• Inventors: O'Connor, Raymond M., Di Federico, Ivan Giovanni
• Granted Patent: US 10,189,568 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: A01B 79/005 Precision agriculture
• CPC Class Codes: A01C 23/047 Spraying of liquid fertilisers
• 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: B64C 39/024 of the remote controlled vehicle type, i.e. RPV
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 10/10 Rotorcrafts
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 10/25 Fixed-wing aircraft VTOL aircraft B64U10/20
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2101/30 for imaging, photography or videography
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2201/10 autonomous, i.e. by navigating independently from ground or air stations, e.g. by using inertial navigation systems [INS]
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 30/20 Rotors; Rotor supports
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0088 characterized by the autonomous decision making process, e.g. artificial intelligence, predefined behaviours using knowledge based models G06N5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/104 involving a plurality of aircrafts, e.g. formation flying traffic control systems for aircraft G08G5/00

Abstract

A method and system utilizing one or more agricultural drones in combination with agricultural equipment, e.g., an agricultural boom sprayer, to evaluate the crops being farmed, and to improve the real-time delivery and dispensing of liquid from the sprayer including monitoring and verifying that the liquid is being dispensed correctly and/or in accordance with a desired distribution pattern or level.

Claims

1-15. -15. (canceled)

16. A system for agricultural farming, the system comprising:

a first agricultural drone flying over a field having a plurality of crops in a position in advance of an agricultural vehicle which is traversing the plurality of crops, collecting information specific to the plurality of crops, and transmitting the collected information in real-time from the first agricultural drone to the agricultural vehicle;

wherein the agricultural vehicle is a boom sprayer which receives the collected information from the first agricultural done in real-time and adjusts at least one operation of the boom sprayer using the received collected information from the first agricultural drone such that the adjustment of the at least one operation includes a leveling of the boom sprayer achieved independent of any information collected by one or more sensors resident on the boom sprayer.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the collected information is transmitted over a cellular network.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the first agricultural drone analyzes the collected information to identify individual crops of the plurality of crops suffering from drought or under-fertilization.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein the flying of the first agricultural drone is in accordance with a defined flight plan.

20. The system of claim 17 wherein the collected information includes image data of at least one of an elevation of the field, a contour of the field, a topology of the field, and a plurality of crops.

21. The system of claim 16 wherein the flying of the first agricultural drone and the traversing of the plurality of crops by the agricultural vehicle are occurring substantially contemporaneously.

22. The system of claim 21 further comprising:

a second agricultural drone flying over the field having the plurality of crops, collecting information specific to the plurality of crops, and transmitting the collected information in real-time from the second agricultural drone to the agricultural vehicle.

23. The system of claim 22 wherein the flying of the second agricultural drone is in a position in back of the agricultural vehicle, wherein the flying of the second agricultural drone over the field and the traversing of the plurality of crops by the agricultural vehicle are occurring substantially contemporaneously.

24. The system of claim 23 wherein the agricultural vehicle receives the collected information from the second agricultural done in real-time and adjusting at least one operation of the agricultural vehicle using the received collected information from the second agricultural drone.

25. The system of claim 24 wherein the adjusting by the agricultural vehicle includes an adjustment to a rate of dispending a liquid from the agricultural vehicle.

26. The system of claim 25 wherein the liquid is one of water, fertilizer and crop protection chemicals.

27. The system of claim 22 wherein the first agricultural drone and the second agricultural drone are configured to communicate with each other.

28. The system of claim 26 wherein the collected information from the second agricultural drone includes a measurement of the liquid being dispensed by the agricultural vehicle.

29. The system of claim 22 wherein the transmitting the collected information by the first agricultural drone and the second agricultural drone is over a narrowband frequency radio system.

30. A method for operating an agricultural drone, the method comprising:

flying the agricultural drone over a plurality of crops in a first position in front of an agricultural vehicle traversing the plurality of crops;

collecting information specific to the plurality of crops from the agricultural drone;

transmitting the collected information in real-time from the agricultural drone to the agricultural vehicle traversing the plurality of crops;

receiving, by the agricultural vehicle, the collected information from the agricultural drone in real-time;

adjusting, in real-time, by the agricultural vehicle at least one operation of the agricultural vehicle using the received collected information from the agricultural drone; and

wherein the agricultural vehicle is a boom sprayer, and the adjusting, in real-time, by the boom sprayer includes a leveling of the boom sprayer achieved independent of any information collected by one or more sensors resident on the boom sprayer.

31. The method of claim 30 further comprising:

analyzing, from the agricultural drone, the collected information to identify individual crops of the plurality of crops suffering from drought or under-fertilization.

32. The method of claim 30, wherein the flying of the agricultural drone and the traversing of plurality of crops by the agricultural vehicle occur substantially contemporaneously.

33. The method of claim 32 wherein the transmitting of the collected information uses a Wi-Fi communication.

34. The method of claim 30 wherein the flying of the agricultural drone includes transitioning between the first position and a second position in back of the agricultural vehicle.

35. The method of claim 30 wherein the collected information includes image data of at least one of an elevation of the field, a contour of the field, a topology of the field, and a plurality of crops.

36. The method of claim 30 wherein the collected information is transmitted over a cellular network.

37. The method of claim 30 wherein the flying of the agriculture drone is in accordance with a defined flight plan.

38. The method of claim 30 wherein the adjusting by the agricultural vehicle includes an adjustment to a rate of dispensing a liquid from the agricultural vehicle.

39. The method of claim 38 wherein the liquid is one of water, fertilizer and crop protection chemicals.

40. The method of claim 38 wherein the collected information from the agricultural drone includes a measurement of the liquid being dispensed by the agricultural vehicle on the plurality of crops.

41. A crop analysis system comprising:

an agricultural drone comprising a first processor, for executing computer program instructions stored in a first memory, which when executed by the first processor, cause the first processor to perform operations comprising;

flying the agricultural drone over a plurality of crops in a position in front of an agricultural vehicle traversing the plurality of crops;

collecting information specific to the plurality of crops from the agricultural drone;

transmitting the collected information in real-time from the agricultural drone to the agricultural vehicle traversing the plurality of crops;

wherein the agricultural vehicle comprises a second processor, for executing computer program instructions stored in a second memory, which when executed by the second processor, cause the second processor to perform operations comprising;

receiving, by the agricultural vehicle, the collected information from the agricultural done in real-time;

adjusting, in real-time, by the agricultural vehicle at least one operation of the agricultural vehicle using the received collected information from the agricultural drone; and

wherein the agricultural vehicle is a boom sprayer, and the adjusting, in real-time, by the boom sprayer includes a leveling of the boom sprayer achieved independent of any information collected by one or more sensors resident on the boom sprayer.

42. The crop analysis system of claim 41 wherein the operations performed by the first processor further comprise:

analyzing, from the agricultural drone, the collected information to identify individual crops of the plurality of crops suffering from drought or under-fertilization.

43. The crop analysis system of claim 42 wherein the flying of the agricultural drone and the traversing of plurality of crops by the agricultural vehicle occur substantially contemporaneously.

44. The crop analysis system of claim 43 wherein the flying of the agricultural drone is in accordance with a defined flight plan.

45. The crop analysis system of claim 42 wherein the collected information includes image data of at least one of an elevation of the field, a contour of the field, a topology of the field, and a plurality of crops.