APPARATUS AND METHODS FOR EXCRETA DETECTION AND TREATMENT

FIELD

This invention relates to apparatus and methods for excreta detection and treatment.

The invention may be particularly suitable for detecting areas of pasture which have recently been subjected to an excreta deposition, and subsequently treating those areas with a substance(s). For convenience only therefore, the invention will be predominantly described in relation to such use.

However, it is to be understood and appreciated that the invention may also have other users or applications. For example, the invention may also be suitable for detecting areas of pasture that have not been subjected to an excreta deposition and, optionally, applying a substance(s) to those areas.

The prior art, and possible applications of the invention, as described below, are therefore given by way of example only.

BACKGROUND

Nitrogen is an essential nutrient in fertilisers and soils for the growth of pastures.

However, nitrate leaching (and gaseous nitrogen losses) are of significant concern to the dairy industry.

Nitrate leaching is a naturally occurring process, and occurs when nitrate leaves the soil in drainage water. Nitrate is soluble and mobile. There is no problem when it is within the root-zone of plants or pasture, but once it gets into the ground water and/or other fresh water bodies, it becomes an environmental pollutant.

Nitrogen is a significant constituent in the urine of dairy cows and is therefore returned or recycled to pastures when cows urinate.

Dairy cows deposit high rates of nitrogen in the form of urea (500-1000 kgN/ha) via urine deposition. These quantities are far too large for the soil under the deposition to absorb, or for the pasture to be able to utilise it all.

Once an area of pasture has been soaked in the urine of a cow, the nitrogen in the urine (urea) transforms very quickly into ammonium-N, and then into nitrate-N. Because nitrate-N is water soluble, that which is not taken up by plant roots is leached into waterways, causing unwanted environmental effects.

In addition, much of the ammonium-N can be converted to greenhouse gases, ammonia and nitrous oxide. As a consequence, there is a significant loss of nitrogen from fertilisers, typically in the range of 20-100 kgN/hectare annually.

A number of methods have been contemplated by scientists to minimise losses of nitrogen. These methods include devices to spread the urine over a larger area of the pasture; breeding cows with smaller bladders so that they urinate more frequently (and therefore over a larger total area); and producing grasses, clovers and other feeds that contain less nitrogen, so that a smaller amount of nitrogen is consumed by cows. However, none of these methods has yet proved to be a feasible or commercially feasible way of overcoming the problem.

A feasible method of overcoming the problem is to spread a nitrate inhibitor or a urease inhibitor on pastures. The main function of a nitrate inhibitor is to reduce the rate of conversion of ammonium-N into nitrate-N. The main function of a urease inhibitor is to reduce the rate at which urea-N is converted to ammonium-N. Either way, pastures have more time to absorb the nitrogen in the urine, before the nitrogen is converted to nitrate, which will then leach out of the soil very quickly.

However, it is generally not economically feasible, or otherwise practical, to blanket-spread a nitrate inhibitor and/or urease inhibitor over entire pasture areas. Instead, it would be significantly more practical and/or cost and time effective to only spread inhibitors at locations where a cow has actually urinated.

In this regard, it has been demonstrated in several studies* that the treatment of the relatively small areas of pasture recently affected by urine deposition (“urine patches”), before the urea-N in the urine has been converted to ammonium-N and subsequently to nitrate-N, can greatly reduce total nitrogen losses. However, because of difficulties in locating and/or treating individual urine patches, most existing methods designed to reduce losses still involve the impractical method of treating the entire grazed pasture with an inhibitor(s), despite the fact that at any one time, only 2-5% of the pasture area on a farm is likely to contain urine-N that has not already been converted to nitrate form. * For example, Di, H. J.; Cameron, K. C. 2002. The use of a nitrification inhibitor, dicyandiamide (DCD), to decrease nitrate leaching and nitrous oxide emissions in a simulated grazed and irrigated grassland. Soil Use and Management 18: 395-403, and Dawar, K; Zaman, M, Rowarth, J. S.; Turnbull, M. H. 2012. Applying urea with urease inhibitor (N-(n-butyl) thiophosphoric triamide) in fine particle application improves nitrogen uptake in ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.). Soil Science and Plant Nutrition. Volume 58, Issue 3, 2012, pp 309-318

NZ Patent No. 582798 incorporates a chlorophyll detection system which enables small areas of higher pasture growth, often the result of urine deposition, to be both excluded from fertiliser nitrogen application, and targeted for inhibitor application. However, the inherent difficulties with this technology are the high labour requirement, combined with the fact that if there is sufficient extra chlorophyll already present in the pasture above a urine deposition, it is likely that much of the urine-N deposited will already have been converted to nitrate form, as this is the predominant form of nitrogen taken up from the soil by pasture.

NZ Patent No. 254659 describes an apparatus which projects two wavelengths of light which are readily absorbed by the chlorophyll in plants. By analysing the light reflected, the apparatus is able to determine both the presence and size of the plant due to the amount of light absorbed by the chlorophyll. The apparatus of NZ 254659 describes a method for the application of weed spray to plants which meet a certain user calibrated threshold of reflected chlorophyll absorbent light to reflected non chlorophyll absorbent light.

A disadvantage of the methods described in NZ 254659 and 582798 is that both rely on the plant having responded to the conditions of interest and producing more chlorophyll.

NZ Patent No. 506883 describes an animal-mounted supply of DCD and/or the urease inhibitor nBTPT in liquid, suspension or granulated forms. The action of the cow raising its tail to urinate or defecate triggers a small angle-sensitive valve on the tail to open, allowing a predetermined quantity of inhibitor to pass from the container, and through a tube, allowing deposition in the urine patch. While relatively cheap to produce, this device suffers from higher than desirable inhibitor application variance, and refilling and maintenance involvement by farm staff.

It may therefore be useful if it was possible to detect an environmental factor, such as a high urea or ammonium-N concentration in the soil, before the plant has noticeably responded to its presence and/or before it has significantly converted to nitrate-N.

The measurement of bulk soil conductivity has been used in agriculture as a method of detecting changes in the composition of soil. This has been applied to the detection of large depositions of urine*. However, the sensor they employed was not suitable for the detection of urine from individual animals, nor was it coupled to an autonomous method of treating the urine patches. * See L. Rodhe, E. Salomon, and M. Gilbertsson, ‘Detection of urine patches on grassland with an electromagnetic induction-based sensor’, Proceeding at the NJF-Seminar 438: Jan. 25, 2011.

OBJECT

It is an object of the present invention to provide apparatus and methods for excreta detection and treatment which goes some way towards addressing one or more of the above problems or difficulties, or which at the very least provides the public with a useful choice.

DEFINITIONS

Throughout this specification unless the text requires otherwise, the word ‘comprise’ and variations such as ‘comprising’ or ‘comprises’ will be understood to imply the inclusion of a stated integer or step or group of integers or steps but not the exclusion of any other integer or step or group of integers or steps.

STATEMENTS OF INVENTION

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for travelling over a ground surface, said apparatus including detection means for detecting an area of the ground surface (or sub-ground surface) which has had a deposition of excreta.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for travelling over a ground surface, said apparatus including:

- a) detection means for detecting an area of the ground surface (or sub-ground surface) which has had a deposition of excreta,
- b) treatment means for treating the area with at least one substance.

In one embodiment, the apparatus may first undertake a detection phase, whereby the apparatus travels over the entire ground surface and all areas that are detected as having had a deposition of excreta are located and/or mapped and/or recorded.

Either the same apparatus, or a separate apparatus, which includes the treatment means, may subsequently undertake a treatment phase, whereby the apparatus retraces the route taken during the detection phase, and treats each area which had been previously identified as having had a deposition of excreta.

In another embodiment, the apparatus may be adapted to treat each area identified as having had a deposition of excreta immediately subsequent to it being identified—whereby the detection and treatment phases are undertaken with only one trip of the apparatus over the ground surface.

The excreta being detected may be faeces and/or urine.

Preferably, the excreta being detected may be urine, and in particular cattle urine such as that deposited by cows. However, the detection of any animal's urine, such as that deposited by sheep, dogs or goats is also within the scope of the present invention.

The detection means may preferably be able to detect individual urine patches from individual animals.

Any suitable detection means may be utilised which is suitable for detecting an area of the ground surface which has had a deposition of excreta.

In one embodiment, the detection means may utilise fluorescence techniques.

In another embodiment, the detection means may utilise non-contact electromagnetic sensing techniques.

A preferred electromagnetic technique may use magnetic induction and take the form of a high-Q search coil driven at its resonant frequency. The quality factor, herein referred to as Q, of the resonant circuit is inversely proportional to the losses in the circuit. Changes in the Q of the system indicate changes in the resistivity of the material such as those caused by the presence of urine in a ground surface, such as in soil. The amplitude of the signal across the resonant circuit will increase until all the losses associated with the circuit and its radiated field equal the energy input from the drive circuitry. If a conductive material is located near the search coil, the time-varying applied magnetic field will cause current to flow in the conductive material. If the conductive material has resistance, energy will be lost in the form of heat. Hence, some energy will be lost from the resonant circuit. The change in signal across the resonant circuit can therefore be detected as a change in the resonant circuit's Q-factor. One skilled in the art will appreciate that when the search coil passes over soil at a given separation distance, the changes in the Q factor will relate to the resistivity of the soil and can therefore be used to measure and/or detect changes in soil resistivity.

One advantage associated with non-contact electromagnetic sensing techniques is that the sensors do not need to be in contact with the ground surface, and hence any bumps or undulations in the ground surface will not affect the ability of the electromagnetic sensing techniques to detect the urine patches.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus, substantially as described above, wherein the detection means measures the localised conductivity or resistivity of the soil of the ground surface (or sub-ground surface) and/or changes in conductivity or resistivity of the soil by the use of electrodes which are in contact with the ground surface.

Fresh urine contains materials which are highly conductive, relative to many soils. As a consequence of the conductivity of the urine the presence of urine can be detected through measuring the localised conductivity or resistivity of the soil and/or changes in conductivity or resistivity of the soil.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus, substantially as described above, wherein the detection means includes:

- a) two outer electrodes in contact with the ground surface,
- b) at least two inner electrodes in contact with the ground surface, said at least two inner electrodes being positioned between the two outer electrodes and being electrically connected to the two outer electrodes,
- c) a power source for providing an electrical current flowing between the two outer electrodes (and therefore through the at least two inner electrodes),
- d) means for measuring the electrical potential between the at least two inner electrodes,
- e) control means for analysing the electrical potential between the at least two inner electrodes, whereby the localised conductivity and/or resistivity of the ground surface (or the sub-ground surface), may be determined, and as a result, any areas which have had a deposition of urine can be identified and located,
  - the arrangement and construction being such that the control means subsequently instructs the treatment means to automatically treat areas with the substance(s) which are determined to have had a deposition of urine.

The electrical potential measured between the at least two inner electrodes is a function of the known current flow and the conductivity or resistivity of the soil. One skilled in the art will appreciate that because the current flow can be measured, the conductivity or resistivity can thus be determined.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus, substantially as described above, wherein the ground surface is pasture and the detection means detects the presence of urine on the ground surface (or sub-ground surface) by measuring an electrical current flow at a plurality of electrodes which are in contact with the ground surface.

Preferably, the electrodes may in the form of substantially circular and rotatable metal discs.

Preferably, the electrodes may be towed by, and/or behind, the apparatus.

Any type of substance may be utilised by the treatment means, as required or as desired, or as dictated by the type of excreta being treated.

Preferably, the at least one substance may include a nitrate inhibitor and/or a urease inhibitor.

The detection means may be suitable for detecting an area of the ground surface (or sub-ground surface) which has had a recent deposition of excreta. Recently, in this context, may typically mean within a period of time of less than 72 hours, and preferably within a period of time of less than 48 hours.

Preferably, the apparatus may be a wheeled vehicle, and preferably a four wheeled vehicle.

The vehicle may be adapted to be driven by a human being. Alternatively, the vehicle may be operated by remote control.

In yet another embodiment, the vehicle may be automated and self-operating.

In such an embodiment the means of navigating the apparatus over and/or around the ground surface may be autonomous, following a route that is determined without human input at the time that the vehicle is following the route. For example the route may be a predetermined series of co-ordinates or the route may be calculated by the means of transport based on algorithms using information from sensors for obstacles and landmarks. The actual route may be determined from a hybrid of predetermined co-ordinates and algorithms.

In such an embodiment, the vehicle may preferably include GPS technology, for example

- RTK Differential GPS technology, for navigation and/or mapping purposes.

Preferably, the vehicle may include proximity sensors.

In one embodiment, the detection means and/or the treatment means may be located on the vehicle.

In an alternative embodiment, the detection means and/or treatment means may be adapted to be towed behind the wheeled vehicle.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus, substantially as described above, wherein the apparatus includes a store of each of the at least one substance, each of the store(s) being provided with a distribution means to enable the at least one substance to be applied to each area of the ground surface where a deposition of excreta has been detected by the detection means.

The distribution means may preferably include one or more spray nozzles which may be adapted to spray the at least one substance on each area of the ground surface where a deposition of excreta has been detected by the detection means.

In an embodiment where the detection means is located on the vehicle, the treatment means, including the distribution means and spray nozzles, may also be located on the vehicle, and adjacent to the detection means.

In an embodiment where the detection means is towed behind the vehicle, the distribution means and/or the spray nozzles may be located adjacent to the detection means that is being towed behind the vehicle, but which is in communication with the store (s) of substance(s) (which may be on the vehicle or being towed behind the vehicle).

It is envisaged that one spray nozzle may be adapted to distribute one substance, and another spray nozzle may be adapted to distribute a different substance. For example, if the detection means detects faeces then a first substance may be applied to the faeces. Likewise, if the detection means detects urine, then a second substance (such as an inhibitor) may instead be applied.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided an apparatus for travelling over a ground surface, substantially as described above, wherein the treatment means is adapted to treat areas with a substance(s) when the area is detected as not having had a deposition of excreta.

In such an embodiment, and for example, the treatment means may be adapted to apply fertilisers, growth promotants, trace elements, effluents or nutrients to such areas.

An advantage associated with the present invention is that it provides the user with an effective and practical method of identifying areas which have recently been subject to a deposition of excreta, and applying substances such as nitrification inhibitors or other chemicals to these areas. Furthermore, the invention also allows the user to apply other substances such as fertilisers to areas which are identified as not having been subjected to a deposition of excreta.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The descriptions of the preferred forms of the invention to be provided herein, and with reference to the accompanying drawings, are given purely by way of example, and are not to be taken in any way as limiting the scope or extent of the invention.

DRAWINGS

FIG. 1: is a perspective view of one possible embodiment of the apparatus of the present invention,

FIG. 2: is a plan view of the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1,

FIG. 3: is a view showing the nature of the electrodes illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2,

FIG. 4: is a representation of a path that the apparatus may take around a paddock,

FIG. 5a: is a view of an alternative embodiment of the invention showing a first possible arrangement of the electrodes,

FIG. 5b: is a view of the embodiment of FIG. 5a, with a second possible arrangement of the electrodes,

FIG. 5c: is a view of the embodiment of FIG. 5a, with a third possible arrangement of the electrodes,

FIG. 6: is a view of another possible embodiment of the invention which utilises non-contact electromagnetic sensing techniques, and

FIG. 7: is an equivalent circuit representation for detector coil and test object, for the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 6.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Having regard to FIGS. 1 and 2, there is depicted an apparatus for travelling over a ground surface, the apparatus being generally indicated by arrow 1.

The apparatus 1 is adapted to travel over an area of pasture and detect areas of the pasture which have had a (recent) deposition of urine, and subsequently treat those areas with either a nitrate inhibitor or a urease inhibitor (preferably a nitrate inhibitor).

The apparatus 1 is adapted to detect depositions of urine that are less than 72 hours old, but preferably less than 48 hours old.

Suitable nitrate inhibitors include (but are not limited to) ammonium thiosulphate and DCD. An example of a suitable urease inhibitor is nBTPT, better known by its trade name AGROTAIN.

The apparatus 1 includes a four-wheeled vehicle 2 which is adapted to tow a detection means, generally indicated by arrow 3.

The vehicle is automated and self-operating. To achieve this, the vehicle 2 includes a GPS unit 4. The GPS unit 4 includes RTK Differential GPS technology for navigation and/or mapping purposes.

The vehicle 2 also includes an antenna 5, which enables the vehicle 2 to be controlled remotely, as or when required or desired.

The vehicle 2 is battery powered (batteries not shown). In an alternative embodiment, the vehicle 2 may be petrol or diesel powered (or even solar powered).

The detection means 3 includes a plurality of electrodes in the form of substantially circular, yet spiky, rotatable metal discs 7. The metal discs 7 automatically rotate about their axes 8 as the detection means 3 is towed across the pasture by the vehicle 2.

The same battery or batteries that power the vehicle 2 also electrically power the discs 7 (the electrical connections from the vehicle to the detection means are not shown).

FIG. 3 illustrates the electrical nature of the discs 7, where VS stands for Voltage Source and GND stands for Ground.

Fresh cattle urine contains materials which are highly conductive, relative to many soils. Hence, and with respect to the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, the presence of urine on the pasture surface (or sub-ground surface) may be detected by measuring an electrical current flow at or along the discs 7, which are in contact with the pasture surface.

Or in other words, the conductivity of the electrodes (discs 7) to the ground as measured by current flow is an indicator of the presence of urine.

In the embodiments illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 we measure the current flow at all electrodes (discs 7) or at least at the positive or the negative discs 7 and look for large changes in current flow or high current flow relative to a running average or a fixed switch point. The VS and GND may be any value but are preferably 12 or 24 VDC (there may be legal/safety reasons not to go above 50V).

In an alternative embodiment an AC current, and not a DC current may be used, as AC generally gives you much better electrode (disc 7) life.

The apparatus 1 also includes treatment means for treating each urine patch detected with the nitrate inhibitor.

The treatment means includes a 20 L tank 6 mounted on the vehicle 2, the tank 6 being filled with a nitrate inhibitor (in liquid form). The tank 6 is in liquid or fluid communication with a number of spray nozzles 9. Having regard to FIG. 2, there is one spray nozzle 9 associated with a approximately every pair of discs 7.

The apparatus 1 also includes an electronic control means (not shown) for analysing the current flow or changes in current flow between the discs 7, and according to pre-programmed criteria, the control means may determine which areas of pasture have recently had a deposition of urine. Once the control means determines that the detection means 3 has identified and/or located a urine patch, the control means automatically and immediately instructs the relevant spray nozzle 9 to treat the urine patch by spraying an amount of the nitrate inhibitor.

For example, if the changes in current flow between the pair of electrodes (discs 7′) indicated to the control means that the area of pasture immediately below the pair of electrodes 7′ had received a recent deposition of urine, then the control means automatically and immediately instructs the spray nozzle 9′ to treat this area by spraying it with the nitrate inhibitor.

Hence, as the apparatus 1 automatically makes its way around a paddock or pasture, the apparatus 1 is able to treat each urine patch detected with the nitrate inhibitor. An advantage of such a system is that a farmer does not need to apply blanket coverage of a nitrate inhibitor to the entire paddock or pasture, with resultant savings in cost, time and materials.

FIG. 4 illustrates how the apparatus 1 may follow a predetermined path around a paddock or pasture, and shows the start and stop positions of the apparatus 1. Furthermore, FIG. 4 illustrates how the apparatus 1 may automatically avoid obstacles such as rough and unsuitable terrain, noted in FIG. 4 as “no go zone”. The “no go zone” may be a swamp area or an embankment or a steep gully, etc.

Other features or embodiments of the apparatus 1 (and/or vehicle 2 and detection means 3) are detailed below.

The vehicle 2 may be adapted to move at any speed, although it is envisaged that a speed between 3 km/hr-10 km/hr may be most suitable. If the vehicle 2 was adapted to move at 5 km/hr it would cover 1.5 ha/hr. As a large herd of dairy cows (say 600-800) would normally strip-graze about 4 to 8 ha/day, the apparatus 1 will easily be able to treat the pasture grazed each day once the animals are moved off the area grazed.

The apparatus 1 may require a pre-programmed farm map preloaded with routes to follow based on given start points for each paddock. The farmer may move the apparatus 1 to a new paddock daily, and should preferably refill the 20L tank and swap the batteries. The apparatus 1 may be started by placing it in the correct position and orientation and pushing a single go button. Each paddock will have a predetermined path for the apparatus 1 to follow, with a fixed start-stop point as shown in FIG. 4. As the apparatus 1 follows its path it will scan for, detect, and spray all recent urine patches.

All the paddock maps and the driving paths for each paddock will need to be loaded into the apparatus 1 on initial installation and whenever the farm boundaries, races or paddocks are changed.

The apparatus 1 may interface with existing products such as the TracMap system both for setup and where customers wish to record inhibitor application.

The apparatus 1 poses only a very negligible risk to humans, animals and fixed assets due to its low height and mass (less than 50 kg fully laden) and a low maximum ground speed (say, 5 km/hr). Safety is ensured by using GPS technology with sufficient allowance for the location accuracy coupled with sensors and design features to protect the apparatus 1 from harm. The apparatus 1 is a cost effective, medium-tech solution improving pastures, reducing nitrification rates and therefore nitrate leaching and gaseous nitrous oxide losses.

The addition of an extra spray tank to the apparatus 1 would allow the apparatus 1 to additionally apply fluidised urea (with urease inhibitor), trace elements and other additives as and where required. Application of urea will be linked to the urine detection so that the urea delivery will cut out over urine patches. The much-improved efficiency of fluidised, urease inhibitor-treated urea allows a greater area to be treated per tank-full than would granular urea.

The apparatus 1 may preferably include a pump (not shown) for pumping the liquid nitrate inhibitor (or urease inhibitor) from the tank 6 to, and out of, the spray nozzles 9.

In another embodiment, the liquid nitrate inhibitor may be supplied to the spray nozzles 9 under the force of gravity.

Whilst gravity feed has significant advantages, it would need to rely on valves, seals and active shutoff methods to ensure zero leakage whereas the pumped system will incorporate an anti-siphon design, without seals, that requires power at all times.

Accuracy of Location

This will be achieved through the RTK Differential GPS technique and enhanced sensor fusion. Real time kinetic (RTK) GPS systems use the carrier signal as the data signal, ignoring the encoded information within it. Traditional GPS aligns the signals from satellites using the binary sequence, as the signal is encoded. The difficulty in RTK systems lies in aligning the signals accurately as every phase cycle of the carrier signal is undistinguishable. The receiver then compares its phase measurement to the phase measurement of a base station's correction signal. This technology allows users to achieve an absolute accuracy of up to 25 mm with tracking accuracies of 50 mm.

Safety

There are three critical levels of safety: people, animals and infrastructure. These may be assured via a fusion of multiple design features including covering a wide range of scenarios. Safety features are both inherent and active. Inherent safety features may include design features such as:

- Physical spaces which enable a person to climb onto the vehicle to avoid being crushed.
- Sufficient clearance to crawl underneath the vehicle.
- Design speed limits which ensure absolute maximum vehicle speeds are not above walking speeds.
- Access to emergency stop buttons from all sides of the vehicle.

Active safety systems may include:

- Proximity sensors capable of detecting safety concerns at a range that is greater than the worst case braking distance.
- Fusion of sensor information to ensure that accurate data is available irrespective of ambient conditions. Laser, vision, IR and sonar technologies all have optimum operating conditions and by fusing data it is possible to maximise the advantages of each technology.
- Automated and repeated calibration tests.
- Automated cleaning systems.
- Physical barriers linked to emergency stop switches, particularly at the front and back of the vehicle
- Fail safe stop modes, for example brakes that lock on in the event of a loss of power.
- Vehicle operation within acceptable environmental conditions only. Operation during rain fall is not required as the spreading of fertiliser and inhibitors is not recommended or allowable during these conditions. On board systems can measure ambient conditions and act appropriately.

The software of the control means may include the following safety algorithms;

- If there is any animal 20 m in front, the apparatus 1 stops until the animal has moved
- If there is any animal in the same race or paddock and within 5 metres on any side, but not behind, the apparatus 1 may stop.
- If there is any animal within 1 m on all sides of the apparatus 1, it may stop.
- No-go times can be programmed for races and other zones to avoid main periods of stock movement.

Human-Machine Interface (HMI)

The HMI is a web based interface that may communicate with the apparatus 1. The server can hold a map of the farm based on a farm survey. The map may contain paddock, race, gate, no-go zone, path and refilling/fuelling location data and can be updated by the user or through a service provider. The user may create action instructions as to the sequence of actions, for the apparatus 1 to undertake, these instructions may list the paddocks to visit in the desired order and the quantities of inhibitor etc to be deposited. When the sequence of instructions is complete, the apparatus 1 will return to the refill point to wait for further instructions. Whilst it may be essential that there is reception for data transfer at the refill station, the data transferred will be sufficient to allow the apparatus 1 to operate fully autonomously for periods when there may not be reception.

Having regard to FIGS. 5a, 5b and 5c, there are shown different embodiments of electrodes (discs 7) which detect the presence of urine on the ground surface (or sub-ground surface) by measuring the localised conductivity or resistivity of the soil of the ground surface (or sub-ground surface) and/or changes in the conductivity or resistivity of the soil.

As stated previously, fresh urine contains materials which are highly conductive, relative to many soils. As a consequence of the conductivity of the urine the presence of urine can be detected through measuring the localised conductivity or resistivity of the soil and/or changes in conductivity or resistivity of the soil.

The basic method of conductivity measurement is used in cropping and other applications as it gives you an indication of the soil structure. Essentially a current is applied between the two electrodes which in the case of our system are the outside conducting discs 10a and 10b as shown in FIG. 5a. The current between the electrodes 7 is shown as A (for ammeter). The current can be measured and is constant at any point between the outer discs 10a and 10b. By measuring the potential difference at any location between the electrodes 10a and 10b, the conductivity of the soil near the surface can be measured. For example in FIG. 5a, the potential difference is measured between the inner discs v1 and v2.

The conductivity of the soil is proportional to the current A divided by the potential difference (v1−v2), ie Conductivity=constant×A/(v1−v2)

We do not need to know the constant to measure where changes in conductivity occur and for fresh urine patches the changes are quite significant. This method works very well as it is theoretically independent of the quality of the contacts until you get near the limits of conductivity when the signals approach the measurement limits of the system.

The advantage of this method is that the measurement is independent of the potential difference between either of the outer electrodes 10a and 10b and the soil. This potential difference is caused by the contact resistance and the current flow. As there is no significant current flow required to measure the potentials v1 and v2 the contact resistance for these inner electrodes v1 and v2 does not effect the conductivity measurement.

The conductivity at multiple locations can be measured in different ways, and two methods that can be used are described in relation to FIGS. 5b and 5c below.

What is unique is not that we are measuring conductivity but that we are using it to measure something on a micro scale (relatively) and not the macro scale used for bulk soil conductivity measurement when used in soil structure analysis.

FIG. 5b illustrates current flows between outer electrodes (discs) 10a and 10b of an array. The arrow indicates the direction of movement of the array.

A 24 VDC potential is shown between the outer discs 10a and 10b, and, for practical reasons, relating to safety, this potential shouldn't be higher than 50 volts, though this is not a theoretical limit. AC current could also be used as it has less impact on the life of the electrodes though for initial development it is easier to use DC.

The potential is measured at each electrode 7 marked v1 to v14, although there is no limit to the possible number of electrodes 7. The potentials are measured by calculating the difference in potential between the electrodes 7 and applying the basic formula above.

The limitation of this method is that at some point the actual potential differences measured become too small and the measurement errors become too great. The wetter the soil the better the conductivity between the outside discs 10 and 10b, the better, because a higher current flows between the outside discs 10 and 10b, reducing the effective resistance between the outer discs 10 and 10b, and the soil, and therefore creating a greater potential difference that can be measured between each of the inner discs 7.

FIG. 5c illustrates multiple electrode groups. More specifically, multiple groups of electrodes are created, a situation with five groups labelled A to E. The arrow indicates the direction of movement of the array.

Each of the five groups of electrodes A to E has to be read sequentially with the voltage supplies and grounds relating to the other sets isolated so as not to confuse the current measurements. In this manner the electrodes 7 have to be scanned and read one at a time which limits the speed of measurement compared to the first method.

This method has much less spatial resolution as the current source and ground electrodes do not measure potential but there is a much higher potential difference to measure across each of the current measuring electrodes. This greater potential difference allows this method to work with much less conductive, i.e. drier soils.

FIG. 6 illustrates a detections means which uses non-contact electromagnetic sensing techniques.

There is shown a magnetic induction sensor generally indicated by arrow 11.

The magnetic induction sensor 11 includes a single turn of copper tubing which is used as a transmit coil connected to a variable frequency oscillator. The time-varying voltage applied to the transmit coil creates a time-varying magnetic field that permeates the space around it. Offset from the transmit coil by a height approximately equivalent to the diameter of the transmit coil, is a single turn of copper tubing used as the receiver coil. This coil constitutes the detector element of the sensor and is connected in parallel with a fixed capacitor. The inductance of the receiver coil and the capacitance of the fixed capacitor create an electrically resonant circuit.

Table 1 below lists the design parameters of the sensor.

TABLE 1

Sensor specifications

RX coil diameter (internal)
315 mm

Diameter of RX coil wire
6 mm copper tubing (OD)

Number of turns in RX coil
1

TX coil diameter (internal)
315 mm

Diameter of TX coil wire
4 mm copper tubing (OD)

Number of turns in TX coil
1

Fixed capacitance
470 pF polystyrene film

capacitor

RX-TX coil vertical
315 mm

separation

Distance from RX coil to
50 mm

test object plane

Coil former
White PVC pipe, wall thickness

12 mm

When a material with dielectric and conducting properties is brought into the vicinity of the receiver coil, such as urine-contaminated soil, the resonant frequency and magnitude of the received voltage change. The change in resonant frequency and voltage are readily measured quantities and can be related to the properties of the nearby object of interest such as soil and/or urine. Thus, the presence of a urine patch can be so detected.

Equivalent Circuit Representation of the Sensor

To describe the behaviour of the magnetic induction sensor, a useful and powerful description of the detector coil's properties is an equivalent circuit representation. FIG. 7 shows such an equivalent circuit representation for detector coil and test object.

Components shown in the dotted outline are those of the detector coil circuit and those remaining are associated with the test object (subscript “obj”).

In FIG. 7, the inductance of the detector coil is denoted by L with its RF resistance denoted by, r. The fixed capacitor connected in parallel across the coil is denoted by C. The parallel resistance across the coil is denoted by R. These three components represent the characteristics of the detector coil (shown enclosed in the dashed outline in FIG. 7).

The inclusion of the parallel resistance, R, as part of the inherent coil circuit, was found to be necessary in order to correctly account for two contributions to the coil's behaviour, namely:

- (i) The effect of the transmit coil on the receiver circuit. The transmit coil is itself a metallic object that lies within the sensitive region of the receiver coil. Therefore, the transmit coil looks like a conductive test object to the receiver circuit which can be modelled by a parallel resistance, R.
- (ii) The non-deal behaviour of the fixed capacitor used.

Both of the above effects can be modelled by the inclusion of the parallel resistance, R, in the equivalent circuit.

The remaining capacitor, C_objand resistor, R_obj, represent the properties of the test object. Allowance must be made for the capacitive effect of the test object as well as its conductance to account for the effects of the test object's dielectric constant.

The equivalent circuit of FIG. 7 can be analysed in the frequency domain to give an equivalent complex input admittance for the combined detector coil and test object denoted by the function Y(ω), where ω is the angular frequency of the applied magnetic field. The expression for Y(ω) in terms of its real and imaginary parts, G and B, as a function of the circuit parameters is given below:

Y(ω)=G+B

where G and B, respectively, are the conductance and susceptance of the equivalent input admittance, and are defined as:

$\begin{matrix} G = \frac{1}{R} + \frac{1}{R_{obj}} + (\frac{r}{r^{2} + {(ω L)}^{2}}) B = ω (C + C_{obj}) - (\frac{ω L}{r^{2} + {(ω L)}^{2}}) & (1) \end{matrix}$

Of particular interest are the equivalent circuit parameters of the test object in isolation, namely, R_objand C_obj, which can be combined to form the test object's complex admittance, Y_obj, as follows:

Y
_obj
=G
_obj
−jB
_obj (1a)

where in (1a):

$G_{obj} = \frac{1}{R_{obj}} = Equivalent conductance of test object (1 / Ω)$

B
_obj
=ωC
_obj=Equivalent susceptance of test object (1/Ω)

In the following, the various parameters that must be measured are discussed and how they are related to the equivalent circuit parameters.

Resonant Frequency

The equivalent circuit becomes resonant when B=0. Using equation (1), this gives the following expression for the resonant angular frequency, ω₀:

$\begin{matrix} \begin{matrix} ω_{0} = \sqrt{\frac{1}{L (C + C_{obj})} - {(\frac{r}{L})}^{2}} \\ ≅ \sqrt{\frac{1}{L (C + C_{obj})}} \end{matrix} & (2) \end{matrix}$

The approximation used in equation (2), that of ignoring the effect of the coil's RF resistance, r, is valid for most practical coils using copper wire. It can be seen from this expression that the test object can shift the resonant frequency compared to the case with no object present (for which C_obj=0) via its capacitive effect.

It is apparent that if we make a measurement of the resonant frequency with no object present (the so-called ‘open’ case) then we can determine the coil's inductance since the fixed external capacitance C is known.

Repeating the above for the case with a test object in the vicinity of the receive coil then allows the equivalent capacitance of the object, C_obj, to be found using the following expression which arises from (2):

$\begin{matrix} \frac{C_{obj}}{C} = {(\frac{f_{0}}{f})}^{2} - 1 & (2 a) \end{matrix}$

where in (2a):

f₀=Resonant frequency for ‘open’ case.

f=Resonant frequency with test object present.

Sensitivity, S

When a test object is introduced into the vicinity of the receive coil, the main effect on the received signal is a reduction in the amplitude of the coil voltage at its resonant frequency. This is due to the increased dissipation of electrical energy in the test object by virtue of its conductivity and is represented in the equivalent circuit by the parallel resistance, R_obj.

We can define the system sensitivity to the object's conductivity as the fractional change in voltage at resonance using the ‘open’ case as reference. This parameter is readily measured.

In terms of the circuit parameters, the sensitivity, S, can then be expressed as:

$\begin{matrix} S = Q_{0} Z_{0} (\frac{1}{R_{obj}} + \frac{{rC}_{obj}}{L}) ≅ \frac{Q_{0} Z_{0}}{R_{obj}} & (3) \end{matrix}$

where in (3):

$Z_{0} = \sqrt{\frac{L}{C}} = characteristic impedance of receive coil with no object present .$

Q₀=Quality factor of the resonant circuit with no object present.

The approximation shown on the right-hand side of (3) is valid since, in practice,

$\frac{1}{R_{obj}} >> \frac{{rC}_{obj}}{L} .$

Equation (3) shows that for a test object with given equivalent circuit parameters, the sensitivity is high when the product Q₀Z₀is large for the receive coil.

Quality Factor, Q₀

The quality factor of the resonant circuit with no test object present (the ‘open’ case) denoted by, Q₀, can be defined in terms of the resonant frequency, ω₀and frequency bandwidth at the half-power points, Δω as follows:

$\begin{matrix} Q = \frac{ω_{0}}{Δ ω} & (4) \end{matrix}$

The resonant frequency and bandwidth are readily measurable quantities if one sweeps the excitation frequency over a band centred on the resonance. For the equivalent circuit in FIG. 2, and considering no object present, we can express Q₀in terms of the circuit parameters as follows:

$\begin{matrix} Q_{0} = \frac{Z_{0}}{[r + (\frac{Z_{0}^{2}}{R})]} & (5) \end{matrix}$

In the absence of any Ohmic coil resistance, (r=0), the limiting value for the Q-factor is

$\frac{R}{Z_{0}} .$

The characteristic impedance, Z₀, depends on the value of fixed capacitance, C, and on the receiver coil inductance, which in turn depends on the coil geometry (typically, coil diameter, number of turns and wire radius) which can be independently controlled to a large extent.

Summary of Measurements Required

In summary, in order to detect the presence of a urine patch in soil, the following measurements must be made with the magnetic induction system:

- 1. Determine the resonant frequency, f₀, the Q-factor, Q₀, and output voltage at resonance, V₀, of the system with no test object present (open case). These measurements constitute a calibration of the coil system and can be made by placing the sensor at a height well above the ground.
- 2. With a test object in place, such as soil with or without urine, determine the new resonant frequency, f, and the output voltage at resonance, V.

From these measured quantities, the real and imaginary parts of the test object's equivalent admittance, G_objand B_obj, respectively, can be determined from the following equations:

$\begin{matrix} G_{obj} = \frac{1}{R_{obj}} ≅ 2 π f_{0} C (\frac{V_{0} - V}{Q_{0} V_{0}}) B_{obj} = 2 π {fC}_{obj} = 2 π fC [{(\frac{f_{0}}{f})}^{2} - 1] & (6) \end{matrix}$

It should be noted that the equivalent circuit parameters of the test object will be dependent on the distance between the receive coil and test object. This aspect, and how to correct for it, are discussed in the following.

Tables 3, 4 and 5 below show measured results for the detector coil voltage versus frequency at three different sensor stand-off heights above a urine-contaminated patch of soil, and the same patch of soil with no urine present. The sensitivity of both the resonant frequency and amplitude of receiver voltage at resonance is clearly visible with and without the urine present.

From the data in Tables 3, 4 & 5, equivalent circuit parameters can be calculated using the expressions in equation (6). The aim is to calculate the equivalent conductance, G_objand susceptance, B_objfor urine-contaminated and urine-free soil samples for each stand-off height. The results for G_objand B_objare shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, respectively.

From the results shown in Table 6 below, the effect of the urine on the soil manifests itself as an increase in equivalent conductance over and above that for urine-free soil as one would expect. The variation in equivalent conductance with stand-off height for urine-free and urine-soaked soil is similar for both cases with only a slight increase in the difference in conductance observed with decreasing stand-off height.

Table 7 below shows that the equivalent susceptance increases with decreasing stand-off height for both urine-free and urine-soaked soil, as expected, but at a noticeably accelerated rate for the urine-soaked soil compared with the urine-free case.

If we now consider the ratio of the equivalent conductance to susceptance for each stand-off height, the graph shown in Table 8 below results. This figure shows that the ratio G_obj/B_objvaries little with stand-off distance for the urine-free case, but is highly sensitive to it for a urine patch.

This means that, by computing this ratio, it is possible to distinguish a urine-free region from a urine-soaked one without having to accurately maintain a fixed sensor height above the soil.

To achieve this outcome, the sensor stand-off height should not exceed approximately 75 mm, thereby maintaining a sufficient separation in values of G_obj/B_objfor urine-free and urine-soaked soil.

For the urine-free case, the G_obj/B_objratio could be evaluated at any stand-off height, including the ‘infinite’ stand-off distance given by the ‘open’ case. This would set the upper limit for this ratio as FIG. 8 suggests.

Detection of a urine patch then proceeds by computing G_obj/B_objat each location over the paddock. Detection of a urine patch would then be deemed to have occurred if this value fell below a pre-defined threshold value, which could be expressed as a percentage of the upper limit value.

Furthermore, the results of Table 8 suggest that a smaller stand-off distance than the minimum of 50 mm used for these measurements, would enhance the contrast between urine-soaked and urine-free soil.

An advantage associated with the present invention is that it provides the user with an effective and practical method of identifying areas which have recently been subject to a deposition of excreta, and (immediately or shortly thereafter) applying substances such as nitrification inhibitors or other chemicals to these areas. This results in the user (farmer) benefiting from lessor amounts of nitrate leaching, which is not only beneficial to the farmer's farm, but also for the environment as a whole.

Furthermore, the invention also allows the user to apply other substances such as nutrients or fertilisers to areas which are identified as not having been subjected to a deposition of excreta.

VARIATIONS

While the embodiments described above are currently preferred, it will be appreciated that a wide range of other variations might also be made within the general spirit and scope of the invention, and/or as defined by the appended claims.

APPARATUS AND METHODS FOR EXCRETA DETECTION AND TREATMENT

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