Patent Application
20240168001
The field relates, generally, to using wireless soil condition detection devices and monitoring wireless signals received therefrom to reduce usage of water, fertilizer, and other chemicals in a landscape such as a golf course.
To monitor moisture, salinity, PH level, or other parameters in a landscape environment, such as a golf course, systems have been used that include multiple soil condition probe devices buried at various locations at a golf course or other turf. Soil condition probes are typically connected by wires that are also buried underneath the ground (i.e., subterranean) like the probes. The wires provide communication and in some cases power to the probes from a central monitoring station device. From time to time it may be desirable to move one or more soil condition probes to different locations at a given golf course, or perhaps even to a different golf course. This presents a problem as the communication and power wires are buried under the ground. Moving a given probe from one location to another, or adding a new probe to another location, is problematic because it requires digging up the golf course.
In an aspect, soil condition probes are manufactured with wireless communication modules to facilitate transmitting and receiving information via a long-range wireless communication network, such as for example, a cellular data network. Examples of such wireless data networks includes CDMA, GSM, LTE, EPC, 3G, 4G, 5G, and the like, as may be provided by mobile network operator service providers (“MNO”) such as AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile. The wireless soil condition detection probes include batteries. Thus, a given soil condition detection probe may be buried subterranean at a golf course without having dig up more ground than is necessary to bury the probe itself—no digging to bury communication or power wires is required.
In an aspect, local weather stations (i.e., local to a given golf course or other landscape environment) may be used to supplement, or supplant, weather reports received from a third-party internet weather service provider. A given golf course may use one or more such a local weather stations to wirelessly provide weather conditions corresponding to a particular hole of the golf course to a central monitoring station that also is configured to receive and process information and data transmitted wirelessly from one or more of the wireless soil condition detection probes. The central monitoring station, which may be connected to a communication network, such as the Internet, may receive information wirelessly transmitted from the local weather stations and the wireless soil detection probe devices from a mobile network operator's packet core network corresponding to a radio access Network with which the packet core network is associated.
In an aspect, a wireless soil condition probe device includes a long-range wireless transceiver module, that itself includes a processor, for processing data and for transmitting and received data with a mobile network operator's wireless communication network. A wireless soil condition probe may also include multi-station wireless location system circuitry, such as for example, Global Position Satellite (“GPS”) circuitry, to determine the location of the soil condition detection probe in which it is installed. In an alternative embodiment, instead of using GPS radio circuitry, a given wireless soil condition detection probe may use triangulation techniques based on receiving multiple signals from multiple transmit towers of an MNO's wireless network. A wireless soil condition detection probe may also include a wake-timer/processor, which typically consumes much less power than the processor of the long-range wireless transceiver module. The transceiver module and the wake timer are typically coupled with a memory that is included in the probe. The memory may be a discrete component or may be part of the long-range wireless transceiver module. The transceiver module, the wake timer, the memory, and the GPS circuitry receive power from a battery that is enclosed with in the probes water-sealed housing. One or more sensors provide soil condition signals to the wireless transceiver module. For example, a detection probe device may include a volumetric water content sensor and corresponding detection probe, a soil dielectric sensor and corresponding detection probe, a temperature sensor and corresponding detection probe, and a bulk electric conductivity sensor and corresponding detection probe. From these sensors and corresponding probes, values and other information corresponding to other parameters may be derived, for example, P.H. or salinity. A given wireless soil detection probe device may also include one or more accelerometers that may be used to detect motion, or lack thereof, of the probe device.
In an aspect a method for installing a wireless soil condition detection/monitoring device in a subterranean location comprises activating a wireless transceiver of the soil condition/monitor device. The soil condition detection/monitoring device includes a processor to: receive signals from one or more soil condition parameter detection sensors; cause the transceiver to wirelessly transmit and receive information corresponding to the signals received from the one or more soil condition parameter detection sensor. The transceiver may be configured to communicate wirelessly with a long-range wireless communication network. This provides an advantage that wires, conductors, or light fibers are not used to connect discrete sol condition detection devices to each other or to a central monitoring station.
At a first subterranean location, which location may be above the surface of ground where a hole has been dug or may be dug in the future depending on signal strength values as discussed in more detail herein, below the surface of ground in a hole that has been dug as determined by signal strength values as described elsewhere herein, or may be resting on top of ground where a hole may not have been dug yet but may be dug as determined by signal strength values as described elsewhere herein, that corresponds to one of the discrete soil condition detection devices/units the method includes monitoring at one or more times the strength of wireless radio signals received by the transceiver from the long-range wireless communication network.
The method may include processing over a predetermined period, or for a predetermined number of samples, the value, or values, corresponding to the strength of wireless radio signals received by the transceiver from the long-range wireless communication network to determine a processed received signal strength value. One or more values representing the strength of a signal, or signals, received at the transceiver may be wirelessly transmitted to a local user equipment device (“UE”) such as, for example, an installer's smart phone or wireless tablet, via a short range wireless communication link such as Bluetooth. Or, a value representing the signal strength may be transmitted via a long range wireless cellular data link to a central monitoring station (i.e., an internet-connected computer) or back to the local installer's UE via a long range wireless internet data link.
An installer's UE or another internet-connection computer, may compare the processed received signal strength to a predetermined signal strength criterion and determine whether the processed received signal strength meets the predetermined signal strength criterion. The installers UE or the central monitoring computer may alert an installer whether or not to install the soil condition monitor device at the first subterranean location based on the comparing of the processed received signal strength value to the predetermined signal strength criterion.
In an aspect, the activating of the wireless transceiver includes may cause switch contacts of a switch having a component external to the soil condition monitoring device to complete a circuit to thereby provide electrical power to the transceiver. The component may be a switch, or a mechanical component of a switch that is part of, and external to, a housing of the soil condition detection device. The mechanical component may be an arm, lever, or the like, that penetrates the housing of the soil condition detection device to operate contacts that are contained within the soil condition detection device. Preferable, an arm, level, button, slide button, knob, or like mechanisms includes a magnet that is configured to move from a ‘shipping’ position to an ‘activated’ position. The mechanism may be biased toward the activated position. A biasing force may be provided by a spring, gravity, or other similar means. When biased and in the shipping position, the switch component may be held away from the activated position by tape, a pin, a snap, a detent, or other similar means. An installer may remove the restraining mechanism (i.e., adhesive tape) such that the mechanical component moves the magnet toward the activated position. Or, an installer of the soil condition detection device may overcome a detent preload and slide a button that is attached to a magnet from the shipping position to the activated position. When the magnet is moved from its shipping position to the activated position, magnetic field/flux from the magnet causes contents of a reed switch that is internal to the soil condition detection device to make up, thus completing a circuit within the soil condition detection device. The contacts complete a circuitry from a battery of the soil condition detection device, thus providing electrical power to the transceiver and to other circuitry components of the soil condition detection device.
As discussed, component external to the soil condition monitoring device may be part of a reed switch system; wherein the component external to the soil condition monitoring device includes a magnetic portion, wherein the component external to the soil condition monitoring device is temporarily held in a position such that the contacts do not provide a completed circuit to provide power to the transceiver, and wherein the causing of the switch contacts to complete the circuit to thereby provide electrical power to the transceiver includes removing an adhesive-coated tape such that a bias of the component external to the device moves the component in a direction of at least one of the contacts. By using a reed switch internal to the soil condition detection device with contacts that are operated, or ‘made up,’ by a component external to the soil condition detection device, an ‘on/off’ switch that physically penetrates the housing of the soil condition detection device is not required, thus eliminating a moisture pathway from subterranean soil in which the soil condition detection device is buried to the internals thereof.
In an aspect, the predetermined signal strength criterion is based on a signal strength attenuation value that corresponds to a type of soil that will cover the soil condition monitor device at the first subterranean location.
In an aspect, the installer is alerted not to install the soil condition detection at the first subterranean location when the processed received signal strength does not meet the predetermined signal strength criterion. The alert may be received by a UE being used by the installer, by a handheld wireless device that is configured specifically to communicate with soil condition detection devices or that is configured to communication with a central monitoring station computer that itself is configured to wirelessly communicate with soil condition detection devices.
In an aspect the predetermined signal strength criterion is based on a signal strength attenuation value that corresponds to a type of soil that will cover the soil condition monitor device at the first subterranean location and on a predetermined depth at which the device is to be buried. For example, if the soil condition detection device is to be buried in under a first turf species with a root base of a first depth that is deeper than a second depth that may correspond to a different second species of turf, the signal strength criterion may be a higher value than if the soil condition detection device were to be buried at the second depth under the second turf species. In other words, a higher signal strength criterion value would require a stronger processed signal strength value to avoid the installer being alerted that the location for burial of the soil condition detection device is not satisfactory because adequate signal strength for wireless communion with a long-range wireless network does not exist. For turf species with shallower root bases than the first species the signal strength criterion value could be lower and thus weaker signals might still not alert an installer that the location where the soil condition detection device is to be buried is not acceptable.
In an aspect, when an installer is alerted that the signal strength of communication signals received from the long range wireless communication will be inadequate to support wireless communication between the long range wireless network and a transceiver of the soil condition detection device when the device is buried below the root base of the turf species at the given first location, one or more of the steps described above may be performed for a second subterranean location when the processed received signal strength at the first location does not meet the predetermined signal strength criterion.
In an aspect, a method for refining the precision of the determining of location information of a soil condition detection device at a first location provided by a multi-station wireless location determining system, that in an aspect, for example, is a Global Positioning Satellite (“GPS”) system, or for another example is a multi-station cellular radio network having multiple stations within signal range of the soil condition detection device, comprises capturing first location information based on transmission signals from the multi-station wireless location system (i.e., GPS signals) at the first location at a first sample rate. The capturing may include the generating by a GPS receiver of the soil condition detection device location coordinates. The capturing may also include receiving the location coordinates by a processor of the soil condition detection device, for example, the processor of a transceiver module of the soil condition detection device.
A determination may be made that the soil condition detection device has not moved from the first location during a predetermined first period. The determination may be made by a processor that is part of a transceiver of the soil condition detection device. The determination may be made by a remote/central monitoring station that monitors signals transmitted from the soil condition detection device. Or, an installers UE may make the determination. The determination may be made by processing signals that may be generated by accelerometers of the soil condition detection device during the predetermined first period. The determination may be made by processing signals or information that GPS circuitry of the soil condition detection device may generate during the predetermined first period. The predetermined first period may be any period, but in an aspect may be selected in software (typically running on the processor of the transceiver of the soil condition detection device) as a period of ten seconds.
Whatever device, processor, or station computer makes the determination that the soil condition detection device has not moved, may store location information corresponding to a sample captured at the first sample rate as indicating the location of the soil condition detection device. The device, processor, or station computer may capture location information based on transmission signals from the multi-station wireless location system at a second sample rate at the first location for a second plurality of samples during a predetermined second period. The predetermined second period typically occurs after the predetermined first period.
After the second plurality of samples have been captured and stored, a centroid is determined of data points corresponding to the second plurality of samples captured while the soil condition detection device is at the first location. Information corresponding to the sample captured at the first sample rate is replaced with the centroid corresponding to the second plurality of samples as indicating the location of the soil condition detection device. The second sample rate is preferably higher than the first sample rate. This provides the advantage that multiple location coordinate sets provide a more precise determination of location coordinates, and by sampling GPS data, or location information from another source, at a higher sample rate than the first sample rate speeds up the installation process of the given soil condition detection device.
In an aspect, the device, processor, or monitoring computer that performs the determination of the centroid may determine, after the replacing of the information corresponding to the sample captured at the first sample rate with the centroid location coordinate set corresponding to the second plurality of samples the location of the soil condition monitor device, second location information as corresponding to the location of the soil condition monitor device at the first sample rate. A determination may then be made that the soil condition monitor device has been moved from the first location based on a comparison between the centroid corresponding to the second plurality of samples and the second location information, and a notification may be provided to a service provider's backend server that the soil condition monitor device has moved from the first location when the comparison between the centroid and the second location information indicates a difference that is greater than a predetermined location difference value.
In an alternative aspect, instead of determining a second location at a first sample rate using GPS circuitry, the transceiver may be awakened by, or triggered by, a signal generated by an accelerometer of the soil condition detection device. The signal received from the accelerometer may be evaluated to determine whether the signal represents seismic activity, such as earthquake or volcanic activity. If not, the transceiver my instruct GPS circuitry to boot up/wake up and determine the location of the soil condition detection device, and whether the device has moved from the first location. Evaluating accelerometer signal information and determining that the information corresponds to seismic activity, nearby heavy machinery activity, or even a powerful thunderclap, provides the advantage of not powering up GPS circuitry when the likelihood is low that the accelerometer signal was generated by the moving of the location of the soil condition detection device.
In an aspect, the predetermined location difference value is based on the precision in determining location information that is obtainable from signals of the multi-station wireless location system sampled at the first sample rate. For example, if the best precision that a GPS receiver can provide at a sample rate of 10 Hz is 25 feet, the predetermined location difference value would be selected to be greater than 25 feet. Otherwise, if the predetermined location difference value were selected to be less than 25 feet, then one or more spurious location coordinate determinations from a soil condition detection device's GPS circuitry could indicate that the soil condition detection device had been moved which it in fact had not been moved. In an aspect, if an accelerometer signal indicates that a given soil condition detection device has experienced movement, GPS circuitry of soil condition detection device may obtain samples at the higher second sample rate as discussed above to compare with the second location information as corresponding to the location of the soil condition monitor device at the second, higher sample rate.
In an aspect, the sample rates are sentence rates.
In an aspect, a method comprises receiving soil condition information transmitted wirelessly from each of a plurality of subterranean soil condition detection devices buried at corresponding original locations within an area of land during a first period. The soil condition information corresponding to each of the plurality of subterranean soil condition detection devices received during the first period is stored in a customer location table. One of the plurality of subterranean soil condition detection devices to be moved from its corresponding original location is identified as being a device to be moved. A device may be so identified when, for example, one device is buried close to another devices and over time soil conditions at the locations of both devices is reported as being the same or almost the same. Or, a device may be identified for moving to another location if signal strength at the original subterranean location of the device has been poor over a period of time, such as a week or a month.
After being identified for movement, the identified one of the plurality of subterranean soil condition detection devices is moved from its corresponding original location to a new location within the area of land. During a second period, soil condition information that is transmitted wirelessly from each of the plurality of subterranean soil condition detection devices buried at corresponding locations within an area of land is received, including information from the identified one of the plurality of subterranean soil condition detection devices that is now buried at its new location within the area of land.
A determination of soil conditions at the original location of the identified one of the plurality of subterranean soil condition detection devices that was moved from its original location to its new location may be made based on soil condition information received during the first period from at least one of the plurality of subterranean soil condition detection devices other than the identified subterranean soil condition detection device that was moved and based on soil condition information received during the second period from the at least one of the plurality of subterranean soil condition detection devices other than the identified subterranean soil condition detection device that was moved.
In other words, over a period, which may be referred to as a learning period, or a training period, data corresponding to soil condition information corresponding to the soil condition detection devices that said devices transmitted from their original locations is stored. After the soil condition information obtained during the training period is stored, information from any of the soil condition detection devices may be used to calculate, or determine, the soil conditions at the location of a given other of the soil condition detection devices even if the given other device is not functioning. Or, instead of determining the soil conditions of a soil condition detection devices that is not functioning, soil condition information obtained during the training period may be used to determine soil conditions at a time after the training period at the original location of one of the soil condition detection devices that has been moved from its original location. Thus, a greenskeeper, or landscape manager, may build a database over time of soil conditions information corresponding to a plurality of soil condition detection devices and continue to determine soil conditions at the original locations of soil condition detection devices that have been moved to new locations.
In an aspect, the determining of the soil conditions at the original location of the identified one of the plurality of subterranean soil condition detection devices that was moved from its original location to its new location includes processing with an artificial intelligence algorithm the soil condition information corresponding to each of the plurality of subterranean soil condition detection devices received during the first period, or training period, to determine an original location model corresponding to the location of the soil condition detection device that was moved, and applying the original location model to the soil condition information transmitted wirelessly from each of the plurality of subterranean soil condition detection devices during the second period, (i.e, at a time, or times, after the training period), except that information corresponding to the device that was moved to a new location, may not be used to estimate the soil conditions at the original location of the device that was moved during the second period.
In an aspect, the original location model is determined using a supervised regression algorithm.
In an aspect, the determining of the soil condition at the original location of the identified one of the plurality of subterranean soil condition detection devices that was moved from its original location to its new location includes processing with a neural network the soil condition information corresponding to each of the plurality of subterranean soil condition detection devices received during the first period to determine an original location model corresponding to the location of the soil condition detection device that was moved, and applying the original location model to the soil condition information transmitted wirelessly from each of the plurality of subterranean soil condition detection devices during the second period, except for the device that was moved to a new location, to estimate the soil conditions at the original location of the device that was moved during the second period.
As a preliminary matter, it will be readily understood by those persons skilled in the art that the present invention is susceptible of broad utility and application. Many methods, embodiments, and adaptations of the present invention other than those herein described as well as many variations, modifications and equivalent arrangements, will be apparent from or reasonably suggested by the substance or scope of the present invention.
Accordingly, while the present invention has been described herein in detail in relation to preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that this disclosure is only illustrative and exemplary of the present invention and is made merely for the purposes of providing a full and enabling disclosure of the invention. The following disclosure is not intended nor is to be construed to limit the present invention or otherwise exclude any such other embodiments, adaptations, variations, modifications and equivalent arrangements, the present invention being limited only by the claims appended hereto and the equivalents thereof.
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Continuing with description of
Probe device 22 includes a plurality sensors and corresponding probes that obtain soil condition information. It will be appreciated that device 22 is hermetically sealed to protect the internal components of the device from environmental factors such as moisture and temperature. Sensor 50 may be a volumetric water content sensor, sensor 52 may be a dielectric sensor, sensor 54 may be a temperature sensor, and sensors 56 may be a bulk electric conductivity sensor. Probes 51, 53, 55, and 57, correspond to sensors 50, 52, 54, and 56, respectively. Probes 51, 53, 55, and 57 may appear as metallic fingers that project from a housing of probe device 22, but the probes may differ from one another depending on the parameter that the corresponding sensor if designed to detect. Probes 51, 53, 55, and 57 project through the housing of device 22, and are sealed to prevent moisture intrusion into device 22. GPS radio circuitry 44 communicates location information (i.e., location of device 22) to a processor of transceiver module 40 and sensors 50, 52, 54, and 56 communicate detected soil information according to their parameter types to the processor of the transceiver module 40, which wirelessly transmits such location and soil information via antenna 49 through ground 34 to a central monitoring station, such as backend server 26 shown in
Turning now to
At step 315 the flow diagram shows that manufactured soil condition detection device includes circuitry that includes a bootstrap key. The bootstrap key is securely associated with the SIM in a memory that is in communication with a wireless modem/transceiver module of the device as well as being associated with a serial number of the device. The memory of the device includes the bootstrap key, a serial number of the modem/transceiver, and a unit/device serial number. The bootstrap key, the modem serial number, and the device serial number together may be referred to as a ‘birth certificate’ or ‘birth certificate information’ and separately as birth certificate information. The memory that stores such information may be a memory that is part of the SIM, may be memory that is part of the modem/transceiver processor module, or may be a discrete memory that is coupled to the transceiver module and SIM.
At step 320, during the manufacturing process, power is applied to the circuitry that includes the long-range wireless module/modem/processor. The transceiver module boots up, transmits the bootstrap key to a services provider's back-end server, which uses the bootstrap key to authenticate the devices circuitry with the services provider's back-end computer server.
At step 325, the long-range wireless transceiver transmits the birth certificate to the backend server, which then associates therein separate birth certificate information components with one another.
At step 330 the soil detection device/unit is assembled by installing the device circuitry into a housing along with one or more batteries, sensors, and probes, with tape over the magnet to prevent further use of the soil detection unit until it is ready to be placed into subterranean service by an end user, such as a groundskeeper technician, and landscape technician, or the like.
At step 335, GPS circuitry, that may be part of the device circuit, or may installed as a separate circuit board than the long-range transceiver module, determines a geographic location coordinate, or coordinates, of itself (which location corresponds to the location of the device into which it has been installed), and the determined location is transmitted to the services provider's back-end server. It will be appreciated that the taping of the magnet away from the reed switch contacts, which was described above in reference to step 330, may occur after the transmitting of the device's location coordinates as described in reference to step 335.
Continuing with discussion of step 335, when the service's provider's backend server receives the device's location coordinates, the back end server identifies the device (according to the SIM's identifier/serial number, the device's serial number, or the bootstrap key's serial number) in a table/database maintained at the back end server that the device from which the location coordinates were transmitted is deemed in inventory and ready to ship from the manufacturer, or current storage location at step 340.
At step 345, a customer, for example a golf course, orders a soil detection equipment package. A typical soil detection equipment package may include a plurality of subterranean soil detection devices (typically sold in multiples of nine or eighteen, since golf courses typically have nine or eighteen holes) and optionally one or more weather station devices that may be placed at the landscape/golf course to obtain very precise micro weather information that may be more accurate for the given landscape location than commercial or government weather information feed that may be more of a macro forecast for a much larger area than the given landscape/golf course location. The local micro location weather information may be wirelessly transmitted to, and received at, the services provider's back-end server. The plurality of wireless soil detection units, after installation, wirelessly transmit detected soil conditions to the landscape services provider's backend.
After a customer orders a soil condition detection package at step 345, at step 350 the service provider's back-end server indicates which units are to be shipped to the customer who places the order at step 345. This indicating at step 350 may include creating a customer-specific inventory table, or database, at the backend server.
At step 355, after the equipment to be shipped has been included in the customer-specific inventory table according to unique identifiers (including the micro weather station device), a user/customer launches a customer application, for example on a laptop, tablet, or smart phone and logs in to the application. The customer application indicates the actual soil condition detection units, according to serial number or other unique identifier associated with the units, that are to be shipped and that have been associated with the customer's log-in information. It will be appreciated that a micro weather station device may include similar circuitry as a soil condition detection unit 22 as described elsewhere herein except that the sensors of the weather station may differ inasmuch as the weather station device would typically include sensors that are configured to monitor weather-related parameters such as barometer, temperature, humidity, etc. instead of soil-related parameters as described elsewhere herein.
At step 360, after the shipped detection units have been delivered to a customer, an installation technician (“installer”) removes a soil condition detection device from its packaging and removes the tape, or other restraining mechanism, that holds the magnet back from the reed switch thus allowing current to flow from the battery of the device to the circuitry thereof which causes the circuitry of the device to ‘wake up’. After the circuitry wakes up, the GPS circuitry obtains a fix, or lock, (typically to determine that the GPS receiver is receiving signals from at least four different satellites), determines its location and transmits location coordinate information to the long-range wireless transceiver modem/processor for transmission to the services provider's backend server over a wireless mobile network. The long-range wireless transceiver/module/processor/modem transmits the location coordinates to the backend server via the wireless mobile network thus indicating that the device has been activated for installation into a subterranean position.
At step 365, a status of the soil condition detection unit that transmitted the location coordinates at step 360 changes in the customer's application from being in customer ‘inventory’ to being ‘ready’ for installation. In an aspect, the moving of a given soil condition detection unit from being indicated as being in ‘inventory’ to being ‘ready’ for installation may be based on signal strength measurement information (such as RSSI) exceeding a predetermined ‘ready’ threshold, or simply by virtue of the fact that an RSSI value has been calculated/determined by the long-range wireless module. GPS circuitry may still be in process of establishing location coordinates after a device is indicated as ‘ready’ or being installed.
At step 370 the installer uses the customer application to describe textually the location of the unit that the installer is about to bury in the ground. This process may be referred to as provisioning by the installer insofar as the location of the unit to be buried is described in plain English (or other language) that the installer, or customer administrator/manager can easily understand.
At step 373 the installer may, in an aspect, place the unit on the ground generally at the location determined at step 360. Placing the unit on the ground instead of an installer holding the unit in his, or her, hand, or instead of resting in a golf cart, for example, may provide reception of long-range wireless signals in an unobstructed or undistorted fashion. It has been learned by the inventors of subject matter disclosed herein that even holding a unit by an installer in his, or her, hand may distort, alter, or disturb, electromagnetic properties, such as capacitance, inductance, permittivity, or permeability, that could alter the reception of long-range wireless signals and thus could alter RSSI value determination or GPS reception. Placing the unit on the ground away from an installer's body may more closely mimic the reception characteristics of the unit when it is placed in a subterranean location (albeit perhaps with less signal strength attenuation due to the unit not being covered by soil or grass), or at least not alter reception characteristics such that what may be acceptable reception/transmit characteristics at the location determined at step 360 while the unit is held in an installer's hand may not provide adequate reception signal strength when the unit is placed on the ground at generally the same location, thus indicating that a different location should be sought before digging a hole to place the unit in. If an RSSI value determined with the unit resting on the ground indicates that the location likely will provide adequate long-range wireless reception according to the signal strength determination method of steps 520-545 described herein in connection with step 375 and
If the location at which steps 520-545 were performed is deemed an acceptable location based on one or more determined long-range wireless signal strength values, at step 375 the installer digs a hole to place the soil condition detection unit into at the location deemed acceptable at step 373. To deem the location acceptable, an installer may use the customer application to cause the soil condition detection device to perform a signal strength determination method to confirm that, after burial, the long-range wireless transceiver module of the detection device is in a location with adequate long-range wireless network signal coverage to facilitate wireless transmission from the detection unit to the long-range wireless mobile network. The method of determining adequate signal strength is described in more detail in reference to
Continuing with description of
Continuing with description of
At step 390, the customer application determines whether all of the units that were originally in customers inventory and later displayed in the customer application as being ‘ready’ as described in reference to step 365 have been installed as indicated by the installer as described in reference to step 385. If not all of the customer's soil condition detection units have been installed and buried, method 300 returns to step 360 and installer removes the tape from the next device to be installed and buried and the method continues as described above. If the customer application determines at step 390 that all of the customer's soil condition detection units have been installed, method 300 advances to step 395 and ends.
In an aspect, a soil condition detection device/unit may be configured with one or more SIM cards, eSIMs, soft SIMs, or SIM profiles, and the like in any combination thereof. (Any combination of the forgoing SIM cards, eSIMs, soft SIMs, or SIM profiles or the like may be referred to herein as “SIM”.) In an aspect, one of the one or more SIMs may be configured to operate on a long-range wireless network of a first Mobile Network Operator (“MNO”) and another of the SIMs may be configured to operate on a network of a different, or second, MNO, and yet another of the SIMs may be configured to operate on a network of yet another third MNO that is not the first or second MNO. By using more than one SIM in a stationary long-range-wireless-connected device, such as a soil condition detection device/unit, a processor of the device/unit may be configured to autonomously switch the long-range wireless network that it is connected to based on a signal strength value, such as, for example, RSSI. Unlike with many mobile wireless communication devices that may be configured to maximize time in a CONNECTED state, at least a connected state such as, for example, ECM-CONNECTED according to an LTE protocol (a mobile device may be in an ECM-CONNECTED state but an RRC-IDLE state to conserve battery power of the mobile device while NAS signaling maintains an ECM connection with networking components), a stationary device that is buried in the ground and that operates exclusively on battery power and is designed to remain functional while buried in the ground without recharging batteries for extended periods, for example multiple years, may be configured to be in an unconnected mode for a very substantial portion of the period during which it is buried. Not only may a buried, stationary device such as a soil condition detection device/unit be configured to not be connected for a substantial portion of a buried period, it may also be configure to not even stay in an idle state, such as ECM-IDLE or RRC-IDLE, for most of the buried period to further conserve battery life/battery charge.
In such a scenario where a device stays in an essentially off state, timers that may draw a very, very small amount of current (on the order of a few micro amps) may operate continuously and wake the device, and its components periodically. When the device is awakened, it may be configured so that one of its processors instructs a long-range wireless module of the soil condition detection device/unit to connect to a network of a preferred MNO first using a first SIM corresponding to the preferred MNO, but if an adequate signal strength value cannot be determined for long-range wireless communication with the preferred, or first network, the processor may be configured to autonomously instruct a long-range wireless module of the soil condition detection device/unit to attempt to use a different/second SIM to attempt to connect with a network of a second MNO to determine whether the second MNO network can provide better signal strength values, and thus better wireless connectivity with the second MNO network. Similarly, if after awakening attempts to connect with either the first SIM or second SIM do not result in adequate signal strength value determinations, a processor of the soil condition detection device/unit may instruct its long-range wireless module to attempt to use a third SIM to connect to a corresponding third MNO network in an attempt to achieve better connectivity and long-range wireless performance with the third network as compared to the performance that could have been achieved with the first or second network using the first SIM or second SIM, respectively, based on determined signal strength values corresponding to the first, second, or third MNO networks, respectively. In an aspect, the processor of the soil condition detection device/unit may base a decision of which network to attempt to autonomously connect to after waking up, using a SIM corresponding to the respective network, on criteria other than signal strength values, such as, for example, measured, or otherwise determined data rate of communication over the respective network, or simply ability to connect to the respective network using the SIM corresponding to the respective network. An advantage of this aspect enhances the ability of a long-range wireless module of a soil condition detection device/unit to obtain a reliable long-range wireless data connection with an MNO network when the soil condition detection device/unit is buried in a location that may be on the periphery/fringe/edge of respective coverage areas of the first, second, and third MNO networks. In addition, an advantage is provided inasmuch as a given MNO network that may provide adequate long-range wireless signal coverage when a device is placed on the ground in a location as described in reference to steps 373 and that is evaluated as described in reference to steps 520-545 as being a location that provides adequate long-range-wireless signal strength may not always provide adequate signal coverage when network condition differ as compared to conditions on the same network when steps 520-545 were performed before placing the soil condition detection device/unit in the ground and burying it. In other words, a network, associated with a first SIM, that is deemed to provide adequate signal strength/coverage at the location when and where a given soil condition detection device/unit is buried may not provide the same level of signal strength at the same location when the processor of the soil condition detection device/unit wakes up the unit. But another one of the MNO networks, associated with a different SIM, may provide adequate signal strength/characteristics to the soil condition detection device/unit when the processor of the soil condition detection device/unit wakes the unit up. Thus. The aspect of being able to autonomously choose which SIM to use to connect with an MNO network that corresponds to the SIM based signal strength, other network or signal characteristics, or just the ability to connect at all, enhances the ability of a long-range wireless module to connect upon wake up of the soil condition detection device/unit, thus increasing the likelihood that the unit will be able to transmit soil condition information each time it wakes up, which in turn enhances battery life because the entire unit wakes up less often when it might be unable to connection to a single network that corresponds to a SIM if that SIM were the only SIM available for use by a long-range wireless module of the soil condition detection device/unit.
Turning now to
According to the United States, “For example, the government commits to broadcasting the GPS signal in space with a global average user range error (URE) of ≤7.8 m (25.6 ft.), with 95% probability. Actual performance exceeds the specification. On May 11, 2016, the global average URE was ≤0.715 m (2.3 ft.), 95% of the time.” “[ ] GPS-enabled smartphones are typically accurate to within a 4.9 m (16 ft.) radius under open sky (view source at ion.org). However, their accuracy worsens near buildings, bridges, and trees.” https://www.gps.gov/systems/gps/performance/accuracy/, Aug. 25, 2020.
The United States commits to providing satellite signals that a typical user's GPS receiver can process to generate location coordinates within a tolerance of 25.6 feet, and at least on one occasion the global average performance facilitated by GPS satellite signals enabled accuracy within a tolerance, or precision, of 2.3 feet. Although 2.3 feet, and even 16 feet, may be adequate for many location-based applications, such as vehicle movement/tracking/navigation along a roadway, accuracy within a greater precision (i.e., smaller tolerance) when digging up an expensive golf course is desirable.
Returning to discussion of
At step 415 the soil condition detection device may increase its GPS transmit rate to a second transmit rate that is higher than the default/first transmit rate. For example, the second transmit rate may be 10 Hz, in which case the GPS receiver transmits a location information sentence to the processor of the soil condition detection unit ten times per second. In an aspect, the processor of the soil condition detection unit may acquire and store location information, namely latitude and longitude coordinates, or points, over a predetermined enhanced location determination period. The predetermined enhanced location determination period may be configurable. For example, an installer may enter a period of ten seconds and a predetermined second sentence rate of 10 Hz into a customer application running on a smart phone that then wirelessly communicates values representing the selected sentence rate and the selected predetermined enhanced location determination period to the processor of the soil condition detection unit. The soil condition detection unit would then store location information samples, or sentences, acquired at a sentence rate of ten times per second over the predetermined enhanced location determination period of ten seconds to a memory of the soil condition detection device at step 420. The processor of the soil condition detection device may then calculate revised location information corresponding to the location of the soil condition detection unit based on the samples, or sentences, acquired from the GPS receiver circuitry during the selected/predetermined enhanced location determination period at the selected higher second sample rate, thus providing faster convergence to, or providing more location determination points/samples for better and more accurate convergence to, a centroid according to the mathematical algorithm, which may be a centroid calculation algorithm, performed at step 425.
Alternatively, the installer's customer application may instruct the processor of the soil condition detection unit to acquire GPS location information at the higher second sample rate, or sentence rate, over the selected enhanced location determination period and to transmits information sentence samples acquired during such predetermined period to a services provider's backend server for storage thereon at step 420. The services provider's backend server may then calculate revised location information from all, or part of, the location information sentences received during the enhanced location determination period that were transmitted to the backend server and store such determined revised location information to a table associate such revised location information with the particular solar condition detection unit that the installer is currently installing at step 425. Or, the soil condition detection device may determine at step 425 its revised location information from all, or part of, location information sentences acquired at the higher second sentence rate during the selected/predetermined enhanced location determination period that were stored to a memory of the soil condition detection device at step 420.
A processor of the soil condition detection device, or a processor of the services provider's back end server, may calculate/determine at step 425 revised location information (e.g., latitude and longitude coordinates) corresponding to the soil condition detection device according to a mathematical algorithm, such as, for example, an arithmetic mean of location coordinates corresponding to the sentences acquired at the higher second sentence rate and stored during the predetermined enhanced location determination period. Other algorithms may be used instead, for example a centroid calculated from the location coordinates corresponding to the sentences acquired at the higher second sentence rate and stored during the predetermined enhanced location determination period could be determined. In addition, before performing an arithmetic mean, or a centroid calculation, coordinate sets corresponding to outlier locations could be discarded. The discarding could be performed before or after a first iteration, or pass, of calculating of the arithmetic mean or centroid. For example, a centroid could be calculated from a complete set of all location coordinates corresponding to the sentences acquired at the higher second sentence rate and stored during the predetermined enhanced location determination period, and then outliers from the complete set could be discarded based on predetermined criteria that defines outliers, to result in a refined set of location coordinates for a given soil condition detection device. Both the calculation of a centroid using a set of coordinates acquired during the predetermined enhanced location determination period at the higher second sentence rate, and the discarding of outliers, results in the revised location information corresponding go a given soil condition detection device being accurate to within a much smaller tolerance, (i.e., higher precision) than using a single location coordinate determined at the slower first sentence rate. Furthermore, determining a centroid from sentences sampled at the higher second sentence rate also provides for a faster determination of a revised location information coordinate set for a given soil condition detection device than if the same number of sentences were acquired at the slower first rate during a selected predetermined enhanced location determination period than at the second higher rate. Following the example given above, if the first sentence rate is 1 Hz, the second rate is 10 Hz, and the predetermined enhanced location determination period is 10 seconds, acquiring sentences at a rate of 10 HZ during a period of 10 seconds would result in 100 sentences from which a centroid, or other mathematical result, would be calculated. If 100 sentences were to be determined at the slower sample rate, acquiring 100 samples would take 100 seconds instead of the 10 seconds when the faster second sample rate is used. Continuing with the same example, acquiring 100 sentences at the faster second rate could save an installer 27 minutes for the installation of eighteen soil condition detection devices.
At step 430, the revised location information (e.g., latitude and longitude coordinate set) may be stored in the memory of the soil condition detection device or may be stored in the services provider's backend computer server. The stored revised location information may then be used as the location information corresponding to the soil condition detection device when displaying the location of the device on a map using an interface of the customer application. Thus, the GPS radio circuitry need not regularly wake up and report its location to minimize batter power usage. Subroutine method 380 returns to method 300 shown in
Turning now to
At step 510 an installer decides on a probe device first location. The installer digs a hole to a predetermined depth. Predetermined depth may be based on the size of the soil condition detection probe device, the type of soil the device is to be buried in, the depth of turf root base, or the location within a landscape. The predetermined depth may be indicated by a visual scale manufactured on the outside of the housing of the soil condition detection device. For example, a probe device may not be buried as deeply in a fairway of a golf course as it is in a putting green of a golf course. Alternatively, a customer application may perform calculations based on the topography of the landscape area, the amount of shade the landscape typically receives, the amount of rainfall, or runoff therefrom that the general location of the landscape receives, the type of soil that makes up the general area where the probe device is to be buried, the external dimensions of the probe device, etc.
At step 515 the installer places the wireless probe unit in the hole that he, or she, dug at its predetermined depth and covers the probe with dirt and/or sod.
In step 520 after having been activated, a subterranean probe device acquires signal strength information relative to signals received from a long-range wireless mobile network during a pre-determined signal strength determination period, or for a predetermined number of signal strength determination samples. The signal strength information may include one or more received signal strength indicator (“RSSI”) or Received Channel Power Indicator (“RCPI”) measurements. The signal strength measurement information may be transmitted by a long-range wireless transceiver of the probe device to a services provider's back-end computer server for further processing, or a processor on board the wireless probe device may further process the signal strength measurement information.
At step 525, a processor of the subterranean wireless probe, or a processor the service provider's back-end server evaluates the signal strength measurement information. The evaluation may include performing an averaging calculation on the one or more signal strength measurements. The evaluation may include performing an integration of the one or more measurements over the predetermined signal strength determination period, or over a period that corresponds to the predetermined number of signal strength determination samples. The result of the evaluation may be referred to as a processed signal strength value.
At step 530, the processed signal strength value is compared to a predetermined signal strength criterion value, such as a threshold value, to determine whether the location and depth at which the wireless soil condition detection probe is buried is adequate to facilitate wireless communication with radio access network (“RAN”) components of a long-range wireless communication network. If a determination is made at step 535 that the processed signal strength value meets the predetermined signal strength criterion value (e.g., the processed signal strength value is equal to or greater than a predetermined signal strength threshold value) subroutine method 375 advances to step 540 and returns to method 300 as shown in
If, however, a determination is made at step 535 that the processed signal strength value does not meet the predetermined signal strength criterion value (e.g., the processed signal strength value is less than a predetermined signal strength threshold value), a user/customer application instructs at step 545 an installer, on a handheld device, such as a table or smart phone, that he, or she, should bury the wireless probe device at a new second location that is different from the first location. The installer digs up the probe device from the first location and method 380 returns to step 510 with the determination of the new second hole now being referred to as the first hole for iterations of method 375 subsequent to the first iteration thereof. In an aspect, step 515 may be by-passed and signal strength measurement information/values are provided before the burial of the soil condition detection device. If a location of an unburied soil condition detection device is determined during performance of steps 520-545 to be in a “bad coverage” area, an installer/greenskeeper would know not to dig a hole at the predetermined location because burying the unit at the predetermined location would only make coverage worse, and method 500 returns to step 510 for determination of a new location for burial.
As discussed above in reference to
Turning now to
Because wireless soil condition detection probes wirelessly transmit soil condition information that they detect to a service provider's back-end server for presentation to a customer via the customer's customer application, the probe that was removed at step 610 had been in service at the 5th hole along with probes that provide soil condition information relative to the 4th and 6th holes of the golf course. Therefore, the service provider's back-end server may maintain a database of the customer's historical soil condition information received from all of the wireless probes at the customers location since the probes were placed into service, for example according to method 300 described in reference to
Such prediction that may occur at step 615 may include simple correlation and algebra. For example, if the temperature and moisture conditions detected by the probe for the 5th hole that was removed at step 610 always were the same as, within a predetermined tolerance, the conditions at the 4th or 6th holes, or differed from them but always varied in direct proportion to variations at the 4th or 6th holes, the factor by which the soil conditions at the 5th hole differed from those detected by probes at the 4th and 6th holes could be applied to future condition determinations corresponding to the probes still buried at the 4th or 6th holes to predict the soil conditions at the 5th hole, even after the removal of the 5th hole probe at step 610.
In an aspect, a more complex calculation may be used to predict the soil condition that would otherwise be detected by the probe at the 5th hole had it not been removed at step 610. Artificial intelligence algorithms may be used to process historical data to determine soil conditions that would have otherwise been detected by the probe that was removed at step 610. For example, if the historical data obtained by the probe for the 5th hole that was removed at step 610 does not always correspond to historical data detected by one or more other probes at the golf course, perhaps because of sunlight/shade being different at different times of the day or year, or because drainage from rain affects the soil near the 5th hole differently than other holes, an artificial intelligence algorithm may be used to evaluate the historical data to determine factors, coefficients, and other values to use creating an artificial intelligence learning model that may be refined while before the probe is removed from detecting soil conditions at the 5th hole at step 610. Method ends at step 620.
Turning now to
At step 730 a determination is made whether weather report information generated by the micro weather station(s) indicates that soon-to-come weather may bring soil conditions into specifications. For example, if soil condition detection probes indicate that soil conditions are drier than desired but a weather report based on local micro weather stations indicates that rain is imminent, backend server may instruct one or more sprinkler zones or irrigations heads not to operate and not to irrigate the soil that corresponds thereto and method 700 returns step 710.
If, however, a determination is made it step 730 that soon become weather conditions will not bring soil conditions into a specified predetermined criteria or range of values method 700 advances to step 735. At step 735 a service providers backend server sends information that may be wirelessly transmitted to instruct one or more sprinkler stations or irrigation heads at the golf course corresponding to information that indicates that the soil conditions are too dry, to either begin irrigating the golf course or to not alter irrigation according to a predetermined irrigation schedule. The instruction to water or irrigate may include information that establishes a watering/irrigation schedule or updates an existing watering/irrigation schedule. The instruction to water or irrigate may include information that instructs sprinkler sones or irrigation heads to immediately begin watering/irrigating if the sprinkler zones/irrigation heads are not controlled according to a predetermined watering/irrigation schedule.
At step 740, the backed server may report soil conditions or sprinkler/irrigation status to a user interface dashboard of a customer application. The customer application dashboard may be configured to Display devices and irrigation status on a map of the landscape, golf course, agricultural area, etc. The interface dashboard may allow manual override of sprinkler or irrigation operation and may permit adjustment of soil condition criteria that may be used at step 725 to determine whether soil conditions reported by the one or more soil condition detection probes are outside of predetermined criteria. Method 700 ends at step 745.
Turning now to
After waking up, a determination of a given soil condition detection device's current after-installation location is made at step 845, preferably by acquiring location information sentences at a first/default sentence rate. A comparison is made at step 850 between the current after-installation location and the revised location information obtained at a second sentence rate that is higher than the first/default sentence rate as described in reference to subroutine method 375 shown in
In an aspect, the installer interface has a filter set to display all probe devices that are ‘READY’ to be deployed as shown in
In an aspect, the installer interface has a filter set to display all probe devices that are in ‘INVENTORY’ that have not been activated yet as shown in
The term fluorescence may refer to the emission of light by a substance that has absorbed light or other electromagnetic radiation that impinges, or that impinged, on the substance. The emitted light typically corresponds to a longer wavelength than the electromagnetic energy that impinged on the substance and that the substance absorbed, and thus, typically has a lower photon energy than energy corresponding to the absorbed radiation. Fluorescence occurs when an excited molecule, atom, or nanostructure, relaxes to a lower energy state (usually the ground state) through emission of a photon without a change in electron spin. An item comprising a substance, for example a leaf of a tree containing chlorophyll, or one or more blades of grass containing chlorophyll, may be dark-adapted during a dark-adaptation period (e.g., light, including sunlight, may be blocked from reaching the item, for a certain amount of time, for example 20 minutes of artificial isolation from sunlight during the daytime, or predawn after nighttime without artificial light isolation), and a baseline emission level Fo of light emitted by chlorophyll at an emission wavelength may be determined after the dark-adaptation period by a light detecting sensor configured to detect light energy at the emission wavelength. After determining the baseline light emission Fo, a light emitting device may emit a short burst of high intensity light, at a wavelength shorter than the emission wavelength, directed at the item. After the short burst of high intensity light at the shorter wavelength, the light detecting sensor may detect light energy at the longer wavelength emitted by the substance of the item (e.g., light emitted by chlorophyll of the leaf or one or more blades of grass). Based on the detected light energy at the longer wavelength emitted by the item, a processor coupled with the light detecting sensor may determine a maximum fluorescence Fm corresponding to the light emitted by the item in response to the short burst impinging on the item. A difference Fm−Fo may be referred to as fluorescence Fv, Fv/Fm may be used to determine stress on the item, for example stress caused by drought, temperature, disease, or other environmental factor(s) (e.g., the more stressed a plant is, typically the lower a measured Fv will be for the plant.
Turning now to
In an embodiment drone 115 may carry as payload an emission energy detecting appliance 60. Emission energy detecting appliance 60 may comprise a processor and may facilitate excitation energy, for example energy at the first wavelength, being directed to at least one item, for example one or more blades of grass, or a portion of grass corresponding to golf course surface 36, a tree leaf, or a crop leaf, comprising at least one substance, for example chlorophyll. Emission energy detecting appliance 60 may facilitate detecting emission energy that may be emitted by the at least one substance, or chlorophyll, in response to the excitation energy being directed at, or impinging on, the at least one item, (e.g., grass) to result in a detected emission energy amount. At position 2, drone 115 may land on, or hover above, golf course surface 36 such that emission energy detecting appliance 60 may artificially block sunlight to facilitate dark-adapting a portion of the golf course surface that may be covered by, or isolated from light by, the emission energy detecting appliance. After the item (e.g., grass crop leaf, tree leaf, etc.) has been dark-adapted, a light sensor of emission energy detecting appliance 60 may determine a baseline Fo corresponding to grass that has been dark-adapted. After determining the baseline Fo, a light emitting device of emission energy detecting appliance 60 may emit a short burst of high intensity light that impinges on the dark-adapted grass. After the short burst of high intensity light has been emitted, the light sensor of admission energy detecting appliance 60 may determine a maximum Fm corresponding to the grass, or other item, that was dark-adapted. A processor of emission energy detecting appliance 60 may facilitate transmitting the determined baseline fluorescence Fo and maximum fluorescence Fm to backend server 26 to be used thereby to determine possible modifications to maintenance operations, for example irrigation or fertilization, to alleviate possible stress corresponding to a fluorescence Fv.
Backend server 26 may use historical information corresponding to previous environmental conditions, for example, rain activity, air humidity, temperature, fertilizing schedule and the like to determine a correlation with, or connection with respect to, determined Fv. Backend server 26 may train a learning model using the historical information and one or more determined values Fv to result in a trained learning model. Backend server 26 may use the trained learning model in conjunction with predicted environmental conditions based on for example predicted rain, humidity, temperature and the like, to determine one or more modifications to irrigation or fertilization scheduling with respect to golf course surface 36, for example. Backend server 26 may remotely guide drone 115 to one or more locations on golf course surface 36 based on previously determined fluorescent levels Fv or based on locations corresponding to which an irrigation or fertilization schedule may have been modified based on guidance facilitated by the trained learning model.
Turning now to
Turning now to
Continuing with description of
In an embodiment, the determination of Fv may be made by a processor corresponding to the emission energy detecting appliance. In another embodiment, upon detecting or determining a baseline value Fo or a maximum value Fm, the emission energy detecting appliance may facilitate wireless transmission of the baseline value or the maximum value to a backend server for processing and determining of the fluorescence Fv. At act 1825, a determination may be made whether a baseline value or a maximum value transmitted at act 1820 to a back end server is to be used to train a learning model. If the baseline value or maximum value transmitted at 1820 is/are to be used to train a learning model, the learning model may be trained at act 1830 using the baseline value or the maximum value transmitted at act 1820. At act 1835, a determination may be made whether training of the learning model using the baseline value or maximum value transmitted at act 1820 is complete. If a determination is made at act 1835 that training of the learning model is not complete, method 1800 may return to act 1815. If a determination is made at act 1835 that training of the learning model is complete, method 1800 may advance to act 1850 and to end.
Returning to description of act 1825, if a determination is made that the baseline value or maximum value transmitted at act 1820 is/are not to be used to train a learning model, method 1800 advances to act 1840. At act 1840, the baseline value Fo or maximum value Fm may be used to determine a fluorescence value Fv corresponding to the item with respect to which the emission energy detecting appliance was located at act 1810. The fluorescence value determined at act 1840 may be used as an input to a trained learning model, which may be the learning model that was trained at act 1830, along with other inputs, for example a weather conditions forecast/prediction relative to a geographic region comprising the item with respect to which the emission energy detecting appliance was located at act 1810, to determine, at act 1845, an irrigation or fertilization action with respect to the item with respect to which the emission energy detecting appliance was located at act 1810. The irrigation action may comprise an instruction to schedule increased irrigation or decreased irrigation. The fertilization action may comprise an instruction to schedule increased fertilizing or decreased fertilizing.
Turning now to
In addition to fluorescence information 1901 provided to learning model 1900, other information that may be provided as input information to learning model 1900 may comprise current ambient temperature and moisture information 1902, current soil condition information 1903 comprising current volumetric moisture condition information, previous ambient temperature and moisture condition information 1904, previous soil condition information 1905, or weather forecast information 1906, which may be received from a third-party service provider or from wireless weather stations operated locally with respect to an item for which fluorescence information 1901 is determined. Current soil condition information 1903 may be generated by soil probe devices 22 described in reference to
Learning model 1900 may use fluorescence information 1901 in conjunction with information 1902-1906 to generate irrigation or fertilization schedule information 1915. Information 1915 may comprise an irrigation action indication indicative of an irrigation action. An irrigation action may comprise instructing one or more irrigation heads, or sprinkler heads, to irrigate a biological item for which fluorescence information 1901 may have been determined. An irrigation action may comprise instructing one or more irrigation heads to refrain from irrigation of a biological item for which fluorescence information 1901 may have been determined.
As an example, if fluorescence information 1901 indicates increasing stress level of grass on a golf course, and during the period the stress level increased soil moisture decreased, learning model 1900 may provide, via irrigation or fertilization schedule information 1915, an irrigation increase indication to automated irrigation system 1920, which may control operation of one or more irrigation devices, for example sprinkler heads 32 shown in
Turning now to
In an injection molding embodiment, main body/capsule 1520 may comprise a singular molded piece, which may comprise one side with a slot for sensor slide functionality and the rest of the main body/capsule may facilitate, or form, a hermitically sealed chamber for electronics and battery components. Main body/capsule 1520 may comprise a flat area to facilitate an activation reed switch magnet being attached in proximity to a printed circuit board to facilitate activation and provisioning functions described elsewhere herein.
Main body/capsule 1520 may comprise a sensor measurement range, for example one inch to nine inches, as shown in
This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. 120 as a continuation-in-part of application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/398,414, entitled “Method and system for installing wireless soil condition detection devices and monitoring and using signals transmitted therefrom,” which was filed Aug. 10, 2021, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, which application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) to U.S. provisional patent application No. 63/063,909 “Method and system for monitoring and providing irrigation,” which was filed Aug. 10, 2020, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, and which also claims priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) to U.S. provisional patent application No. 63/078,535 “Method and system for installing wireless soil condition detection devices and monitoring and using signals transmitted therefrom,” which was filed Sep. 15, 2020, and which is also incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63063909 | Aug 2020 | US | |
| 63078535 | Sep 2020 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 17398414 | Aug 2021 | US |
| Child | 18520491 | US |
