The present disclosure is generally related to crop protection.
Currently, field scouting for pests is a time consuming and labor intensive activity. In general, field scouting may involve walking through a field and stopping at one or more locations to make and record observations. Proper examination of the field may help to accurately identify yield-limiting problems during the growing season when they can often be corrected so that full yield potential can be preserved. Further, the recorded scouting information may be useful for future reference to avoid problems in subsequent years. For example, a pest such as soybean cyst nematode impacts both crop rotation and variety selection when soybeans are grown again in the same field. Accurate records may aid in the decisions required to help manage this pest.
Many aspects of the disclosure can be better understood with reference to the following drawings. The components in the drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the present disclosure. Moreover, in the drawings, like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the several views.
In one embodiment, a real time sensing method, comprising transporting a portable sensing system on a field comprising crops; receiving at an air intake system of the portable sensing system one or more organic chemical compounds emitted from the crops in the field; detecting by the portable sensing system in real time a chemical of interest from the received one or more organic compounds; and providing by the sensing system feedback of the detection.
Certain embodiments of real time sensing systems and methods are disclosed that include sensors that detect chemical compounds given off by crops and/or other vegetation in a field in response to pest infestation. For instance, when pests such as soybean aphids attack a field, it is known that plants emit certain organic compounds as a defense mechanism. In one embodiment, a real time sensing system is transported on a field (e.g., secured on an agricultural machine, or secured on a person and/or article of clothing of that person, such as a farmer or farm employee). Using the agricultural machine as an illustrative, non-limiting example, when the real time sensing system enters the field, one or more chemical sensors (e.g., a sensor array) is initiated and begins to collect data for processing in a processor. If the data received is “fingerprinted” as a chemical of interest, a feedback mechanism is established (e.g., alerting personnel, prompting a spray operation to disperse insecticides, etc.). Based on the feedback mechanism, the field can be treated and the chemical sensor may be used to evaluate the effectiveness of the treatment.
Having summarized certain features of real time sensing systems of the present disclosure, reference will now be made in detail to the description of the disclosure as illustrated in the drawings. While the disclosure will be described in connection with these drawings, there is no intent to limit it to the embodiment or embodiments disclosed herein. Further, although the description identifies or describes specifics of one or more embodiments, such specifics are not necessarily part of every embodiment, nor are all various stated advantages necessarily associated with a single embodiment or all embodiments. On the contrary, the intent is to cover all alternatives, modifications and equivalents included within the spirit and scope of the disclosure as defined by the appended claims. Further, it should be appreciated in the context of the present disclosure that the claims are not necessarily limited to the particular embodiments set out in the description.
Referring now to
Note that although a sprayer machine 18 is provided as one example machine to be used in transporting the real time sensing system 10, other machines (e.g., tractors, ATVs, etc.) may be used in some embodiments. Further, although an agricultural environment is depicted in
Having described some example field scouting implementations using the real time sensing systems 10, attention is directed to
The sensor array 26 may comprise one or more chemical sensors, such as chemicapacitor and/or chemiresistor sensors. Chemical sensor technology is known in the art, such as those manufactured by Seacoast Science, Inc. (e.g., the SC-210 series), among other sensors. The sensor array 26 is initiated responsive to an operator or machine activation. For instance, the person 16 may activate the real time sensing system 10 (and hence the sensor array 26) upon entering the field 12. As another example, the sprayer machine 18 may activate the real time sensing upon a GPS or other navigational system detecting entry or near entry of a field, signaling to the real time sensing system to cause activation. In some embodiments, the sensor array 26 may always be powered up.
The processor 28 may comprise a computer device, controller, microprocessor, or microcontroller, among other processing devices. In one embodiment, the processor 28 may execute embedded firmware or software stored in a memory, local to or coupled to the processor 28, to process data received by the sensory array 26. For instance, a chemical reaction may occur between the one or more organic chemical compounds received in the air and the sensor materials, resulting in a signal transduction (e.g., change in physical properties, such as a change in the resistance, capacitance, or chemical structure of the chemiresistor or chemicapacitor sensors). The transduction results in a characteristic fingerprint depending on the chemical compound and the makeup of the sensor. In one embodiment, the processor 28 may compare the received fingerprint or fingerprints with a stored fingerprint(s) corresponding to a known emitted organic chemical compound of interest (i.e., of interest in detecting and treating). The processor 28 communicates the detection/identification and other information to the data transfer device 30, which provides feedback of the detection/identification.
The data transfer device 30 may comprise a radio frequency transceiver and antenna for communicating the detection/identification and/or other associated information (e.g., reports, etc.) to another device. For instance, the data transfer device 30 may communicate over a local area network or wide area network, or over other networks (e.g., cell networks, radio frequency channels, etc.). The data transfer device 30 may communicate the detection/identification and/or other information (the detection/identification and other information collectively referred to hereinafter as merely information) to a mobile device (e.g., smartphone, beeper, walkie talkie, cellular phone, etc.), or the real time sensing system 10 may be coupled to a computer located locally (e.g., in the agricultural machine that transports the real time sensing system 10) or transported remotely (e.g., to a computer in a remote office) and the information downloaded/uploaded via a suitable connector to enable the transfer of information. Communications of information may take the form of a text message, among other forms of communications. In some embodiments, the information includes reports or data corresponding to the concentration of the organic compounds, correlated pest infestation, treatments results, etc.
In some embodiments, the data transfer device 30 may provide a control signal that activates an actuator coupled to a sprayer or other device, resulting in an immediate or substantially immediate and selective treatment response from the agricultural machine. In some embodiments, the data communicated by the data transfer device 30 further comprises a time stamp and/or location stamp, such as when the transfer device 30 comprises GPS and/or clock functionality. The data transfer device 30 may also comprise alarm functionality, such as visible, audio, and/or tactile functionality.
Referring now to
Having described certain embodiments of a real time sensing systems 10, it should be appreciated within the context of the present disclosure that one embodiment of a real time sensing method 38 (e.g., as implemented in one embodiment by the real time sensing system 10, though not limited to the architectures and/or environments depicted in
In view of the above description, yet another embodiment of a real time sensing method 48, depicted in
Any process descriptions or blocks in flow diagrams should be understood as merely illustrative of steps performed in a process implemented by a real time sensing system, and alternate implementations are included within the scope of the embodiments in which functions may be executed out of order from that shown or discussed, including substantially concurrently or in reverse order, depending on the functionality involved, as would be understood by those reasonably skilled in the art of the present disclosure.
It should be emphasized that the above-described embodiments of the present disclosure are merely possible examples of implementations, merely set forth for a clear understanding of the principles of the disclosure. Many variations and modifications may be made to the above-described embodiment(s) of the disclosure without departing substantially from the spirit and principles of the disclosure. All such modifications and variations are intended to be included herein within the scope of this disclosure and protected by the following claims.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/707,226, filed Sep. 28, 2012, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/US13/62082 | 9/27/2013 | WO | 00 |
Number | Date | Country | |
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61707226 | Sep 2012 | US |