Method of controlling soil moisture, water accumulation and fertilizer distribution in land

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10076089-B2
Application number	US-201615067451-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 11, 2016
Priority date	Mar 11, 2016
Publication date	Sep 18, 2018
Grant date	Sep 18, 2018

Abstract

Described herein is a method of controlling soil moisture, water accumulation and fertilizer distribution in land. Elevation location data for land areas are extracted from two or more pixels of a topographic image including topographic data. Each pixel represents a land area. Wetness indices for the land areas are determined from the elevation and location data, based on the slope between two or more defined areas of land and an upslope contributing area per unit contour length. At risk defined areas of land, e.g., those at risk of accumulating water are identified based on wetness indices. Water is transported from the at risk defined areas of land to another location. The transporting of water reduces the risk of accumulating water in the at risk defined areas of land and improves crop growth potential in those areas.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method of controlling soil moisture and water accumulation in land, comprising:
extracting elevation data and location data for defined areas of land within a larger area of land from two or more pixels of a topographic image that includes topographic data, with each pixel corresponding to a defined area of land;
employing the elevation and location data in determining wetness indices for the defined areas of land based on a slope between two or more defined areas of land and an upslope contributing area per unit contour length for the defined areas of land;
based on the determined wetness indices, identifying at risk defined areas of land that are at risk of accumulating water; and
transporting water from the at risk defined areas of land to another location, wherein the determination of wetness indices is made in a hardware processer and the transporting of water reduces the risk of accumulating water in the at risk defined areas of land and improves crop growth potential in said areas.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising obtaining the topographic image that includes topographic data from a database that stores topographic images.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the wetness index (W i ) is determined by the formula:
ln( α / tan(β) )
wherein α is the upslope contributing area per unit contour length and β is the slope between two or more defined areas of land.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising obtaining the topographic image that includes topographic data from a database that stores topographic images.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the transporting of water from the at risk defined areas of land to another location comprises transporting water in a network of passages configured to remove water that extends from the at risk defined areas of land to a water source location.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the transporting water from the at risk defined areas of land to another location comprises transporting the water in a network of pipes that extends from the at risk defined areas of land to a water source location, the pipes being provided with valves operable between an open position allowing for the pipes to receive water and a closed position for retaining water in the at risk defined areas of land.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining the amount of fertilizer dissolved in the water in the at risk defined areas of land; and
transporting the water in a network of passages configured to remove water that extends from the at risk defined areas of land to areas of land that are determined, based on the determined wetness indices, to be at a low risk of accumulating water; and
controlling the amount of water removed from the at risk defined areas of land dependent on water absorption characteristics of the soil and the rate of evaporation of water from surface of the at risk defined areas of land.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining the amount of fertilizer dissolved in the water in the at risk defined areas of land; and
transporting the water in a network of pipes that that extends from the at risk defined areas of land to areas of land that are determined, based on the determined wetness indices, to be at a low risk of accumulating water, the pipes being provided with valves operable between an open position allowing for the pipes to receive water and a closed position for retaining water in the at risk defined areas of land.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining the amount of fertilizer dissolved in the water in the at risk defined areas of land by one or more of determining the amount of fertilizer dissolved in the water based on the solubility characteristics of the fertilizer in the water and the amount of nitrogen present in the at risk defined areas of land.

10. A system for controlling soil moisture and water accumulation in land, comprising:
one or more processors including memory;
one or more inputs through which topographic data for land is received by the system;
an analyzer that analyzes the topographic data to determine elevations and locations of defined areas of the land;
a wetness index calculator that determines wetness indices for the defined areas of the land;
a risk determiner and risk alleviator that, based on the determined wetness indices, identifies at risk defined areas of land that are at risk of accumulating water and controls the transporting of water away from the at risk defined areas of land; and
a network of passages configured to transport water away from the at risk defined areas of land.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the analyzer is configured to analyze pixels of images comprising the topographic data to determine the elevations and locations of the defined areas of the land, wherein each pixel corresponds to a defined area of the land.

12. The system of claim 10 , wherein the wetness index calculator determines the slope between two or more defined areas of land, the upslope contributing area per unit contour length of the defined areas of land, and the wetness indices of the defined areas of the land based on the determined values for slope and upslope contributing area.

13. The system of claim 10 , wherein the risk determiner and risk alleviator is configured to control the transportation of water away from the at risk defined areas of land through an underground network of pipes that extends from the at risk defined areas of land to a water source location, the pipes being provided with valves operable by the risk determiner and risk alleviator between an open position allowing for the pipes to receive water and a closed position for retaining water in the at risk defined areas of land.

14. The system of claim 10 , further comprising a fertilizer distribution analyzer that determines the amount of fertilizer dissolved in the water in at risk defined areas of land by one or more of determining the amount of fertilizer dissolved in the water based on the solubility characteristics of the fertilizer in water and the amount of nitrogen present in the at risk defined areas of land.

15. The system of claim 10 , further comprising a fertilizer distribution analyzer configured to determine the distribution of fertilizer in the at risk defined areas of land and wherein the risk determiner and risk alleviator controls the redistribution of fertilizer-containing water from the at risk defined areas of land to areas of land that are determined, based on the determined wetness indices, to be at a low risk of accumulating water through the network of passages configured to transport water away from the at risk defined areas of land.

16. The system of claim 10 , further comprising a fertilizer distribution analyzer configured to determine the distribution of fertilizer in the at risk defined areas of land and wherein the risk determiner and risk alleviator controls the redistribution of fertilizer-containing water from the at risk defined areas of land to areas of land that are determined, based on the determined wetness indices, to be at a low risk of accumulating water through the network of passages comprising pipes being provided with valves operable by the risk determiner and risk alleviator between an open position allowing for the pipes to receive water and a closed position for retaining water in the at risk defined areas of land.

17. The system of claim 10 , wherein the one or more inputs comprise sensors in operative communication that measure one or more of the moisture in the land an

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Chitnis Upendra D
• Klein Levente
• Marianno Fernando J

Classifications

• G06F16/29

  Geographical information databases · CPC title

• G06Q50/02

  Agriculture; Fishing; Forestry; Mining · CPC title

• E03F1/00

  Methods, systems, or installations for draining-off sewage or storm water · CPC title

• G05B19/042

  using digital processors (G05B19/05 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G06F16/5866

  using information manually generated, e.g. tags, keywords, comments, manually generated location and time information · CPC title