Mobile drift sensor for agricultural spraying

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10252285-B2
Application number	US-201715671476-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 8, 2017
Priority date	Aug 8, 2017
Publication date	Apr 9, 2019
Grant date	Apr 9, 2019

Abstract

Wind speed, wind direction, and field boundary information are detected and used to identify a monitor area indicative of a likely overspray condition. Control signals are generated to deploy an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), with a sprayed substance sensor, to the monitor area. The UAV is controlled to reposition it, as a spraying machine moves through the field being sprayed. When an overspray condition is detected, an overspraying signal from the UAV indicating the detected overspray condition is received and overspray processing is performed, based upon the received overspray signal.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A mobile agricultural sprayer, comprising:
a frame;
a tank configured to carry a substance to be sprayed;
a spraying mechanism that sprays the substance;
likely drift detector logic that receives sprayer location information indicative of a geographic location of the sprayer, a wind sensor signal indicative of a value of a sensed wind variable and field characteristic data indicative of a geographical characteristic of a field, and generates an overspray likely signal when a likely overspray condition is identified, based on the sprayer location information, the value of the sensed wind variable and the geographical characteristic of the field; and
an overspray detection system that generates control signals to deploy a mobile sensor, that senses a spray variable indicative of a presence of the substance, to a sensor location corresponding to the likely overspray condition, and that receives an overspray detected signal indicative of the mobile sensor sensing the presence of the substance at the sensor location.

2. The mobile agricultural sprayer of claim 1 wherein the likely drift detector logic is configured to receive, as the wind sensor signal, a wind speed signal indicative of wind speed, and a wind direction signal indicative of wind direction and to generate the overspray likely signal based on the wind speed and wind direction.

3. The mobile agricultural sprayer of claim 2 wherein the likely drift detector logic is configured to receive, as the field characteristic data, boundary information indicative of a geographic location of boundaries of the field, and to generate the overspray likely signal based on the geographic location of the boundaries of the field.

4. The mobile agricultural sprayer of claim 3 wherein the mobile sensor comprises:
an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV); and
a substance sensor mounted to the UAV to sense the spray variable.

5. The mobile agricultural sprayer of claim 4 and further comprising:
a UAV mounting assembly coupled to the frame and configured to detachably couple the UAV to the frame to be carried by the frame; and
UAV deployment logic configured to generate a control signal to detach the UAV from the mounting assembly and to generate the control signals to deploy the UAV to the sensor location.

6. The mobile agricultural sprayer of claim 5 wherein the overspray detection system comprises:
monitor area logic configured to identify a monitor area where the likely overspray condition will occur and to generate a monitor area signal indicative of the identified monitor area; and
mobile sensor deployment logic that generates the control signals to deploy the UAV to the sensor location within the monitor area, based on the monitor area signal.

7. The mobile agricultural sprayer of claim 6 wherein the overspray detection system comprises:
overspray detected control logic configured to receive the overspray detected signal from the UAV and to generate a control signal to vary an elevation of the UAV in the monitor area and to determine whether the overspray detected signal is received from the UAV at the varied elevation.

8. The mobile agricultural sprayer of claim 7 wherein the overspray detected control logic is configured to generate a control signal to vary a distance of the UAV from the field boundary and to determine whether the overspray detected signal is received from the UAV at the varied distance.

9. The mobile agricultural sprayer of claim 8 wherein the overspray detection system comprises:
an overspray quantity generator configured to generate an overspray quantity indicator indicative of a quantity of the substance corresponding to the detected overspray condition.

10. The mobile agricultural sprayer of claim 8 wherein the overspray detection system comprises:
an overspray distance generator configured to generate an overspray distance indicator indicative of a distance that the substance drifted across the field boundary, corresponding to the detected overspray condition.

11. The mobile agricultural sprayer of claim 6 wherein the spraying mechanism comprises a set of spreaders that spread granular material and wherein the overspray detection system comprises:
sprayer control signal generator logic configured to generate spreader control signals to control at least one of the spreaders in the set of spreaders based on the overspray detected signal.

12. The mobile agricultural sprayer of claim 6 wherein the overspray detection system comprises:
path control logic configured to generate path control signals to control a path of the mobile agricultural sprayer based on the overspray detected signal.

13. An overspray detection system, comprising:
likely drift detector logic that receives sprayer location information indicative of a geographic location of a mobile agricultural sprayer in a field, wind sensor signals indicative of a value of a sensed wind direction and a sensed wind speed, and field characteristic data indicative of a geographic boundary of the field, and that generates an overspray likely signal when a likely overspray condition is identified, based on the sprayer location information, the value of the sensed wind direction and wind speed and the geographic boundary of the field;
unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) deployment logic that generates control signals to deploy a UAV, carrying a substance sensor that senses a sensed variable indicative of a presence of a substance sprayed by the mobile agricultural sprayer, to a sensor location corresponding to the likely overspray condition; and
overspray detected control logic that receives an overspray detected signal indicative of the mobile sensor sensing the presence of the substance at the sensor location and generates overspray control signals to perform overspray operations based on the overspray detected signal received.

14. The overspray detection system of claim 13 and further comprising:
monitor area logic configured to identify a monitor area where the likely overspray condition will occur and to generate a monitor area signal indicative of the identified monitor area, wherein the UAV deployment logic generates the control signals to deploy the UAV to the sensor location within the monitor area, based on the monitor area signal.

15. The overspray detection system of claim 14 and further comprising:
UAV return logic configured to generate control signals to return the UAV to the mobile agricultural sprayer based on the likely drift detector logic detecting that the likely overspray condition is no longer present.

16. The overspray detection system of claim 14 and further comprising:
sprayer following logic configured to generate control signals to control the UAV to reposition itself to a new monitor location based on movement of the mobile agricultural sprayer to a new location.

17. A computer implemented method of controlling a mobile agricultural sprayer, comprising:
receiving sprayer location information indicative of a geographic location of the sprayer;
receiving a wind sensor signal indicative of a value of a sensed wind variable;
receiving field boundary data indicative of a geographic boundary of a field;
generating an overspray likely signal when a likely overspray condition is identified, indicating that a substance sprayed by the mobile agricultural sprayer is likely to cross the boundary of the field, based on the sprayer location information, the value of the sensed wind variable and the geographic boundary of the field; and
generating control signals to deploy a mobile sensor, that s

Assignees

• Deere & Co

Inventors

• Barker Mark E
• Humpal Richard A
• Desai Jui
• Bharatiya Paresh

Classifications

• B05B12/084

  responsive to condition of liquid or other fluent material already sprayed on the target, e.g. coating thickness, weight or pattern · CPC title

• B64D1/18 Primary

  by spraying, e.g. insecticides · CPC title

• B05B12/16 Primary

  for controlling the spray area (B05B3/00 takes precedence) · CPC title

• A01B69/008

  automatic · CPC title

• B05B12/082

  responsive to a condition of the discharged jet or spray, e.g. to jet shape, spray pattern or droplet size · CPC title