System and method for application of materials through coordination with automated data collection vehicles

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9756773-B1
Application number	US-201615055185-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Feb 26, 2016
Priority date	Feb 26, 2016
Publication date	Sep 12, 2017
Grant date	Sep 12, 2017

Abstract

An agricultural material application management system includes an automated agricultural data collection vehicle including a location sensor. The automated agricultural data collection vehicle includes a receiver that receives sensor data including crop information, a memory that stores the plurality of locations and the sensor data, and a processor that generates a mapping correlating the crop information with the plurality of locations in the agricultural area, and generates an agricultural material application recommendation for each of the plurality of locations based on the mapping. The agricultural material application management system includes an agricultural vehicle including an interface unit that interfaces with the automated agricultural data collection vehicle and receives the agricultural material application recommendations from the agricultural data collection vehicle. An agricultural material applicator applies an agricultural material to at least some of the plurality of locations, and a display provides the recommendations to a driver of the agricultural vehicle.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An agricultural material application management system, comprising:
an automated agricultural data collection vehicle, comprising:
a location sensor that detects a plurality of locations of the automated agricultural data collection vehicle within an agricultural area;
a receiver that receives sensor data including crop information;
a memory that stores the plurality of locations and the sensor data;
a processor that generates a mapping correlating the crop information with the plurality of locations in the agricultural area, and generates an agricultural material application recommendation for each of the plurality of locations based on the mapping; and

an agricultural vehicle, comprising:
an interface unit that interfaces with the automated agricultural data collection vehicle and receives the agricultural material application recommendations from the agricultural data collection vehicle;
an agricultural material applicator that applies an agricultural material to at least one target location in the agricultural area, wherein the at least one target location is one of the plurality of locations or a neighboring location near one of the plurality of locations; and
a display that provides the agricultural material application recommendations to a driver of the agricultural vehicle.

2. The agricultural material application management system of claim 1 , wherein the automated agricultural data collection vehicle and the agricultural vehicle communicate with each other in real-time during an agricultural material application procedure.

3. The agricultural material application management system of claim 2 , wherein the interface unit receives the agricultural material application recommendations from the agricultural data collection vehicle a plurality of separate times during the agricultural material application procedure.

4. The agricultural material application management system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a cable physically connecting the automated agricultural data collection vehicle and the agricultural vehicle, wherein power is provided to the agricultural data collection vehicle from the agricultural vehicle via the cable.

5. The agricultural material application management system of claim 4 , wherein the agricultural material application recommendations are provided to the agricultural vehicle from the agricultural data collection vehicle via the cable.

6. The agricultural material application management system of claim 1 , wherein the receiver is a wireless receiver, and the sensor data is obtained by a sensor located in the agricultural area that is not part of the automated agricultural data collection vehicle and is wirelessly transmitted from the sensor to the automated agricultural data collection vehicle via the wireless receiver.

7. The agricultural material application management system of claim 1 , wherein the receiver is a sensor that directly obtains the sensor data.

8. The agricultural material application management system of claim 1 , wherein each agricultural material application recommendation comprises one of a first recommendation to increase an amount of the agricultural material applied, a second recommendation to decrease the amount of the agricultural material applied, and a third recommendation to refrain from applying the agricultural material.

9. The agricultural material application management system of claim 1 , wherein the agricultural vehicle is a tractor and the agricultural material is a fertilizer.

10. The agricultural material application management system of claim 1 , wherein the agricultural vehicle is an aerial vehicle.

11. An agricultural material application management system, comprising:
an automated agricultural data collection vehicle, comprising:
a location sensor that detects a plurality of locations of the automated agricultural data collection vehicle within an agricultural area;
a receiver that receives sensor data including crop information; and
a memory that stores the plurality of locations and the sensor data; and

an agricultural vehicle, comprising:
an interface unit that interfaces with the automated agricultural data collection vehicle, and receives the plurality of locations and the sensor data from the agricultural data collection vehicle;
an agricultural material applicator that applies an agricultural material to at least some of the plurality of locations in the agricultural area;
a processor that generates a mapping correlating the crop information with the plurality of locations in the agricultural area, and generates an agricultural material application recommendation for each of the plurality of locations based on the mapping; and
a display that provides the agricultural material application recommendations to a driver of the agricultural vehicle.

12. The agricultural material application management system of claim 11 , wherein the automated agricultural data collection vehicle and the agricultural vehicle communicate with each other in real-time during an agricultural material application procedure.

13. The agricultural material application management system of claim 12 , wherein the interface unit receives the plurality of locations and the sensor data from the agricultural data collection vehicle a plurality of separate times during the agricultural material application procedure.

14. The agricultural material application management system of claim 11 , wherein the processor generates an additional agricultural material application recommendation for a neighboring location near at least one of the plurality of locations.

15. An agricultural material application management method, comprising:
detecting a plurality of locations of an automated agricultural data collection vehicle within an agricultural area;
receiving sensor data including crop information at the automated agricultural data collection vehicle;
storing the plurality of locations and the sensor data in a memory;
generating a mapping correlating the crop information with the plurality of locations in the agricultural area;
generating an agricultural material application recommendation for each of the plurality of locations based on the mapping;
interfacing the agricultural data collection vehicle with an agricultural vehicle to transmit the plurality of locations and the sensor data, or the agricultural material application recommendations, from the agricultural data collection vehicle to the agricultural vehicle; and
displaying the agricultural material application recommendations to a driver of the agricultural vehicle.

16. The agricultural material application management method of claim 15 , wherein the automated agricultural data collection vehicle and the agricultural vehicle communicate with each other in real-time during an agricultural material application procedure.

17. The agricultural material application management method of claim 16 , wherein the agricultural data collection vehicle and the agricultural vehicle interface with each other a plurality of separate times during the agricultural material application procedure.

18. The agricultural material application management method of claim 15 , wherein the automated agricultural data collection vehicle and the agricultural vehicle travel through the agricultural area in synchronization with each other.

19. The agricultural material application management method of claim 18 , wherein the automated agricultural data collection vehicle travels to each of the plurality of locations b

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Barbosa Luciano De Andrade
• Kormaksson Matthias
• Dos Santos Cicero Nogueira
• Dos Santos Marcelo Nery
• Zadrozny Bianca

Classifications

• A01C21/007

  Determining fertilization requirements · CPC title

• B64C39/024

  of the remote controlled vehicle type, i.e. RPV · CPC title

• A01B79/005 Primary

  Precision agriculture · CPC title

• B64U2101/40

  for agriculture or forestry operations · CPC title