Method and system to map biological pests in agricultural fields using remotely-sensed data for field scouting and targeted chemical application

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9756844-B2
Application number	US-201514676687-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 1, 2015
Priority date	May 13, 2011
Publication date	Sep 12, 2017
Grant date	Sep 12, 2017

Abstract

A method for precisely applying chemicals targeted by digital maps developed from remotely sensed data, including: obtaining EOS data through a growing season of a crop growing in a field; processing the EOS data to reflectance values; removing error-inducing effects of atmospheric alteration from the processed EOS data; calculating from the processed EOS data a crop performance index that indicates one or more poor performing areas of the field; generating one or more maps of the crop performance index to allow a user to determine whether each of the one or more poor performing areas of the field are due to biological pests instead of topographic or soil constraints in discrete locations of the field; guiding the user to the one or more poor performing areas of the field using the one or more maps to allow the user to scout the one or more poor performing areas of the field to confirm and identify the biological pests; and providing guidance for a chemical application at the one or more poor performing areas that were confirmed as having the biological pests. Other embodiments are provided.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of precisely applying one or more chemicals targeted by one or more digital maps developed from remotely sensed data, the method comprising:
executing one or more first computer instructions configured to obtain earth observation satellite (EOS) data of at least part of a growing season of a crop growing in a field;
executing one or more second computer instructions configured to process the EOS data to first reflectance values;
executing one or more third computer instructions configured to adjust the first reflectance values to be adjusted reflectance values to remove error-inducing effects of atmospheric alteration from the first reflectance values;
executing one or more fourth computer instructions configured to calculate from the adjusted reflectance values a crop performance index that indicates one or more poor performing areas of the field;
executing one or more fifth computer instructions configured to generate one or more maps of the crop performance index, the one or more maps of the crop performance index being configured to allow a user to determine whether at least one of the one or more poor performing areas of the field is performing poorly due to biological pests instead of topographic or soil constraints in discrete locations of the field;
executing one or more sixth computer instructions configured to guide the user to the at least one of the one or more poor performing areas of the field using the one or more maps of the crop performance index to allow the user to scout the at least one of the one or more poor performing areas of the field to confirm the biological pests are present and to identify the biological pests; and
executing one or more seventh computer instructions configured to prescribe, based on the biological pests that are identified, a chemical application for the at least one of the one or more poor performing areas;
wherein:
the one or more first computer instructions, the one or more second computer instructions, the one or more third computer instructions, the one or more fourth computer instructions, the one or more fifth computer instructions, the one or more sixth computer instructions, and the one or more seventh computer instructions are programmed to run at one or more processors of a computer system and stored at one or more non-transitory memory storage devices of the computer system.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
executing one or more eighth computer instructions configured to forecast when the field will experience canopy closure;
wherein:
executing the one or more eighth computer instructions comprises:
executing one or more ninth computer instructions configured to process the EOS data of at least a first third of the growing season to determine a normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and a modified normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI*); and
executing one or more tenth computer instructions configured to perform a clocking function to forecast when to begin calculating the crop performance index;

and
the one or more eighth computer instructions are programmed to run at the one or more processors of the computer system and stored at the one or more non-transitory memory storage devices of the computer system.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the one or more maps of the crop performance index comprise at least one of one or more crop performance index maps, one or more crop performance index change detection maps, or one or more cumulative crop performance index change detection maps.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the one or more maps of the crop performance index comprise one or more crop performance index change detection maps;
executing the one or more fifth computer instructions comprises:
executing one or more eighth computer instructions configured to generate the one or more crop performance index change detection maps;

executing the one or more eighth computer instructions comprises:
executing one or more ninth computer instructions configured to generate one or more first crop performance index maps;
executing one or more tenth computer instructions configured to generate one or more updated crop performance index maps; and
executing one or more eleventh computer instructions configured to subtract one or more spatially discrete pixels of the one or more first crop performance index maps from the one or more updated crop performance index maps;

and
executing the one or more sixth computer instructions comprises:
executing one or more twelfth computer instructions configured to output at least one of the one or more crop performance index change detection maps.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the one or more maps of the crop performance index comprise one or more cumulative crop performance index change detection maps;
executing the one or more fifth computer instructions further comprises:
executing one or more eighth computer instructions configured to generate the one or more cumulative crop performance index change detection maps;

executing the one or more eighth computer instructions comprises:
executing one or more ninth computer instructions configured to generate one or more first cumulative crop performance index maps;
executing one or more tenth computer instructions configured to generate one or more updated cumulative crop performance index maps; and
executing one or more eleventh computer instructions configured to add the first cumulative crop index performance maps to the updated cumulative crop performance index maps;

and
executing the one or more sixth computer instructions further comprises:
executing one or more twelfth computer instructions configured to output at least one of the one or more cumulative crop performance index change detection maps.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
executing the one or more sixth computer instructions comprises:
executing one or more eighth computer instructions configured to use global positioning system functionality of a mobile device to provide navigation information to the at least one of the one or more poor performing areas;
executing one or more ninth computer instructions configured to record one or more observations regarding the crop at the at least one of the one or more poor performing areas of the field; and
executing one or more tenth computer instructions configured to output the one or more observations and the navigation information.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
before executing the one or more seventh computer instructions, executing one or more eighth computer instructions configured to develop a digital map using the one or more maps of the crop performance index to identify the chemical application;
wherein:
executing the one or more eighth computer instructions comprises:
executing one or more ninth computer instructions configured to determine a first number of days from a first date on which the one or more maps of the crop performance index are created to a second date on which the chemical application is to be applied; and
executing one or more tenth computer instructions configured to buffer the digital map to increase a size of an area to be treated with the chemical application based on the first number of days;

and
the one or more eighth computer instructions are programmed to run at the one or more processors of the computer system and stored at the one or more non-transitory memory storage devices of the computer system.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein:
executing the one or more eighth computer instructions further comprises:
when the first number of days is greater than a predetermined threshold, executing one or more eleventh compu

Assignees

• Hydrobio Inc
• Climate Corp

Inventors

• Groeneveld David P

Classifications

• G01C21/3826

  Terrain data · CPC title

• G06T7/70

  Determining position or orientation of objects or cameras (camera calibration G06T7/80) · CPC title

• G05D1/0274

  using mapping information stored in a memory device (navigation using map-matching G01C21/30) · CPC title

• G01C21/00

  Navigation; Navigational instruments not provided for in groups G01C1/00 - G01C19/00 (measuring distance traversed on the ground by a vehicle G01C22/00; control of position, course, altitude or attitude of vehicles G05D1/00; traffic control systems for road vehicles involving transmission of navigation instructions to the vehicle G08G1/0968) · CPC title

• A01M17/008

  Destruction of vermin in foodstuffs · CPC title