System for soil moisture monitoring

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9864094-B2
Application number	US-201414891770-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 19, 2014
Priority date	May 17, 2013
Publication date	Jan 9, 2018
Grant date	Jan 9, 2018

Abstract

Systems, methods and apparatus are provided for moisture measurement. In some embodiments, a reflectance measurement is corrected based on a soil characteristic map. In other embodiments, a first reflectance measurement at a first depth is corrected based on a second reflectance measurement at a second depth.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of measuring a soil characteristic during an operation in an agricultural field, comprising:
making a first soil reflectance measurement at a location in the field;
obtaining a second soil characteristic measurement, wherein said second soil characteristic measurement comprises a second soil reflectivity measurement at a different depth than said first soil reflectivity measurement;
correcting said first soil reflectance measurement based on said second soil characteristic measurement; and
estimating soil moisture at said location based on said corrected soil reflectance measurement.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said second soil characteristic measurement comprises an electrical conductivity measurement.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein said second soil characteristic measurement comprises a pH measurement.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein said second soil characteristic measurement comprises a second soil reflectivity measurement at a different wavelength than said first soil reflectivity measurement.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
accessing a soil property map;
determining a soil property at said location based on said soil property map; and
correcting an estimated soil property based on said soil property.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein said soil property map comprises a soil type map.

7. A method of estimating soil moisture in a field, comprising:
obtaining a first soil reflectance measurement at a first depth at a first location in the field;
obtaining a second soil reflectance measurement at a second depth at a second location in the field;
determining a reflectance-based reflectance correction based on said second soil reflectance measurement; and
applying said reflectance-based reflectance correction to said first soil reflectance measurement to obtain a corrected first soil reflectance measurement; and
estimating moisture using said corrected first soil reflectance measurement.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein said first soil reflectance measurement is carried out on a planter row unit, and wherein said second soil reflectance measurement is carried out on a separate row unit.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein said separate row unit opens a trench having a different depth than the planter row unit, and wherein said separate row unit includes a reflectance sensor for measuring reflectance of soil in said trench.

10. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
associating said estimated moisture with said first location using a GPS receiver; and mapping said estimated moisture.

11. A method of estimating soil moisture in a field, comprising:
obtaining a first soil reflectance measurement at a first wavelength at a first location;
obtaining a second soil reflectance measurement at a second wavelength at a second location near said first location;
obtaining a third soil reflectance measurement at said first wavelength at a third location near said first location, said third soil reflectance measurement being taken at a measurement depth, said measurement depth being different than said first soil reflectance measurement;
obtaining a fourth soil reflectance measurement at said second wavelength at a fourth location near said first location, said fourth soil reflectance measurement being taken at said measurement depth; and
estimating moisture based on said first soil reflectance measurement and said second soil reflectance measurement.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
determining a soil reflectance correction based on said third soil reflectance measurement and said fourth soil reflectance measurement; and applying said soil reflectance correction to said estimated moisture.

Assignees

• Climate Corp

Inventors

• Stoller Jason
• Plattner Troy

Classifications

• G01V11/002

  Details, e.g. power supply systems for logging instruments, transmitting or recording data, specially adapted for well logging, also if the prospecting method is irrelevant (means for transmitting well survey signals E21B47/12; signal transmission systems in general G08C; transmission in general H04B) · CPC title

• G01N33/246

  for water content · CPC title

• G01V8/10 Primary

  Detecting, e.g. by using light barriers (by reflection from the object G01S17/00) · CPC title

• A01B79/005 Primary

  Precision agriculture · CPC title

• G01V3/12

  operating with electromagnetic waves {(operating with millimetre waves G01V8/005)} · CPC title