Aerial 3D Crop Mapping for Lodging Area Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for assessing lodged crop areas, such as cornfields, are laborious and time-consuming, often relying on manual sampling with significant errors due to statistical extrapolation, and existing technologies do not effectively identify lodged areas post-calamity events.
Innovation Solution
A method using contactless sensing from above the field to recognize and record a three-dimensional crop surface, determining a reference stem height, and computing the angle of lodging by comparing this surface with the field's three-dimensional surface, utilizing photogrammetric and geodetic measurements to create a digital vector map with customizable lodging levels.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If manual sampling methods are used to assess lodged crop areas, then labor and time requirements are reduced, but measurement precision deteriorates due to statistical extrapolation errors
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces manual ground-based sampling with air photography and photogrammetric methods. By using aerial images and computational algorithms to automatically detect and measure lodged crop areas, the system eliminates the need for manual field sampling while providing complete field coverage, thereby simultaneously improving both productivity and measurement precision
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a digital copy of the field through aerial photography and photogrammetric modeling. This digital representation allows for repeated measurement and analysis without physical field visits, enabling rapid assessment of lodged areas while maintaining high measurement accuracy through image analysis algorithms
2Productivity
If air photography with lodging sensors is used to identify lodged crops, then productivity improves through rapid field scanning, but device complexity increases due to sensor and processing requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a multi-functional integrated system where a single aerial platform performs multiple tasks: capturing optical imagery, collecting geospatial coordinates, and generating photogrammetric models. This universal platform approach consolidates multiple specialized devices into one system, improving productivity while managing device complexity through functional integration
Solution Approach 2:
The photogrammetric processing system automatically extracts lodged crop information from aerial images using computational algorithms. The system self-processes the raw image data to generate lodging assessments without requiring manual interpretation, thereby improving productivity while the automation handles the complexity of data processing
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This method allows for quick and reliable identification of lodged crop areas, reducing subjective errors and providing intuitive, customizable displays of crop damage, enabling precise determination of affected areas.
Implementation Method 1
a three-dimensional surface of the upper cover of the crops is recognized and recorded from above the field
Implementation Method 2
the angle of lodging β is computed using the goniometric function
Data Source
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AI summary
A three-dimensional surface of the upper cover of the crops is recognized and recorded by means of a contactless scanning from above the field; a referential height h of the crop's stem is determined and the three-dimensional surface of the field from which the crops grow is determined. A reached height x of the vegetation for the individual points is computed by comparison of the three-dimensional surface of the upper cover of the crops with the three-dimensional surface of the field, whereby in case the reached height x of the vegetation is smaller than the referential height h of the crop's stem this difference between the reached height x of the vegetation and the referential height h of the stem determines in a given point of the field the angle β of lodging pursuant to the goniometric function. A classification of the grains into classes depending on the angle α of the slope of the lodged grain in interval 0° to 90° is realized, whereby this results in computation of the heights (h) of the grain spikes pursuant to relation x(0 to n) = h. sin α (0 to n) for the creation of the digital vector map with the customizable levels of the lodging of the grains.