Image-Based Irrigation Layout for Fair Center Pivot Trials
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Growers using center pivot irrigation systems face challenges in efficiently comparing different irrigation management systems due to limitations in treatment placement, leading to increased acreage and costs for trials, which complicates the interpretation of results and increases risks for both growers and vendors.
Innovation Solution
A computer-implemented method that uses digital images to optimize the arrangement of irrigation treatments within a single field, ensuring matching crop growing conditions and reducing the need for multiple fields, allowing for fair comparison and minimizing costs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If traditional treatment placement approaches are used with center pivot irrigation equipment, then fair comparison of irrigation treatments can be achieved, but multiple fields are required increasing acreage and costs
Solution Approach 1:
The field is divided into multiple sectors radiating from the center pivot point, allowing different irrigation treatments to be applied to different sectors within the same field. This segmentation enables fair comparison of treatments while using only a portion of the field area, reducing the total acreage required for trials.
Solution Approach 2:
Different sectors of the field are assigned different irrigation treatments based on their specific location and growing conditions. This allows each sector to receive optimized treatment tailored to its local conditions while maintaining the ability to compare treatments fairly across sectors within the same field.
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple fields are used for irrigation management trials, then treatment comparison is possible, but interpretation of results becomes complicated and risks increase
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple irrigation treatments are merged into a single field by assigning different treatments to different sectors. This consolidation maintains the ability to compare treatments while simplifying trial management, reducing complexity, and eliminating the need to manage multiple separate fields with potentially different growing conditions.
3Ease of manufacture
If conventional trial arrangements are implemented with center pivot equipment, then standard agricultural practice comparison is possible, but equipment limitations prevent optimal treatment placement
Solution Approach 1:
The treatment placement system is made dynamic by allowing the center pivot equipment to apply different treatments to different sectors as it rotates. This dynamic approach maintains compliance with standard agricultural practices while providing the flexibility to optimize treatment placement according to field-specific conditions and equipment capabilities.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques for providing improvements in agricultural science by optimizing irrigation treatment placements for testing are provided, including analyzing a plurality of digital images of a field to determine vegetation density changes in a sector of the field. The techniques proceed by comparing a distribution of pixel characteristics in the digital images for each field sector to determine sectors in which minimal differences are present. Instructions for irrigation placements and testing may then be displayed or modified based on the results of the sector determinations.