Agricultural Sprayer Control Using Landmark-Based Target Mapping
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current agricultural sprayers face limitations in speed and efficiency due to the need to control the flow of agricultural products based on field conditions, leading to unnecessary travel and potential misapplication of products across the field.
Innovation Solution
A system comprising a first vehicle equipped with an imaging sensor that captures field data, identifies targets and landmarks, and generates control commands for a second vehicle with a boom assembly to precisely apply agricultural products, utilizing mapping data and a predicted deflection model to ensure accurate application.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If sensors are mounted on boom sections to detect field conditions and control nozzle flow, then selective application of agricultural product is achieved, but sprayer travel speed is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides the spraying operation into two independent phases: a mapping phase where an aerial vehicle captures field data and identifies targets/landmarks, and an application phase where the ground-based sprayer executes spraying based on pre-determined locations. This segmentation allows each phase to operate at optimal speeds without real-time constraints.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs target identification and location determination before the actual spraying operation. The aerial vehicle maps the field, identifies crops/weeds, and determines their locations relative to landmarks in advance, creating a treatment map that guides the sprayer. This preliminary action eliminates real-time detection constraints during spraying.
2Measurement precision
If real-time sensor data is used to control nozzle flow based on field conditions, then selective spraying is achieved, but unnecessary travel in various portions of the field occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The system introduces mapping data and landmark-based location determination as intermediaries between target identification and spraying execution. The aerial vehicle creates a comprehensive map with identified targets and landmarks, which then serves as a guide for the sprayer. This intermediary layer optimizes the sprayer's path planning to minimize unnecessary travel while ensuring all targets are covered.
3Adaptability or versatility
If sensors on boom sections detect field conditions continuously, then selective application is achieved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts the complex detection, identification, and mapping functions from the ground-based sprayer and relocates them to an aerial vehicle. The sprayer is simplified to primarily execute spraying based on pre-determined treatment maps, while the aerial vehicle handles the complex tasks of image capture, target identification, and location determination using landmarks.
Data Source
AI summary
A system for an agricultural operation includes a first vehicle equipped with an imaging sensor configured to capture image data associated within a field. A computing system is communicatively coupled with the imaging sensor. The computing system is configured to receive the image data associated with the field, identify one or more objects within the image data as a target, identify one or more objects within the image data as a landmark, determine a location of the target relative to the landmark, and generate a control command for a second vehicle. The control command includes the location of the target relative to the landmark within the field.