U.S. patent application number 11/449228 was filed with the patent office on 2007-12-13 for method for determining field readiness using soil moisture modeling.
This patent application is currently assigned to Deere & Company, a Delaware corporation. Invention is credited to Noel Wayne Anderson, Stephen Michael Faivre, Mark William Stelford.
Application Number | 20070288167 11/449228 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 38822937 |
Filed Date | 2007-12-13 |
United States Patent
Application |
20070288167 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Anderson; Noel Wayne ; et
al. |
December 13, 2007 |
METHOD FOR DETERMINING FIELD READINESS USING SOIL MOISTURE
MODELING
Abstract
A method for determining field readiness using moisture modeling
of a plurality of fields in a region of interest includes (a)
generating a detailed set of moisture factors covering a plurality
of scenarios for each field element of the plurality of field
elements for a particular field; (b) repeating act (a) for each
field of the region of interest; (c) generating a general set of
moisture factors for a particular field of the plurality of fields
to be applied to each field element of the plurality of field
elements in the particular field; (d) repeating act (c) for each
field of the plurality of fields in the region of interest; and (e)
estimating soil moisture for each field element in the region of
interest based on the detailed set of moisture factors and the
general set of moisture factors.
Inventors: |
Anderson; Noel Wayne;
(Fargo, ND) ; Stelford; Mark William; (Sycamore,
IL) ; Faivre; Stephen Michael; (Kingston,
IL) |
Correspondence
Address: |
DEERE & COMPANY
ONE JOHN DEERE PLACE
MOLINE
IL
61265
US
|
Assignee: |
Deere & Company, a Delaware
corporation
|
Family ID: |
38822937 |
Appl. No.: |
11/449228 |
Filed: |
June 8, 2006 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
702/2 ; 702/1;
702/127; 702/3; 73/73 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A01B 79/005
20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
702/2 ; 702/1;
702/127; 702/3; 73/73 |
International
Class: |
G06F 19/00 20060101
G06F019/00; G06F 17/40 20060101 G06F017/40 |
Claims
1. A method for determining field readiness using moisture modeling
of a plurality of fields in a region of interest, each field of
said plurality of fields being divided into a plurality of field
elements, comprising: (a) generating a detailed set of moisture
factors covering a plurality of scenarios for each field element of
said plurality of field elements for a particular field; (b)
repeating act (a) for each field of said region of interest; (c)
generating a general set of moisture factors for a particular field
of said plurality of fields to be applied to each field element of
said plurality of field elements in said particular field; (d)
repeating act (c) for each field of said plurality of fields in
said region of interest; and (e) estimating soil moisture for each
field element in said region of interest based on said detailed set
of moisture factors and said general set of moisture factors.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein acts (a) and (b) are performed
only once for each field element.
3. The method of claim 1, further comprising constructing a soil
moisture map based on a result of said estimating soil
moisture.
4. The method of claim 3, further comprising processing said soil
moisture map and a soil type map to generate at least one of a
scouting mission plan and a soil trafficability index.
5. The method of claim 4, wherein said soil trafficability index is
used to form a soil trafficability map.
6. The method of claim 4, further comprising: executing said
scouting mission plan to generate ground truthing information
representing a physical sampling of field elements in said region
of interest; comparing said ground truthing information with said
soil trafficability index to determine the accuracy of said soil
trafficability index.
7. The method of claim 6, further comprising generating an
application mission plan if said soil trafficability index is
accurate.
8. The method of claim 6, wherein said executing said scouting
mission plan is performed by a physical inspection of at least one
field element in a subset of said plurality of fields in said
region of interest.
9. The method of claim 6, wherein said ground truthing information
includes human observations and sensor data.
10. The method of claim 6, further comprising performing a learning
operation to modify said soil trafficability index if said soil
trafficability index is not accurate.
11. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one field of said
plurality of fields is less than one square kilometer.
12. The method of claim 1, wherein said detailed set of moisture
factors includes a set of soil element inflow factors and a set of
soil element outflow factors.
13. The method of claim 1, wherein said general set of moisture
factors includes a pre-event soil moisture factor based on at least
one of historical weather, forecasted weather, and a regional soils
model.
14. The method of claim 1, wherein said general set of moisture
factors includes at least one of a current ground cover factor and
a current crop factor.
15. A method for generating a scouting mission plan, comprising:
(a) dividing each field of a plurality of fields into a plurality
of field elements; (b) generating a detailed set of moisture
factors covering a plurality of scenarios for each field element of
said plurality of field elements for a particular field; (c)
repeating act (b) for each field of said region of interest; (d)
generating a general set of moisture factors for a particular field
of said plurality of fields to be applied to each field element of
said plurality of field elements in said particular field; (e)
repeating act (d) for each field of said plurality of fields in
said region of interest; (f) estimating soil moisture for each
field element in said region of interest based on said detailed set
of moisture factors and said general set of moisture factors; (g)
constructing a soil moisture map based on a result of said
estimating soil moisture; and (h) processing said soil moisture map
and a soil type map to generate said scouting mission plan.
16. The method of claim 15, wherein said scouting mission plan
provides to a user a prioritized list of fields in the region of
interest in order of field readiness.
17. The method of claim 15, wherein said detailed set of moisture
factors includes a set of soil element inflow factors and a set of
soil element outflow factors.
18. The method of claim 15, wherein said general set of moisture
factors includes a pre-event soil moisture factor based on at least
one of historical weather, forecasted weather, and a regional soils
model.
19. The method of claim 15, wherein said general set of moisture
factors includes at least one of a current ground cover factor and
a current crop factor.
20. The method of claim 15, wherein at least one field of said
plurality of fields is less than one square kilometer.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention relates to field moisture
determinations, and more particularly, to a method for determining
field readiness using soil moisture modeling of a plurality of
fields in a region of interest.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] A typical method of insuring fields are ready for an
operation, such as a fertilizer application, after a rain event
involves people driving around in vehicles to physically scout the
fields of interest. Such an approach is labor intensive and can be
inaccurate because of the quality of observations made from the
road. For example, the surface of the field may be dry, but still
very wet underneath. Also, parts of the field, particularly low
spots, may not be visible from the road. Thus, equipment and
material may be dispatched to fields that are not ready for field
work. In one such scenario, a fertilizer applicator operator then
may be faced with a decision of applying fertilizer with damage to
the field or else sending the fertilizer to a storage location for
later application and then moving to another field which is
hopefully in better condition.
[0003] Some soil moisture models provide an opportunity to
automatically predict regions that are ready for an operation. One
example is the IBIS model currently available from the University
of Wisconsin at Madison at the WEB address:
[0004]
http://gaim.unh.edu/Structure/Intercomparison/EMDI/models/ibis.html-
, http://www.sage.wisc.edu/download/IBIS/ibis.html.
[0005] IBIS is a regional scale crop and soil moisture model that
can be run at 1 square kilometer (km) resolution. At that
resolution, for example, a fertilizer dealer trade area of 25,000
square kilometers would have 25,000 "cells" in its computer
simulation and run in a timely fashion. However, many fields are in
the 0.25-0.50 square kilometer (km) size, and the 1 square
kilometer resolution is not good enough to assess field conditions
for some field operations, such as fertilizer application.
[0006] Field level soil simulators such as PALMS are currently
available from the University of Wisconsin at Madison at the WEB
address:
(http://www.warf.ws/technologies.jsp?techfield=Environment&msnum=510&case-
code=04428US), and operate with cell sizes of 5 meters by 5 meters
(5 m.times.5 m, or roughly the operating width of many farm
machines.
[0007] The 5 m linear dimension is 1/200 the 1 km dimension. Thus,
a single 1 km by 1 km cell in IBIS would contain 200 by 200 or
40,000 PALMS cells. This is an n 2 computational time growth rate
due to increased resolution and ignores any computational time
growth from the model algorithms as a function of number of cells.
To highlight the significance of this execution time growth rate,
suppose the IBIS model would provide an output for the 25,000
square kilometer trade area in 1 hour at 1 square kilometer
resolution. It would then take 40,000 hours to get a result at the
5 m*5 m resolution or over 41/2 years of continuous execution. This
is clearly too long to impact today's field activities in light of
a recent rain event, such as last night's rain.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0008] The present invention provides an estimate of the level of
readiness for field operations through modeling at a good spatial
resolution that accommodates field sizes of less than 1 square
kilometer while providing results soon enough to positively
influence field operations relative to other known methods.
[0009] The invention, in one form thereof, is directed to a method
for determining field readiness using moisture modeling of a
plurality of fields in a region of interest. Each field of the
plurality of fields is divided into a plurality of field elements.
The method includes (a) generating a detailed set of moisture
factors covering a plurality of scenarios for each field element of
the plurality of field elements for a particular field; (b)
repeating act (a) for each field of the region of interest; (c)
generating a general set of moisture factors for a particular field
of the plurality of fields to be applied to each field element of
the plurality of field elements in the particular field; (d)
repeating act (c) for each field of the plurality of fields in the
region of interest; and (e) estimating soil moisture for each field
element in the region of interest based on the detailed set of
moisture factors and the general set of moisture factors.
[0010] The present invention, in another form thereof, is directed
to a method for generating a scouting mission plan. The method
includes (a) dividing each field of a plurality of fields into a
plurality of field elements; (b) generating a detailed set of
moisture factors covering a plurality of scenarios for each field
element of the plurality of field elements for a particular field;
(c) repeating act (b) for each field of the region of interest;(d)
generating a general set of moisture factors for a particular field
of the plurality of fields to be applied to each field element of
the plurality of field elements in the particular field; (e)
repeating act (d) for each field of the plurality of fields in the
region of interest; (f) estimating soil moisture for each field
element in the region of interest based on the detailed set of
moisture factors and the general set of moisture factors; (g)
constructing a soil moisture map based on a result of the
estimating soil moisture; and (h) processing the soil moisture map
and a soil type map to generate the scouting mission plan.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0011] FIGS. 1A and 1B combine as a diagrammatic representation of
a system in accordance with an embodiment of the present
invention.
[0012] FIGS. 2A and 2B combine as flowchart depicting a method for
determining field readiness using moisture modeling of a plurality
of fields in a region of interest, in accordance with an embodiment
of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0013] Referring now to the drawings, there is shown in FIGS. 1A
and 1B a diagrammatic representation of a system 10 in accordance
with an embodiment of the present invention, wherein function
blocks are represented by rectangular blocks, and inputs to and
outputs from the function blocks are resented by oval bubbles.
System 10 may be used in conjunction with a method for determining
field readiness using moisture modeling of a plurality of fields in
a region of interest, as illustrated in the flowchart of FIGS. 2A
and 2B.
[0014] Where applicable, the operations of the function blocks of
system 10 shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B may be performed by a computer
based on the process steps of the method of FIGS. 2A and 2B. The
function blocks of system 10 may include an off-line simulator 12,
a fast soil moisture estimator 14, a scouting mission planner 16, a
scouting mission execution block 18, a scouting mission planner
learning module 20, an application mission planner 22, and an
application mission execution block 24. The scouting mission
execution block 18 and application mission execution block 24
typically may be performed by human activity to carry out the
respective missions, which may be computer aided.
[0015] In preparation for performing the process represented in
FIGS. 2A and 2B for determining field readiness using moisture
modeling of a plurality of fields in a region of interest, each
field of the plurality of fields in the region of interest is
divided into a plurality of field elements. In one application of
the present invention, for example, at least one field of the
plurality of fields is less than one square kilometer. The region
of interest may be, for example, an area of about 25,000 square
kilometers.
[0016] At step S100 of FIG. 2A, a detailed set of moisture factors
covering a plurality of scenarios for each field element of the
plurality of field elements for a particular field is generated.
The detailed set of moisture factors may include, for example, a
set of soil element inflow factors from which a soil element inflow
factor 30 may be selected and a set of soil element outflow factors
from which a soil element outflow factor 32 may be selected (see
FIG. 1A).
[0017] Referring to FIG. 1A, each of the set of soil element inflow
factors and the set of soil element outflow factors may be
generated by off-line simulator 12. The determination of the
detailed set of moisture factors covering various scenarios is time
consuming to carry out, so this task may be performed only once for
each field and may be done whenever computing resources are
available. For example, the detailed simulations resulting in the
detailed set of moisture factors that account for adding an inch of
rain to an already wet field would be the same immediately after
the event as it would be the preceding winter. The computation
would thus be the same in each case and the results would be the
same.
[0018] When a field is added to the active fields in the trade
area, i.e., a region of interest, a detailed off-line simulation is
performed by off-line simulator 12. For each field element, a soil
element inflow factor 30 (SFi) and a soil element outflow factor 32
(SFo) are generated and various correction factors may be set to
1.0. The various correction factors may be modified during a
"learning" process, as discussed in more detail below. Soil
moisture in this example is assumed to be a continuous range from
0.0 (dry) to 1.0 (fully saturated). Alternately, the range could be
captured in a finite set of states with names like "dry", "moist",
"wet", "saturated", and "submerged", which may be advantageous if
the changes in soil moisture for each element are modeled through
fuzzy logic, finite state machines, Markov processes, etc.
[0019] The progression of soil moisture from 0.0 to 1.0 is
non-linear with rainfall. This is because when the soil is very
dry, lower layers are likely to draw the water down and out of the
region quickly. As soils become saturated, rain run-off is a bigger
factor. Depending on topography, the rain water may then run out of
the field element on the surface and thus be slowed in absorbing
water. If a particular field element receives water from all its
neighboring field elements, the movement from wet to saturated may
be accelerated relative to the rest of the field. Many field
elements, then, will form an S-curve for soil moisture that
increases as a function of rainfall. When conditions are dry, the
increase in the soil moisture curve is slow, in the mid-range the
soil moisture curve is linear, and as saturation is approached (for
high, sloped ground) the increase in the soil moisture curve again
is slow.
[0020] Off-line simulator 12 generates the set of soil element
inflow factors, from which an individual soil element inflow factor
30 may be selected, by running bare soil simulations for multiple
starting soil moistures, and hourly rainfall and/or evaporation
rates. The set of soil element inflow factors may be represented as
a lookup table that may be indexed by other system inputs, such as
weather related and/or regional soil models which contribute to a
pre-event soil moisture factor 34. The table may have, for example,
25 to 100 elements, so the off-line simulation for the field would
likely need to be run 25 to 100 times, respectively, with different
initial and rainfall conditions resulting in a 5.times.5 to a
10.times.10 lookup table.
[0021] The storage required, for example, for a 10.times.10 lookup
table using 32 bit floating point numbers is 400 bytes. For the
example of a trade area, i.e., region of interest, with 1 billion 5
m.times.5 m cells, the table would require 400 GB of storage.
Current magnetic hard disks are reaching 1000 GB for use on desktop
computers, so this storage requirement is not out of line with
current available technology.
[0022] Similarly, multiple simulations are run to generate a lookup
table representing the set of soil element outflow factors from
which a particular soil element outflow factor 32 (SFo) is
selected. Here, contributing factors are the current soil moisture,
ranging from 0.0 to 1.0, and an hourly water outflow rate that
captures site-specific adjustment to a base evaporation rate (ET0)
due to topography, soil texture, etc., wherein ET0 is an
evaporation rate of 0.
[0023] Carrying out calculations for only rainfall or for
evaporation cuts the execution time approximately in half. For
example, since relative the humidity is high during rain, it may be
assumed that no evaporation occurs during the rain. That which is
occurring is probably less than other sources of error in the
system such as accurate hourly rainfall rates, initial soil
moisture, etc. When the rain stops, evaporation begins and the
amount of moisture in the soil is decremented based on the
associated evaporation rate.
[0024] In the present embodiment, no attempt was made to model the
soil at various depths. However, one skilled in the art will
recognize how such an extension may be implemented by addition a
third dimension to the field elements. For example, just as each
field element has an x and y distance, say 5 m, it could also have
a depth z of, for example, 0.25 m. Thus, the set of soil element
inflow factors and the set of soil element outflow factors may be
redefined to consider the moisture levels at adjacent depths based
on additional field simulations.
[0025] At step S102 of FIG. 2A, it is determined whether each field
of the region of interest has been considered. If the determination
at step S102 is NO, the process proceeds to step S104 to increment
to the next field, and step S100 is repeated for the next field.
Steps S100 and S102 will typically be performed only once for each
field element, due to the computationally intensive process
associated with the detailed moisture factors.
[0026] If the determination at step S102 is YES, then the process
proceeds to step S106.
[0027] At step S106, a general set of moisture factors for a
particular field of the plurality of fields to be applied to each
field element of the plurality of field elements in the particular
field is generated. Referring to FIG. 1A, the general set of
moisture factors may include, for example, pre-event soil moisture
factor 34 that is based on historical weather and/or forecasted
weather 34-1 and a regional soils model 34-2; a current ground
cover factor 36; and a current crop factor 38.
[0028] The historical weather and/or forecasted weather 34-1 for
rainfall and moisture removal (e.g., evaporation rate (ET0)) can be
estimated for a particular field by in situ measurement,
interpolation of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA) measurements, Doppler radar rain estimates, etc.
[0029] A single pre-event soil moisture factor 34, e.g., a single
hourly rainfall or evaporation rate (ET0) value for the entire
field, is available for use by fast soil moisture estimator 14. An
initial pre-event soil moisture factor 34 may come from a regional
soils model 34-2, such as IBIS, a human estimate, remote sensed
data, etc.
[0030] Current ground cover factor 36 considers the impact of crop
canopy, residue, tillage practice, etc., and on a scale from zero
(0) to one (1) is nearly one for bare ground.
[0031] Current crop factor 38 is a measure of crop water uptake,
and is related to the crop stage. For example, crops at mid-season
will also take up moisture through the roots.
[0032] A single value for each of current ground cover factor 36
and current crop factor 38 may be used for the whole field by fast
soil moisture estimator 14 due to crop uniformity, but
site-specific values may also be used, if desired.
[0033] At step S108 of FIG. 2A, it is determined whether each field
of the region of interest has been considered. If the determination
at step S108 is NO, the process proceeds to step S110 to increment
to the next field, and step S106 is repeated for the next field. If
the determination at step S108 is YES, then the process proceeds to
step S112.
[0034] At step S112, the soil moisture for each field element in
the region of interest is estimated based on the detailed set of
moisture factors and the general set of moisture factors described
above. Referring to FIG. 1A, this estimating may be performed by
fast soil moisture estimator 14, which processes the inputs made up
of a soil element inflow factor 30 selected from the set of soil
element inflow factors, a soil element outflow factor 32 selected
from set of soil element outflow factors, pre-event soil moisture
factor 34, current ground cover factor 36, and/or current crop
factor 38.
[0035] The following description of fast soil moisture estimator 14
will be for the current soil moisture, but forecasts of rainfall
and evaporation rate (ET0) could be used to estimate future states
of the field for use by the mission planner, if desired. The
rainfall amount used need not be hourly totals, but the time scale
should be the same as that used to generate the set of soil element
inflow factors and the set of soil element outflow factors that
incorporate water runoff and absorption by lower soil layers.
[0036] When invoked, fast soil moisture estimator 14 estimates the
field soil moisture for each field element in a particular field
using either the "Raining" (Equation 1) or the "Drying" (Equation
2) equations set forth below. Both equations could be used
simultaneously, but the execution time would approximately
double.
Raining: Current Soil Moisture (t+1)=Current Soil Moisture
(t)+Hourly Rainfall*SFi*Current Ground Cover Factor (Equation
1)
wherein: Current Soil Moisture (t+1) is the next soil moisture
following the Current Soil Moisture (t); [0037] Current Soil
Moisture (t) is the soil moisture at the current time t; [0038]
Hourly Rainfall is an amount of rainfall in one hour for a
particular field; [0039] SFi is a soil element inflow factor 30
selected from the set of soil element inflow factors corresponding
to a field element of interest of the particular field; and [0040]
Current Ground Cover Factor is the current ground cover factor 36
for the particular field.
[0040] Drying: Current Soil Moisture (t+1)=Current Soil Moisture
(t)+Hourly ET0*SFo*Current Crop Factor (Equation 2)
wherein: Current Soil Moisture (t+1) is the next soil moisture
following the Current Soil Moisture (t); [0041] Current Soil
Moisture (t) is the moisture at the current time t; [0042] Hourly
ET0 is an amount of evaporation in one hour for a particular field;
[0043] SFo is a soil element outflow factor 32 selected from the
set of soil element outflow factors corresponding to a field
element of interest of the particular field; and [0044] Current
Crop Factor is the current crop factor 38 for the particular
field.
[0045] The calculation of the new soil moisture for each field
element requires reading the current soil moisture from memory,
looking up the value of SFi from the set of soil element inflow
factors and/or looking up the value of SFo from the set of soil
element outflow factors for the field element; using the cached
values for rainfall and evaporation rate (collectively, pre-event
soil moisture factor 34), current ground cover factor 36, and
current crop factor 38; performing the calculation; and writing the
result back to memory. Modern computer systems use architectural
features to promote parallel computation and fast floating point
math operations to achieve speeds in the hundreds of millions of
calculations per second. Thus, for example, the 1 billion 5 m by 5
m cells in the example 25,000 square kilometer trade area should be
updateable in a reasonable period of time for use by scouting
mission planner 16.
[0046] At step S114 of FIG. 2B, fast soil moisture estimator 14
constructs a soil moisture map 40 based on a result of the
estimating soil moisture performed at step S112.
[0047] At step S116, the soil moisture map 40 generated at step
S114 and a soil type map 42 is processed to generate a scouting
mission plan 44 and a trafficability index/map 46. This processing
may be performed, for example, by scouting mission planner 16 of
FIG. 1A. For example, one output of scouting mission planner 16 may
be in the form of a trafficability index lookup table, which may be
used to form a trafficability map of each field element in the
region of interest.
[0048] In contrast to the current ad hoc driving around the
countryside approach to estimating field readiness, use of scouting
mission plan 44 will optimize the amount of scouting done by
identifying the smallest number of the most valuable places to
visit, e.g., by providing a prioritized list of fields in the
region of interest in order of field readiness.
[0049] Scouting mission planner 16 takes advantage of the fact that
wetter and dryer areas of a field will always be wetter and dryer
areas of the field. It is highly unlikely that a rain event would
leave field hilltops saturated and low areas dry. Similarly, for
comparable starting conditions and equal rain events, wetter fields
and dryer fields will retain those relative attributes.
[0050] In one embodiment, scouting mission planner 16 takes the
soil moisture map 40 and soil type map 42, along with applicator
tire loading data, to generate the soil trafficability index/map 46
of the field. One example of a soil trafficability index is
"percent of field with little or no soil compaction from
applicator." For example, the policy of a fertilizer dealer may be
to not apply fertilizer to a field unless the soil trafficability
index is greater than 90%. The scouting mission planner 16 can
compute the soil trafficability indices for fields needing
application and sort them by index value. Scouts can be sent to
certain fields to confirm that the fields that have a soil
trafficability index just above a threshold are ready for
application, and those having a soil trafficability index below the
threshold are not ready for application. Assuming the soil
trafficability indices are fairly accurate, it can be assumed that
fields that have a soil trafficability index much less than the
threshold won't be ready and those fields that have a soil
trafficability index much greater than the threshold will be ready,
and that there is little value in visiting those fields.
[0051] At step S118, the scouting mission plan 44 generated by
scouting mission planner 16 is executed at scouting mission
execution block 18 shown in FIG. 1B to generate ground truthing
information 48 representing, for example, a physical sampling of
field elements in the region of interest. Thus, in executing
scouting mission plan 44, a physical inspection is made of at least
one field element in a subset of the plurality of fields in the
region of interest. The term "ground truthing" means a physical
determination of a truth relating to ground conditions of the area,
e.g., field element, of interest. "Ground truthing" includes, but
is not limited to, observations by humans, data obtained from
sensors, such as in situ soil moisture sensors, and remote sensed
data that provides information such as precision soil moisture at a
point and/or regions of similar soil moisture.
[0052] At step S120 of FIG. 2B, relating to decision block 50 of
FIG. 1B, it is determined whether the ground truthing information
48 matches the soil trafficability index/map 46. In other words, it
is determined whether the soil trafficability index/map 46 is
accurate.
[0053] If the determination at step S120 is NO, then the process
proceeds to step S122 wherein ground truthing information 48 is
processed by scouting mission planner learning module 20, which
performs a scouting planner learning operation. For example,
scouting mission planner learning module 20 may use the ground
truthing information 48 to modify the next trafficability index
generated by scouting mission planner 16 if the trafficability
index is deemed not accurate, e.g., a determination of NO at step
S120, by modifying the correction factors associated with one or
more moisture factors.
[0054] While not required for basic operation, ground truthing and
learning can greatly improve the overall performance and value of
the present invention in the immediate and long term. Further, the
ground truthing information 48 may be adjusted to be in accordance
with current practices for reasonableness, precision, and accuracy.
The likely source of differences between simulated and observed
soil moisture need to be identified, such as rainfall measurements
or soil model. If the likely source is the soil model, corrections
and learning can be applied at a number of spatial and temporal
levels. Examples include, but are not limited to the following: the
correction may be applied to the current field or a portion thereof
for the current rain event; using methods of identifying field
element similitude, the correction may be applied to other fields
for the current rain event; using machine learning techniques, the
SFi and SFo functions for the current field or portion thereof may
be corrected for future rain events; using methods of identifying
similitude between field simulation elements and machine learning
techniques, the SFi and SFo functions for the field observed and
similar fields may be adjusted; also, using methods of identifying
similitude between field simulation elements and machine learning
techniques, the generation of SFi and SFo functions by off-line
simulator 12 may be improved.
[0055] If the determination at step S120 is YES, then the process
proceeds to step S124, wherein application mission planner 22
generates an application mission plan 52 (see FIG. 1B). In other
words, application mission plan 52 is generated if the soil
trafficability index is accurate. Once the scouting mission has
confirmed that fields are ready, application mission planner 22 can
then use the soil trafficability index/map 46 to generate
applicator missions.
[0056] At step S126 of FIG. 2B, the application mission plan 52 is
executed, as illustrated in the application mission plan execution
block 24 of FIG. 1B. At the simplest level, for example, fertilizer
applicators could be dispatched to the fields that are most ready
first. A more economical approach would be to utilize logistics
techniques to optimize the order in which ready fields are visited
to minimize the travel cost of applicators and tender vehicles.
Another level of refinement would be to generate path plans for the
fertilizer applicators from the soil trafficability maps so that
the least ready areas of the fields would be visited last when the
weight of the applicator was reduced by the amount of material
already spread.
[0057] For nitrogen fertilizer application, the soil moisture map
40 and the soil type map 42 may be used to adjust application rate
maps based on soil samples taken prior to precipitation on the
field that can affect available nitrogen through leeching or
de-nitrification.
[0058] Having described the preferred embodiment, it will become
apparent that various modifications can be made without departing
from the scope of the invention as defined in the accompanying
claims.
* * * * *
References