Patent ID: 9107354
Filing Date: 2015-08-18
Classification: A01G,G05B

Abstract:
1. A method for remote analysis and automated correction of a crop's water needs, comprising: (a) capturing at least one crop characteristic from at least one crop sensor at specified time intervals, said crop sensor placed in the crop and having capability to transmit the captured crop characteristic to a field base station, wherein said at least one crop characteristic is selected from the group consisting of canopy temperature, leaf thickness, stem diameter, canopy color, and leaf wetness, wherein one of said at least one crop characteristics is canopy temperature, wherein the canopy temperature is measured by a crop sensor placed above the tops of the plant leaves; (b) capturing at least one weather characteristic from at least one sensor at specified time intervals, said sensor placed in the field or hardwired to the field base station and having capability to transmit the captured weather characteristic to a field base station, wherein said at least one weather characteristic is selected from the group consisting of rainfall, barometric pressure, ambient temperature, humidity, wind speed and solar radiation; (c) transmitting the crop characteristic to the field base station; (d) transmitting the weather characteristic to the field base station; (e) transmitting the crop characteristic and the weather characteristic from the field base station to a processor at specified time intervals, wherein said processor is programmed with: (1) known plant parameters, said plant parameters including values or formulas for calculating crop condition as correlated to levels of desired crop hydration, (2) one or more crop coefficients, wherein said crop coefficients are selected from the group consisting of plant stress time, canopy temperature minus optimum temperature, sensor input, soil moisture content, cost of water, crop price, water allocation remaining, predicted future high temperatures, desired yield percentage, desired margin percentage, market conditions, weather forecast and cost of energy, and (3) at least one algorithm capable of generating an irrigation decision by correlating the crop characteristic and the weather characteristic with the known plant parameters and at least one crop coefficient; (f) generating an irrigation decision using stored algorithms to correlate the crop characteristic and weather characteristic with the known plant parameters and at least one crop coefficient, wherein the stored algorithms additionally calculate plant water needs based on the plant species and stage of growth; (g) transmitting the irrigation decision to the field base station to execute at least one irrigation function.