Patent DE-10002880-C1 (DE)
Title: Monitor system useful for examining the health of plants and vegetation comprises a vehicle equipped to register active and passive light and fluorescent spectra with satellite GPS links to determine corrective actions to be taken on site
Inventor: WOLLRING JUERGEN
IPC: A01B79/00
Filed: 2000-01-10
Granted: 2001-06-13
Abstract: Monitoring system for plants and vegetation comprises registering active and passive light with satellite GPS links. To monitor the condition of plants and vegetation, a vehicle travels over the agricultural or horticultural or forestry land to check the growth, and spread any necessary fertilizers or nutrients or protective agents. The plants/vegetation are illuminated by passive light using sunshine, and active light through light emitting diode (LED) clusters or a laser as a light source, using different wavelengths to develop reflection and fluorescent spectra. The reflection and fluorescent spectra are registered by active and/or passive detectors, with integrated microprocessors. The readings are classified to show the measurements from the growth and the soil, and the nature of the soil. The measurements are evaluated to determine factors such as the leaf surface index (biomass) and/or the chlorophyll content and/or causes of disease and/or plant stress and/or water content, using their characteristic reflection and fluorescent spectra. The separate target values are digitized and stored in the memory of the microprocessors. The microprocessor evaluates deviations between the actual measurements and the reference signatures for healthy plants and their measured spectra together with the light exposure intensity as the measure of the deviation between the reference signature and the measured spectrum for each factor. From the findings, the required plant treatment is derived and the dosed application is delivered. The spectra for the plant condition factors are obtained by overhead illumination, or by illumination of the plant at different height levels of the foliage. The detectors are active or passive sensors, or a combination of them. The causes of plant disease are registered directly such as viruses, fungi or animal attack such as from oak mildew, blight, green fly and other aphids, etc. The plant stress and the water content are measured indirectly. The algorithms for the corrective measures to be applied take in external data such as recommendations on applications, dosages and data on the agents to be used, meteorological data, special relationship links to valleys, hilltops or the forestry edges of fields, infection and phenology graphics. The location coordinates and the speed of travel by the vehicle are established by a global positioning system (GPS), using satellite signals together with a reference signal from a reference satellite for the microprocessor to process the detector signals in real time. The sensors for the user are activated or shut down by a ground station through a reference satellite. The changes in the measurement algorithms and the processing software are transmitted from the ground station through the reference satellite. The measurement data for the measurement location are transmitted from the sensors at the microprocessor to the ground station through the reference satellite for further processing. The processed data are passed to a base computer as an application value for the scanned location which, on access through an internet address, can be used by the microprocessor. The access for the end user to the microprocessor at the detectors can be activated for a selected time span.  An Independent claim is included for a monitoring vehicle and/or an agricultural tractor, with towed agricultural machinery, with diode light sources and detectors arranged in clusters as active and/or passive sensor groups, fitted with microprocessors, where the passive sensors are fitted to the carrier or the applicators, and the active sensors are at a jib which can be set at various height levels. The sensors are linked with a GPS receiver, with an aerial linked to the interface with the microprocessors.