EP4312496A1

EP4312496A1 - System for treating plants especially in agriculture

Info

Publication number: EP4312496A1
Application number: EP22717257.4A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Hugo SERRAT
Original assignee: Bilberry SAS
Current assignee: Bilberry SAS
Priority date: 2021-03-26
Filing date: 2022-03-22
Publication date: 2024-02-07
Also published as: BR112023019736A2; WO2022201016A1; CA3213059A1; CN117560990A; FR3121013A1; AU2022244497A1; FR3121013B1; US20240081314A1

Abstract

Disclosed is a plant treatment system that includes a spray boom (10, 100) provided with a plurality of spray nozzles (110a, 110b) distributed over the boom (10, 100) and supplied by a spray controller (120), an image capture system comprising at least one camera (210) capable of taking images of a zone to be treated, and a digital processing device (220) capable of analyzing the images taken by said camera or cameras (210), identifying plants to be treated and applying instructions to the spray control device with a view to spraying at least one product onto plants to be treated. According to the invention, the spray nozzles (110a, 110b) and the spray control device (120) are configured to apply a generally uniform dose of a product to the zone to be treated, independently of the identification of plants to be treated in the images, and to apply locally a complementary dose of a product to plants to be treated identified by the digital processing device. The invention is intended to be used in particular in agriculture or in the treatment of non-cultivated spaces.

Description

Title: Plant treatment system, particularly in agriculture Field of the invention

The present invention generally relates to the field of the treatment of plants.

State of the art

In particular, documents WO2018142371A1, WO2018141995A1 and WO2018154490A1 in the name of the Applicant already know methods and systems for selectively treating plants in cultivated areas or railway areas. Such a system comprises a spray boom moved by a tractor and equipped with a series of spaced spray nozzles. The boom also includes one or more cameras capturing images of the field while the system is moving, and one or more processing units capable, through learning-based image recognition techniques, of recognizing in the captured images plants, and to control the spray nozzles in real time to locally apply a treatment, for example a herbicide treatment, only to the places where the presence of plants to be treated is detected.

This system makes it possible to considerably reduce the use of treatment products such as phytosanitary products, compared to a conventional approach where all the nozzles are fed simultaneously and continuously when the system moves over an area to be treated. [0004] A difficulty, however, with local spraying triggered on recognition of plants to be treated lies in the fact that certain plants to be treated may be very small and difficult to identify. In addition, some plants to be treated may be hidden under larger plants and invisible to the image processing system. As a result, the effective rate of spraying of the species to be treated can be substantially less than 100%, thereby losing a substantial part of the advantage of localized spraying. Summary of the invention

The object of the present invention is to limit these disadvantages.

A system for the treatment of plants is proposed for this purpose, comprising a spray boom provided with a plurality of spray nozzles distributed over the boom and fed by a spray control device, the system comprising a set of cameras capable of taking images of an area to be treated, a digital processing device able to analyze the images taken by the camera, to identify the plants to be treated and to apply instructions to the spray control device with a view to spraying at least one product on plants to be treated, the system characterized in that the spray nozzles and the spray controller are configured to apply a generally uniform dose of a product to the area to be treated regardless of the identification of plants to be treated in the images, and to locally apply an additional dose of a product to the plants to be treated identified by the t device digital processing.

Preferred aspects of this system include the following optional additional features, taken individually or in any combinations which those skilled in the art will understand to be:

^* the product applied for the generally uniform dose and the product applied as an additional dose consist of the same product.

^* the product applied for the generally uniform dose and the product applied as a complementary dose are different products.

^* the system comprises two rows of nozzles distributed along the boom, with a first row suitable for applying the generally uniform dose of product and a second row suitable for applying the local additional dose to the identified plants.

^* the two rows of nozzles are connected by a supply device to a common product tank.

^* the supply device includes for the first row of spray nozzles an individual control valve per nozzle. ^* the supply device comprises for the second row of nozzles a common control valve for at least one group of nozzles.

^* the supply device includes for the second row of nozzles a control valve per nozzle.

^* the system comprises a row of nozzles distributed along the boom and to which are associated respective control valves having at least two states of opening, the spraying control device being able to simultaneously bring the control valves into a first state making it possible to apply the generally uniform dose of product and to bring punctually at least one nozzle identified from plant recognition by the digital processing device into a second state in which the dose of product is increased.

^* the control valves are progressive control.

^* the generally uniform dose of product is a fraction of a nominal dose recommended for the product in question.

^* the additional dose of product, added to the generally uniform dose, results approximately in a nominal dose recommended for the product in question.

Brief description of the drawings

Other aspects, objects and advantages of the present invention will appear better on reading the following detailed description of preferred embodiments thereof, given by way of non-limiting example and made with reference to the appended drawings.

On the drawings:

- Fig. 1 is a partial schematic top view of a spray boom according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

- Fig. 2 is a partial side elevational view of the spray boom of Fig.1. - Fig. 3 is a partial schematic top view of a spray boom according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

detailed description

With reference to Figures 1 and 2, a spray boom 10 has been shown which comprises a supporting structure 100, for example metallic, and two sets of spray nozzles both distributed over the extent of the boom 10.

A first series of spray nozzles 110a is fed by a first common line or tubing 112a connected to a source 130 of liquid to be sprayed under pressure, while a second series of spray nozzles 110b is fed by a second common line or tubing 112b also connected to the source 130 of liquid to be sprayed under pressure.

At least at the level of the first series of nozzles 110a, the spraying is controlled by a plurality of control valves 114a mounted between the common pipe 112a and the respective nozzle, so as to be able to selectively open each valve independently of the others, at any time. desired, and thus put the corresponding nozzle with the pipe 112a to spray the liquid.

Regarding the second series of nozzles 110b, provision is made either for a plurality of control valves 114b associated with the respective nozzles and capable of individually placing the nozzles in communication with the common pipe 112b, or (as illustrated in dashed lines) a single valve 115b, common, mounted between the reservoir 130 of liquid to be spread and the pipe 112b.

The various control valves are controlled by a spray control unit 120. The control valves are preferably solenoid valves of the pulse width control type (PWM for "Pulse Width Modulation" in English terminology), available on market, which allow proportional control of the average flow rate and therefore of the dose applied per unit time to the plants.

The boom is either integrated into a machine E, or towed by a machine, or even carried by a machine, the machine possibly being an agricultural tractor or even a road or rail vehicle in particular for treating an uncultivated area.

The ramp 100 also carries a set of cameras 210 whose axes AC are here oriented in the plunging direction in vertical planes parallel to the direction D of movement of the machine and able to take images of a zone Z on which moves ramp 100, in order to identify plants to be treated. These plants can be weeds on which it is desired to selectively spray a herbicide product, or even cultivated plants on which it is desired to selectively spray a phytosanitary product (insecticide, fertilizer, growth regulator, etc.). In a variant not illustrated, the cameras can be oriented vertically downwards.

These cameras 210 are connected to one or more digital processing units 220 capable of analyzing the images taken by the cameras to determine the presence of target plants to be treated. This analysis is carried out for example by breaking down each image into sub-images of determined size, applying a convolution function to each of the sub-images using weight matrices, and determining a probability of the presence of a target plant depending on the result of the convolution. Documents WO2018142371A1 and WO2018141995A1 in the name of the applicant describe such techniques.

Where applicable, the ramp includes any additional equipment such as height measurement device, device for controlling the position or geometry of the ramp, lighting system, etc.

Each time a plant to be treated is located in an image by the processing unit 220, its position in the image makes it possible to deduce therefrom its real position on the area being treated, and corresponding data is transmitted with spray control unit 120. [0036] According to one aspect of the invention, the control unit 120 is capable of controlling the spraying so as, in the first place, to achieve during the movement of the machine a uniform spraying of the area to be treated at the same time. using all of the second series of nozzles 110b. Preferably, the control circuit 120 and/or the constitution of the nozzle supply circuit are configured so that the dose applied by the nozzles 110b is essentially uniform over the whole of the area to be treated, in particular by taking into account the losses load in supply line 112b. This uniform spraying is implemented independently of the detection, by the vision system comprising the cameras 210 and the processing unit 220, of the actual presence or not of plants to be treated in the zone Z.

Preferably, the dose applied for this uniform spraying (generally defined by a weight or a volume of product per unit of surface treated) is equal to a fraction, for example from 10 to 40%, preferably around 20% for a herbicide , of the recommended nominal dose, this dose being applied by appropriate control of the control valve(s) 114b or 115b associated with the second series of nozzles.

In parallel with this continuous operation, the system is configured so that, when a plant to be treated is identified in an image taken by a camera 210, a local spraying of product is carried out at the location where the plant has been identified. To this end, the processing unit 220 sends the spraying control unit 120 the data allowing the latter to determine which of the nozzles 110a of the first series of nozzles must be activated and at what instant (depending in particular on the forward speed of the machine), as described in the previous patent applications in the name of the Applicant, and the opening instruction is sent at the aforementioned instant (taking into account any latency) to the valve of corresponding control.

The dose for this local spraying is preferably close to the nominal dose recommended for the product in question, and for example of the order 80% of the nominal dose if the nozzles of the second series 112b apply a dose equal to 20% of the nominal dose. As a variant, and in the case where the solenoid valves 112a are proportionally controlled, it is possible to adjust the dose according to one or more criteria including the type of plant detected, the level of development of the plant such as estimated by the vision system 210, 220, and/or other factors such as ambient conditions, machine travel speed, etc.

Thus, the nozzles 110a of the first series make it possible to carry out a localized treatment of guaranteed effectiveness on the plants to be treated detected by the vision system 210, 220, while the nozzles 110b of the second series apply a safety treatment to the entire area, in order to deal with plants that would not have been detected by the vision system, for whatever reason (plant too small, plant hidden, plant not listed in the recognition process, etc.).

In a second embodiment and with reference to Figure 3, the boom comprises a series of single nozzles 110a, each nozzle being connected to a common supply line 112a through a respective control valve.

In this embodiment, each valve 112a is progressively controlled, being able to deliver a variable dose of product according to a setpoint which is itself variable between 0 and 100%.

In steady state, the valves 112a are controlled so that each of the nozzles 110a delivers a dose of product, for example from 10 to 40% of the nominal dose, preferably around 20% in the case of a foliar herbicide.

When a plant to be treated is identified by the vision system 210, 220, the nozzle concerned and the instants of start and end of localized treatment are determined at the level of the processing unit 220 and the control unit 120. The control valve of the nozzle concerned is then controlled by the control unit 120 to achieve between the calculated start and end times, a greater opening of the control valve 112a associated with the nozzle concerned, to perform during this time window a spraying at a higher dose, for example at the nominal dose for the product in question.

The same advantages as for the first embodiment are thus obtained.

Of course, the present invention is in no way limited to the embodiments described and represented, but those skilled in the art will know how to make numerous variants and modifications thereto. Especially :

- “nozzle” means both an individual nozzle and a group or cluster of nozzles, for example nozzles operating in different directions and/or with different spray geometries;

- in the case of groups of nozzles, the associated control valves may include one valve per nozzle, one valve per group or one valve per sub-group;

- the control valves, whether on/off or with progressive control, can be made with any appropriate technology, by being integrated into the nozzles or separate from the nozzles;

- the system of the first embodiment can be used to apply two different products, for example a wetting product uniformly with the second series of nozzles and a local treatment product with the first series of nozzles;

- the activation of a nozzle concerned for a localized spraying also covers the activation of a set of neighboring nozzles.

- "digital processing unit" means both a single processing device and a set of processing devices, in particular with parallel processing, possibly distributed at different locations of the plant processing system and associated with respective cameras or respective camera groups.

The present invention applies in agriculture as well as in any field it may be necessary to treat plants, for example applying a herbicide to weedy plants, in particular the treatment of areas in the field of transport, urban planning, etc. It can be implemented on the decision of an operator according to his observation of the terrain and the operations to be carried out.

It can alternatively be implemented in an automated or semi-automated manner depending for example on an image analysis of a sample of the field to be processed, the choice possibly being either a uniform processing, or a localized processing, or a combination of uniform treatment and spot treatment as described above.

Claims

1. System for the treatment of plants, comprising a spray boom equipped with a plurality of spray nozzles distributed over the boom and fed by a spray control device, the system comprising a set of cameras capable of taking images of an area to be treated, a digital processing device able to analyze the images taken by the camera, to identify plants to be treated and to apply instructions to the spray control device with a view to spraying at least one product on plants to to treat, the system being characterized in that the spray nozzles and the spray controller are configured to apply a generally uniform dose of a product to the area to be treated regardless of the identification of plants to be treated in the images, and to locally apply an additional dose of a product to plants to be treated identified by the digital processing device.

2. System according to claim 1, characterized in that the product applied for the generally uniform dose and the product applied as a complementary dose consist of the same product.

3. System according to claim 1, characterized in that the product applied for the generally uniform dose and the product applied as a complementary dose are different products.

4. System according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that it comprises two rows of nozzles distributed along the boom, with a first row capable of applying the generally uniform dose of product and a second row capable of apply the local complementary dose to the identified plants. He

5. System according to claims 2 and 4 taken in combination, characterized in that the two rows of nozzles are connected by a supply device to a common product reservoir.

6. System according to claim 4 or 5, characterized in that the supply device comprises for the first row of spray nozzles an individual control valve per nozzle.

7. System according to claim 6, characterized in that the supply device comprises for the second row of nozzles a common control valve for at least one group of nozzles.

8. System according to claim 6, characterized in that the supply device comprises for the second row of nozzles a control valve per nozzle.

9. System according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that it comprises a row of nozzles distributed along the ramp and with which are associated respective control valves having at least two opening states, the control device for spray being able to simultaneously bring the control valves into a first state allowing the generally uniform dose of product to be applied and to bring punctually at least one nozzle identified from plant recognition by the digital processing device in a second state in which the dose of the product is increased.

10. System according to claim 9, characterized in that the control valves are progressively controlled.

11. System according to one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that the generally uniform dose of product is a fraction of a nominal dose recommended for the product in question.

12. System according to claims 2 and 11 taken in combination, characterized in that the additional dose of product, added to the generally uniform dose, results approximately in a nominal dose recommended for the product in question.