JP3374178B2 - Pesticide / fertilizer application control system - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention takes a picture of a predetermined area of a row of crop cultivation ridges by machine vision, processes the image by an image processing computer, recognizes the position of the crop and sends it to a spray control computer. Here, the current position of the crop is determined from the vehicle moving speed, etc., and the electromagnetic valve is opened and closed to spray the chemical or fertilizer from the spray nozzle only between the plants, only the crop, or only the weeds.
Fertilizer application control system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, in the field of agricultural mechanization, research, development and practical use have been advanced to automate various operations using various sensors, video cameras and computers.

[0003]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In large-scale upland farming, there is a demand for reduction of the amount of agricultural chemicals and fertilizers used in view of labor-saving work system and environmental protection. Especially when cultivating vegetables in a large-scale upland area, weeding is one of the factors that limit the scale-up. At present, weeding in furrows is carried out by various types of machines, but weeding among plants still often uses human power. The present invention, for example, assuming local (spot) spraying of herbicides, performs local control between the stocks according to the crop position discriminated from the image taken by machine vision, thereby reducing pesticides and pesticides to realize fertilizers. The purpose is to provide a fertilizer application control system.

[0004]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is characterized by having the following configuration.

A. A movable carriage 1 provided with one front wheel 3 and two rear wheels 4 as driving wheels that move along the row of crop cultivation ridges is provided at the forefront, and along with the movement of the movable carriage 1, a predetermined row of crop cultivation rows is provided. A machine vision 6 for sequentially photographing the range, an image processing computer 8 for recognizing the position of the crop by processing an image photographed by the machine vision 6 through a decoder 7, and a solenoid valve 12 at the rear end position. Te and spray nozzle 13 for spraying a drug or fertilizers, in the image of the crop coming from the image processing computer 8
Vehicles of coordinate information measured from the vehicle body position sensor 15
A spray control computer 9 for correcting and updating the current position of the crop by correcting the position and movement speed information, and opening and closing the solenoid valve 12;
Alternatively, spray the chemical or fertilizer only on the weeds.

B. Data is transferred between the image processing computer 8 and the spray control computer 9 via the network 17 using an Ethernet board , the number of crops,
Image capture time, position of the center of gravity of each crop in the input image
Mark, have rows about the size of each crop, to separate the control and measurement
It

C. The computer 9 for spraying control can display an image via the network 17 using an Ethernet board.
In the image of the crop sent from the processing computer 8 ,
The vehicle position measured by the position sensor 15 of the vehicle body based on the coordinate information.
The current position of the crop is calculated and updated by correcting the position and movement speed information , and a spraying table is created on the memory. According to the table, the solenoid valve is operated via the relay 19 while monitoring the current position from the rotation of the wheels 4. Open and close 12

[0008]

Function: A. To C.I. With this configuration, it is possible to accurately know the current position of the crops in the row of crop cultivation, and to spray the drug or fertilizer only between the plants, only the crops, or only the weeds. Or the crops can be sprayed with insecticides, fungicides, fertilizers and the like.

[0009]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the accompanying drawings, block diagrams, flowcharts, configuration diagrams, graphs and the like.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 is a chemical / fertilizer sprayer (moving trolley), and a vehicle body 2 has one front wheel 3 and two rear wheels 4
The front wheels 3 are driven by the engine 5 mounted on the vehicle body 2 to move along the row of crop cultivation ridges. A CCD video camera 6 is provided at the front of the chemical / fertilizer sprayer 1 for sequentially photographing a predetermined range of the row of crop cultivation ridges as the moving carriage moves.
Are provided downward, and the video camera 6 to the decoder 7
Is connected to an image processing computer 8 that processes the image captured by the video camera 6 and recognizes the position of the crop. At the end of the drug-manure spreaders 1, spray nozzle 13 for spraying a drug or fertilizers through the electromagnetic valve 12 is provided, the liquid supply to the spray nozzle 13 from the electromagnetic valve 1 2
The hose 14 is connected. From the position information of the crop (cabbage in this embodiment) sent from the image processing computer 8 and the moving speed measured by the position sensor 15 provided on the rear wheel 4, the current position of the crop is determined, and the solenoid valve 12 is opened / closed. A spraying control computer 9 to be operated is provided on the vehicle body 2. The solenoid valve 1 2 chemical or fertilizer is supplied via a spraying pump 11 from the chemical liquid tank 10.

The spray control computer 9 determines the current position of the crop from the shooting time sent through the network 17, the position data of the crop at the time of shooting, and the moving speed of the vehicle body measured by the position sensor 15, and stores it in the memory. A scatter table is created on the solenoid valve 1 according to the table, and the solenoid valve 1 is monitored via the relay 19 while monitoring the current position from the rotation of the rolling wheels.
Open and close 2 As shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, the data transfer between the image processing computer 8 spraying control computer 9 is performed through the network 17 using the Lee over Sir Netboard of IEEE802.3 compliant. The power from the engine 5 is shifted by the transmission and transmitted to the front wheels 3 via the transmission mechanism 18 to drive by itself. Although not shown, a control device that operates by remote control is provided on the vehicle body 2. Then, while moving the chemical / fertilizer sprayer 1 along the row of crop cultivation ridges, the above control devices perform the work of spraying the chemicals or fertilizers only between the stocks, only the crops, or only the weeds. In FIG. 4, reference numeral 20 is an expansion unit.

In the present invention, performs position recognition and scatter control of crop by the image processing on different computers 8,9, information communication is performed via the Lee over Sir Netboard of IEEE802.3 compliant. Since this recognition and control are separated ,.
Regarding the difference in image processing time due to the difference in image, the accurate grasp of the crop position on the control side ,. A plurality of crop position information is measured by one image processing ,. The following measures have been taken to deal with the case where the position information of the same crop is measured by performing image processing twice.

(1) The computer 8 for recognizing crops performs image processing, and the following information is applied to the computer 9 for controlling spraying.
The information is transmitted by writing it as a file to. ○ Number of crops ○ Image capture time ○ Coordinates of the position of the center of gravity of each crop in the input image ○ Size of each crop (length in the XY directions of the rectangle circumscribing the crop)

(2) In the spray control computer 9, the spray control computer 9 sends information based on the information from the computer 8 for recognizing the crop, the time when the information is received, and the vehicle traveling position and speed by the sensor 15. calculating the relative positional relationship between the spray nozzle 1 3 and crop at the time the received (equation 1).

[0015] Dnp = Dnc + Yp × a- V × (Tsc-Tia) ............ ( Equation 1) Dnp: the relative distance between the spray nozzle 1 3 position and crop at the time of spraying control computer 9 receives the information V: vehicle speed Tsc: time scatter control computer 9 receives the information Dnc: distance between the captured image lower end a spray nozzle 1 3 Yp: Y coordinate value of the center of gravity of the crop the captured image a: length of the image Coefficient to convert the height to the actual distance

(3) A spraying schedule is created in the memory of the spraying control computer 9 every time the crop position information in the hard disk of the spraying control computer 9 is updated.
When the crop position information is not updated, spraying control is performed according to the schedule. This makes it possible to handle multiple crops, and if the same crop is recognized with emphasis in image processing, new information will always be replaced by updating the spray schedule.

(4) The spraying position is corrected by changing the traveling speed in the spraying control. The traveling distance is measured by the sensor 15 attached to the axle of the rear wheel 4 of the vehicle, and the speed is obtained from this. By calculating and correcting the speed data and the delay time from the spraying command to the actual spraying control during the spraying control, the distance corresponding to the delay time is corrected and highly accurate control corresponding to the speed change becomes possible (Equation 2). ，
Equation 3).

Calculation of spray stop position Pstop = Pnow + (Yp−Sy / 2) × a + Dnc− (DTstop × V) −V × (Tsc−Tia) −SA (Equation 2) Calculation of spray start position Pstart = Pnow + (Yp−Sy / 2) × a + Dnc− (DTstart × V) −V × (Tsc−Tia) −SA (Equation 3) Pstop: Spray stop position Pstart: Spray start position Pnow: Spray control position of the spray nozzle 1 3 at the time the computer 9 receives the information Dnc: distance between the spray nozzle 1 3 photographed image lower Yp: Y coordinate value of the center of gravity of the crop the captured image Sy: Y-axis direction of the crop Size a: Coefficient for converting the length in the image to the actual distance DTstop: Delay time from spraying stop command to actual spraying control when spraying is stopped DTsart: Delay from spraying start command to actual spraying control at the start of spraying Time V: Vehicle speed Tsc: Time at which the spray control computer 9 receives the information Yia: Image processing computer Time when the image was taken by 8 SA: Safety area that anticipates the safety of scattering and scattering control

A test was conducted by using the chemical spraying machine 1 having the above-mentioned structure. As a result of spraying 1000 times as much fluorescent paint along the row of ridges at a running speed of 0.29 m / s to the cabbage in the true leaf 3 to 4 leaf stage in cloudy weather, the fluorescent output value proportional to the spray amount was obtained. There is a clear decrease in crop position (see Table 1 and Figure 5).

[0020]

[Table 1]

[0021]

As described above, since the pesticide / fertilizer spraying control system of the present invention has the constitutions of claims 1 to 3 , the movable carriage travels along the row of crop cultivation ridges. by the current position of the crop of the crop cultivation ridges column exactly can and this <br/> Ru knowledge, only strains from spray nozzles, crop only, or only able to spray the agent or fertilizers weed
It Then, weeding between the plants can be carried out with the minimum necessary chemicals or fertilizers, and insecticides, fungicides, fertilizers, etc. can be sprayed on the crops, and pesticide reduction and fertilizer can be realized.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of a chemical / fertilizer spreader according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an outline of a pesticide / fertilizer spraying control system according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a spraying control flowchart.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of a spray control unit.

FIG. 5 is a graph showing a distribution of a spray amount in a ridge direction.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Chemical / fertilizer sprayer (mobile cart) 2 car body 3 front wheels (1 wheel) 4 rear wheels (2 wheels) 5 engine 6 Video camera (machine vision) 7 decoder 8 Image processing computer 9 Dispersion control computer 10 Chemical tank 11 Spraying pump 12 Solenoid valve 13 spray nozzles 14 Liquid supply hose 15 Position sensor 16 transmission 17 network 18 Transmission mechanism 19 relays 20 expansion units

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-7-79681 (JP, A) JP-A-11-313596 (JP, A) Development of image mapping system, Journal of Japan Society of Agricultural Machinery (March 2000) ), Vol. 62, No. 2, 175-177 (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) A01C 23/00 A01M 7/00

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A moving carriage (1) provided with a front wheel (3) and two rear wheels (4) as driving wheels that move along a row of crop cultivation ridges and is provided at the forefront to move. Trolley (1)
Machine vision (6) for sequentially photographing a predetermined range of the row of crop cultivation ridges, and an image for recognizing the position of the crop by processing the image photographed by the machine vision (6) through the decoder (7) A processing computer (8),
Solenoid valve at the rear end position (12) spray nozzle for spraying the agent or fertilizers through (13), the coordinate information <br/> paper in image sent come crop from the image processing computer (8) the measured vehicle position from the vehicle body position sensor (15)
And a spray control computer (9) for correcting and updating the current position of the crop by correcting it from the moving speed information and opening and closing the solenoid valve (12). Alternatively, a pesticide / fertilizer spray control system characterized by spraying fertilizer. 2. The data transfer between the image processing computer (8) and the dispersion control computer (9) is performed via a network (17) using an Ethernet board .
Number of crops, image capture time, weight of each crop in the input image
Coordinate heart position, we have rows about the size of each crop, Measurement and control
The pesticide / fertilizer application control system according to claim 1, wherein the control is separated . 3. The spray control computer (9) uses the coordinate information in the image of the crop sent from the image processing computer (8) via the network (17) using an Ethernet board as the position of the vehicle body. The current position of the crop is calculated and updated by correcting it from the vehicle position and moving speed information measured by the sensor (15) , and a scatter table is created on the memory. The pesticide / fertilizer spraying control system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the solenoid valve (12) is opened / closed via a relay (19) while monitoring the current position from the rotation of.