KR20200065696A - system for monitoring agricultural produce using drone - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a technique for improving an agricultural environment, and more particularly, to a crop monitoring system using a drone, which can improve the quality and the yield of crops in various crop cultivation environments. The crop monitoring system using a drone of the present invention comprises: an unmanned aerial vehicle for periodically photographing an image while flying a predetermined path in a crop cultivation area; a user terminal for a user; a database for storing a cultivation process of crops; and a management server for providing the user terminal with the cultivation process stored in the database, analyzing image information received from the unmanned aerial vehicle to provide an analysis result of the cultivation environment for the crops and an analysis result for a growth state of the crops, and further providing an additional task for supplementing a basic task provided by the cultivation process for each period on the basis of the analysis result of the cultivation environment and the analysis result of the growth state.

Description

System for monitoring agricultural produce using drone}

The present invention relates to a technique for improving the agricultural environment, and in particular, to a crop monitoring system using a drone that can improve the quality and production of crops in various crop cultivation environments.

Agriculture is the primary industry that is fundamental to human survival.

Although agriculture is an industry that requires a lot of manpower, the speed of development of mechanization and automation is slow, and the aging of rural areas has been rapidly progressing since the 2000s.

On the other hand, agriculture is highly dependent on environmental conditions such as surface conditions (land conditions) and climate. To overcome the dependence of these environmental conditions, agricultural crops are artificially controlled using facilities such as greenhouses and greenhouses. The proportion of plant cultivation is growing.

Recently, it is attempting to optimize the environment for cultivating crops by applying information and communication technology, and the government is also actively trying to secure the competitiveness of agriculture by applying advanced technology to agriculture.

Korean Registered Patent No. 10-1465082 (Garden facility monitoring control system and method) introduces a technology that can automatically control the cultivation environment of crops, that is, temperature, humidity, light intensity, etc. in cultivation of facilities such as greenhouses and greenhouses. .

However, in reality, most food crops such as rice, corn, soybeans, and potatoes are grown in open fields, and facility cultivation involves quantitative supply problems in growing food crops. Therefore, the above-described conventional technology is only applicable to facility cultivation, and is limited in application to field cultivation.

On the other hand, field cultivation is much influenced by various cultivation environments such as weather conditions as well as soil conditions and pests compared to facility cultivation.

Therefore, a technique for predicting and managing an optimal cultivation environment by rapidly and accurately analyzing various cultivation environments is required.

An object of the present invention is to devise in view of the above points, and particularly to provide a crop monitoring system using a drone to quickly and accurately analyze various cultivation environments and crop growth conditions.

A feature of a crop monitoring system using a drone according to the present invention for achieving the above object is, an unmanned aerial vehicle which periodically photographs an image while flying a predetermined path in a crop cultivation area; A user terminal for the user; A database storing the cultivation process of the crop; Providing the cultivation process stored in the database to the user terminal, analyzing image information received from the unmanned vehicle, and providing an analysis result of the cultivation environment for the crop and an analysis result of the growth state of the crop, Based on the analysis result of the environment and the analysis result of the growth state, it is configured to include a management server that further provides additional tasks to supplement the basic tasks provided by each period in the cultivation process.

Preferably, the unmanned aerial vehicle is a flight module that executes a flight operation in a flight path on the cultivation area determined by automatic navigation data, a shooting module that performs a shooting operation during the operation of the flight module, and an image captured by the shooting module And a memory for storing the automatic navigation data for setting the flight path, a battery for supplying operating power to the flight module and the shooting module, and automatic navigation data stored in the memory to perform flight operations of the flight module. It may include a control module to control.

More preferably, the control module controls the flight module to fly while maintaining the altitude of the flight path according to the automatic navigation data, but each observation point while passing at least one specific observation point set in the automatic navigation data In can be controlled to fly at the flight altitude and speed set in the automatic navigation data.

More preferably, the control module may reset the flight path according to the automatic navigation data based on the flying distance of the unmanned aerial vehicle according to the charge amount of the battery.

Preferably, the database is the cultivation process consisting of the time of sowing the crop, the time of spraying the material for preventing pests and promoting growth, the time of removing the animals and plants that are inhibited by the growth of the crop, and the harvesting time of the crop, Information on the basic task of each period constituting the cultivation process, reference data for determining the state of the crop, status data according to a result of comparing the image information received from the unmanned vehicle with the reference data, and the You can save the countermeasures according to the condition of the crops.

Preferably, the user terminal advances the cultivation process based on time, automatically outputs information about the basic task to be performed at each time during the cultivation process, and performs the basic task at each time. It may include an application for receiving whether and whether the implementation information from the user.

According to the present invention has the following effects.

Since the cultivation is optimally managed by quickly and accurately analyzing various cultivation environments and the growth status of crops, it is possible to improve the quality and yield of crops.

Since it accurately analyzes various cultivation environments and crop growth conditions without mobilizing a lot of manpower, the burden on the labor force is relieved.

1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of a crop monitoring system using a drone according to an embodiment of the present invention,
2 is a block diagram showing the detailed configuration of a user terminal and a management server in a crop monitoring system using a drone according to an embodiment of the present invention,
3 is a block diagram showing a detailed configuration of an unmanned aerial vehicle in a crop monitoring system using a drone according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent through the detailed description of embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Hereinafter, the configuration and operation of the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, and the configuration and operation of the present invention shown in the drawings and described by the above will be described as at least one embodiment. By the above, the technical idea of the present invention and its core configuration and operation are not limited.

Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of a crop monitoring system using a drone according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In the present invention, the monitoring of agricultural products is described as an example, but it can be easily applied to monitoring of forest products or sea or rivers for marine products.

1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of a crop monitoring system using a drone according to an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 2 is a user terminal and a management server in a crop monitoring system using a drone according to an embodiment of the present invention It is a block diagram showing the detailed configuration, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the detailed configuration of an unmanned aerial vehicle in a crop monitoring system using a drone according to an embodiment of the present invention.

1 to 3, a crop monitoring system using a drone according to an embodiment of the present invention can be understood as a configuration in which mobility is guaranteed or communication is possible between a client and a server connected through a communication network.

The server is connected to a plurality of clients through a communication network to form a client-server structure. Therefore, hereinafter, the client corresponds to various terminals.

The server is built on a specific communication network, and the communication network on which the server is built may include a gateway to allow communication connection with a client approaching through various communication methods. Here, the gateway performs protocol conversion for connection between different communication networks.

The client may correspond to a user terminal 300 receiving a service by accessing a server through various wired/wireless environments and an unmanned air vehicle 400 providing image information to a server.

The client may be divided into a personal computer (PC) including a desktop computer or a tablet computer or a laptop computer, and a smart device including a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), a cellular phone, or a smart phone. Also, an unmanned aerial vehicle corresponding to a client may be an unmanned aerial vehicle remotely controlled by a user, such as a drone. It can also be a remote-controllable robot.

On the other hand, the communication network that supports the connection between the client and the server, as well as the Internet, Code Division MultipleAccess (CDMA), Wideband Code Division MultipleAccess (W-CDMA), Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Long Term Evolution (LTE), EPC (Evolved Packet Core) and the like, and may include a next generation mobile communication network or a cloud computing access network. Here, cloud computing refers to a computer environment in which information is permanently stored on a server on the Internet, and temporarily stored on a client such as a desktop, tablet computer, laptop computer, netbook, or smart phone, and the cloud computing access network provides all information to the Internet. Refers to a computer environment access network that is stored in a server on a computer and that information can be used anytime, anywhere through various IT devices. As such, the client can use various communication methods while having various forms.

In the present invention, the user terminal 300 may be a wireless terminal or a kind of computer, which is guaranteed to be portable while being carried by a user such as a farmer.

The server is a core configuration in the system of the present invention, and corresponds to the management server 100 below. The management server 100 receives the image information from the unmanned air vehicle 400 to monitor the state of agricultural products, and provides monitoring information through information exchange with the user terminal 300.

The management server 100 works with databases that store user information, reference data for determining the state of agricultural products, status data of monitored agricultural products, and actions to be taken according to the condition of agricultural products.

The database interworking with the management server 100 includes a first database 210 and a second database 220.

The first database 210 stores reference data for determining a state for a specific crop, stores state data according to a result of comparing image information received from the unmanned aerial vehicle 400 with reference data, and the state of the crop. Save the countermeasures according to. In particular, the reference data stored in the first database 210 includes a color table for each growth period for each crop and a size table for the size (height) for each crop, and the countermeasure prevents pests and promotes growth according to the condition of the crop. Includes spraying materials for and methods of spraying and the timing of removal of plants and animals that are impeded by the growth of crops and when crops are harvested. In addition,

In addition, the first database 210 stores the cultivation process for each crop, and includes information on a basic task of each growth period constituting the cultivation processor. For example, it includes information such as when to apply fertilizer for promoting growth, when to spray pesticides for preventing pests, and when to harvest.

Accordingly, when the user selects a specific crop, the management server 100 provides the cultivation process stored in the first database 210 to the user terminal 300, and the user terminal 300 selects the crop selected through the received cultivation process. You can be guided by tasks to be handled for each period.

The second database 220 is based on the user's information related to the cultivation of a specific crop, the history of cultivating the crop and the processing history of the basic task for each period according to the cultivation process, and the additional task performed based on the image information provided from the unmanned aerial vehicle 400. Save the processing history. That is, the second database 220 stores personal information about the user, and in the process of cultivation of a specific crop and the result of cultivation of a specific crop (the yield) and the processing history of the basic task processed at a normal time in the process of cultivating the specific crop Based on the image information provided from the unmanned aerial vehicle 400, the processing history of the additional task additionally processed is stored.

Additionally, the second database 220 may store image information provided from the unmanned aerial vehicle 400 at each time during the cultivation of the crop.

The management server 100 provides data stored in the first database 210 to the user terminal 300 corresponding to the client, thereby providing a two-way communication interface for a specific crop cultivation process and tasks performed in the cultivation process.

For example, the cultivation process stored in the first database 210 is provided in the form of an executable file, and when the user accesses the management server 100 and selects a specific crop, the cultivation process of the crop is provided to the user terminal 300. . Then, when the cultivation process received from the user terminal 300 is executed, an application is installed on the user terminal 300, and the installed application forms a two-way communication interface with the management server 100.

The management server 100 analyzes data received from the user terminal 300 or the unmanned aerial vehicle 400 to provide a state analysis result for the crop, and based on the state analysis result, additionally requires basic tasks for each period in the cultivation process Provides additional tasks. Here, the data received from the user terminal 300 or the unmanned air vehicle 400 includes whether the basic task scheduled for each period is fulfilled during the cultivation process according to the cultivation process, and images taken periodically while flying the set path. do.

The user terminal 300 is composed of an application 320, a control unit 330 and a camera 340.

As the application 320 executes data provided from the management server 100, it interworks with an internal timer to advance the cultivation process based on time. In addition, the application 320 automatically outputs information on a basic task that must be performed at each time during the cultivation process. The form in which the application 320 outputs information may be visually expressed through a display or audible through a speaker. In addition, the application 320 provides an input field for receiving whether to perform a corresponding basic task at each time during the cultivation process, and fulfillment information for each task from a user. Here, the transition information may include an image photographed by the user terminal 300 and an image photographed by the unmanned air vehicle 400 at each time of the cultivation process.

The camera 340 photographs an image.

The control unit 330 controls the operation of the application 320 and the camera 340, and transmits the image captured through the camera 340 to the management server 100 together with the transition information for the basic task at each time. .

The management server 100 receives an image captured by the camera 340 and performs image analysis through spectrum analysis on the received image.

On the other hand, in the system of the present invention, the unmanned aerial vehicle 400 operating as one client moves in the cultivation area of the crop in cooperation with the user terminal 300 and photographs images at predetermined points.

The unmanned aerial vehicle 400 photographs an image and transmits the photographed image to the management server 100. At this time, it is preferable that the unmanned aerial vehicle 400 transmits the image captured at each point using the unique identification number assigned to the management server 100 by itself. The management server 100 performs image analysis through spectrum analysis on the image received from the unmanned aerial vehicle 400.

In particular, the unmanned aerial vehicle 400 is composed of a flight module 410, a shooting module 420, a memory 430, a battery 440, and a control module 450.

The flight module 410 executes a flight operation in a flight path on a cultivation area determined by automatic navigation data. The flight module 410 includes components required for the flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle 400, including a motor and a propeller. The automatic navigation data used for the automatic flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle 400 includes the flight speed, the flying distance, the steering angle, the flight altitude, etc. of the unmanned aerial vehicle 400, and may include coordinate values passing based on time. .

The photographing module 420 performs a photographing operation during the operation of the flight module 410, that is, while the unmanned aerial vehicle 400 is flying. The photographing module 420 photographs the crop in order to acquire the state information of the crop in the flight path on the crop cultivation area.

The memory 430 stores an image photographed by the photographing module 420. In addition, the memory 430 stores automatic navigation data for setting the flight path of the unmanned aerial vehicle 400.

The battery 440 supplies operating power to the flight module 410 and the imaging module 420.

The control module 450 controls the flight operation of the flight module 410 by using the automatic navigation data stored in the memory 430.

The control module 450 controls the first to fourth modes in controlling the flight operation of the flight module 410. On the other hand, the unmanned aerial vehicle 400 may be provided with a distance sensor or an altitude measurement sensor to prevent collision with an obstacle, and the control module 450 of the unmanned aerial vehicle 400 detects the possibility of collision by the sensors If possible, it is controlled such that the bypass flight for avoiding collision is prioritized in any of the first to third modes.

The first mode is a mode for controlling the flight module 110 to fly while maintaining a predetermined altitude in a predetermined flight path according to data values of preset automatic navigation data. In the first mode, the flight path, flight speed and flight altitude are not changed under any circumstances on the crop cultivation area.

The second mode is a mode in which the flight module 410 is controlled to fly through the first mode but pass through at least one specific observation point set in the automatic navigation data. In the second mode, it can be controlled to fly at the flight altitude and speed set in the automatic navigation data at a specific observation point.

The third mode flies in the first mode, but periodically checks the charge amount of the battery 440 to calculate the flight distance of the unmanned air vehicle 400 according to the charge amount of the battery 440. And, it is a mode for resetting the flight route according to the automatic navigation data based on the calculated flight amount compared to the flight distance. The third mode is to prevent the drone 400 from falling when the flight distance compared to the charge amount of the battery 440 is relatively smaller than the distance of the flight path set to fly in the first mode. After resetting the flight path in the direction of reducing the distance of the flight path set to fly in 1 mode, it is controlled by the flight operation of the flight module 410. For example, if the flight path set to fly in the first mode is a path starting from the first point and returning to the first point, the control module 450 is an unmanned air vehicle according to the charge amount of the battery 440 in the third mode. Based on the available flight distance of (400), it is possible to automatically set the return time to the first point in the flight path according to the automatic navigation data. Here, since the distance of the flight path set to fly in the first mode is reduced by speeding up the return time of the unmanned vehicle 400, it is possible to prevent the unmanned vehicle 400 from falling due to insufficient power.

The management server 100 analyzes a cultivation environment and a growth state of a crop using at least one of an image taken through the camera 340 and an image taken through the unmanned vehicle 400. Here, the cultivation environment includes a soil condition for a cultivation area of a crop, a state of occurrence of pests and diseases, and a state of occurrence of plants and animals that are inhibited by the growth of the crop.

The system of the present invention is different in color depending on the soil condition, and in the case of pests, the color is different according to the pests, and the color is different as animals and plants are inhibited in growth, and the color according to the growth condition of the crop Considering this difference, it is to analyze the cultivation environment and growth status from the analysis results of the images.

The management server 100 provides additional tasks to be added by supplementing the basic tasks of each period constituting the above-described cultivation process based on the results of analyzing the cultivation environment and growth status through the image. As an example, spectrum analysis using an infrared absorption spectrum may be performed on the received image.

As another example, the management server 100 includes reference data for the cultivation environment and growth status for each period constituting the cultivation process, and the reference data is preferably a lookup table including a reference image spectrum. The result of analysis using at least one of an image captured through the camera 340 and an image taken through the unmanned aerial vehicle 400 is compared with a reference image spectrum. Then, it is determined whether the cultivation environment is normal or the growth state is normal from the comparison result. The management server 100 further provides an additional task to the user terminal 300 to solve the problem if it is determined that the cultivation environment or growth state is abnormal from the comparison result of the image spectrum. For example, the management server 100 may determine the crop growth status at the present time by comparing the reference image spectrum for the crop growth status (size, height, etc.) at a specific time with the spectrum of the received image. If the growth state is less than the standard, the management server 100 provides the user terminal 300 with an additional task for spraying fertilizer for promoting growth.

The management server 100 is composed of a registration management unit 110, a search management unit 120, a publication management unit 130, a cultivation management unit 140, and a video analysis unit 150.

The registration management unit 110 registers data for cultivating crops (reference data, status data, countermeasures, and cultivation processes for each crop) in the first database 210, where version information is added to the data to register. Here, the registration can be understood as a storage operation of the database. It is preferable that the version information added to the data includes attribute information including tags or indexes for distinguishing which crops the data is about.

The search management unit 120 is for retrieving data stored in the registration management unit 110, and the user selects a specific crop by accessing the management server 100 to obtain data on the selected crop from the first database 210. Search. When the search management unit 120 requests a search through the user terminal 300, it is preferable to perform a similarity search based on attribute information on data or a content-based information search.

The publication management unit 130 displays the data searched by the search management unit 120 on the screen in the searched order.

The cultivation management unit 140 provides the data retrieved by the search management unit 120 to the user terminal 300, and further provides additional tasks to supplement the basic tasks of each time constituting the cultivation process after image analysis.

The image analysis unit 150 analyzes the cultivation environment and growth state by using at least one of an image photographed through the camera 340 and an image photographed through the unmanned vehicle 400. The image analysis of the image analysis unit 150 has already been described above, and details thereof are omitted.

Meanwhile, it is preferable that the image analysis result generated by the image analysis unit 150 is stored in the second database 220 in association with each information about the user.

When the specific farm crop cultivation process is completed, the management server 100 desirably stores the information on the yield inputted from the user terminal 300 in the second database 220 in association with each information about the user.

The preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described so far, but those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains may be implemented in a modified form without departing from the essential characteristics of the present invention.

Therefore, the embodiments of the present invention described herein should be considered from a descriptive point of view rather than a limiting point of view, and the scope of the present invention is shown in the claims rather than the above description, and all differences within the equivalent ranges of the present invention It should be interpreted as being included in.

100: management server
210: first database 220: second database
300: user terminal 400: unmanned air vehicle

Claims (6)

An unmanned aerial vehicle which periodically photographs images while flying a predetermined path in a crop cultivation area;
A user terminal for the user;
A database storing the cultivation process of the crop;
Providing the cultivation process stored in the database to the user terminal, analyzing image information received from the unmanned vehicle, and providing an analysis result of the cultivation environment for the crop and an analysis result of the growth state of the crop, Based on the analysis result of the environment and the analysis result of the growth state, a crop monitoring system using a drone, characterized in that it comprises a management server that further provides additional tasks to supplement the basic tasks provided by each period in the cultivation process. . According to claim 1,
The unmanned aerial vehicle,
A flight module that executes a flight operation in a flight path on the cultivation area determined by automatic navigation data,
Shooting module for performing a shooting operation during the operation of the flight module,
A memory for storing the image captured by the photographing module and the automatic navigation data for setting the flight path,
A battery that supplies operating power to the flight module and the shooting module, and
A crop monitoring system using a drone, characterized in that it comprises a control module for controlling the flight operation of the flight module using the automatic navigation data stored in the memory. According to claim 2,
The control module,
The flight module is controlled to fly while maintaining the altitude of the flight path according to the automatic navigation data, but the flight is set in the automatic navigation data at each observation point while passing at least one specific observation point set in the automatic navigation data. A crop monitoring system using a drone characterized by controlling to fly at an altitude and speed. According to claim 2,
The control module,
A crop monitoring system using a drone, characterized by resetting the flight path according to the automatic navigation data based on the flight distance of the unmanned aerial vehicle according to the charge amount of the battery. According to claim 1,
The database,
The cultivation process consisting of the time of sowing the crop, the time of spraying the material to prevent pests and promote growth, the time of removing the animals and plants that are inhibited by the growth of the crop, and the time of harvesting the crop,
Information on the basic tasks of each period constituting the cultivation process,
Reference data for determining the state of the crop,
Status data according to the result of comparing the image information received from the unmanned aerial vehicle with the reference data, and
A crop monitoring system using a drone, characterized by storing a coping method according to the condition of the crop. According to claim 1,
The user terminal,
The cultivation process is progressed based on a time lapse, and information is automatically output for the basic task to be performed at each time during the cultivation process. A crop monitoring system using a drone, comprising an application for receiving input.

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