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US 11,235,874 B2Granted
Automated drone-based spraying system
AssigneeGreensight Agronomics, Inc.
InventorsRobert M. Jones, James R. Peverill, Andrew D. Delollis
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Systems and methods for the automated aerial application of chemicals onto agricultural areas. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are configured to selectively attach to modular sprayer payloads, each payload having a payload reservoir, a spray nozzle, a pump, and a battery. A ground station having landing pads for the UAVs is configured to coordinate and automatically fill at least one payload reservoir from a material tank and provide the payload to a given UAV. A control subsystem can determine a mission plan and command the UAV to selectively deliver the contents of the payload reservoir to at least a portion of one or more agricultural areas.
Claims18
A system for automated aerial application of agricultural treatments to an agricultural area, the system comprising:
- a plurality of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), each UAV configured to operably couple to one of a plurality of modular sprayer payloads and aerially distribute sprayer payload chemical materials over at least one programmed targeted smaller area within the agricultural area, wherein each modular sprayer payload includes
- a payload reservoir configured to hold a specific payload chemical material,
- a spray nozzle configured to selectively apply the specific payload chemical material to the at least one targeted smaller area of the agricultural area,
- a pump configured to pump the specific payload chemical material from the modular payload reservoir to the spray nozzle, and
- a battery configured to power the pump;
- and
- a ground station including:
- a plurality of landing pads, each landing pad configured to receive a UAV and operably couple at least one of the modular sprayer payloads that is configured to be supported by that landing pad to the UAV,
- a plurality of material tanks, each material tank configured to hold a single sprayer payload chemical material,
- a fill subsystem operably coupled to the plurality of material tanks and the plurality of landing pads and configured to selectively automatically fill at least one modular payload reservoir positioned at one or more of the plurality of landing pads, and
- a control subsystem comprising instructions that, when implemented by a processor operably coupled to memory, cause the processor to:
- receive a chemical application map associated with the agricultural area that includes a multitude of targeted smaller areas within the agricultural area, each targeted smaller area having an application plan for application of payload chemical materials to that targeted smaller area,
- determine a mission plan for the plurality of UAVs based on the chemical application map to deliver payload chemical materials to the multitude of targeted smaller areas consistent with the application plan for each targeted smaller area,
- command one or more of the plurality of UAVs to selectively fly to each of the multitude of smaller targeted areas according to the mission plan and deliver sprayer payload chemicals materials to the multitude of targeted areas of the agricultural area according to the mission plan, and
- command the fill subsystem to automatically fill the at least one payload reservoir of a given modular sprayer payload from a selective one of the plurality of material tanks based on the chemical application map prior to commanding the landing pad to couple the given modular sprayer payload to the one of the plurality of UAVs to deliver the specific payload chemical materials to the multitude of targeted smaller areas consistent with the application plan for each targeted smaller area.
12 more elements
A method of automated aerial application of agricultural treatments, the method comprising:
- providing a plurality of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), each UAV configured to operably couple to one of a plurality of modular sprayer payloads and aerially distribute sprayer payload chemical materials over at least one programmed targeted smaller area of the agricultural area, wherein each modular sprayer payload includes a payload reservoir configured to hold a specific payload chemical material, a spray nozzle configured to selectively apply the payload chemical material to the at least one targeted smaller area of the agricultural area, a pump configured to pump the specific payload chemical from the payload reservoir to the spray nozzle, and a battery configured to power the pump;
- providing a ground station including a plurality of landing pads, each landing pad configured to receive a UAV and operably couple at least one modular sprayer payload to the UAV at the landing pad, a plurality of material tanks, each material tank configured to hold a single sprayer payload chemical material, and a fill subsystem operably coupled to the plurality of material tanks and the plurality of landing pads and configured to selectively automatically fill at least one modular payload reservoir positioned at one or more of the plurality of landing pads, and a control subsystem comprising instructions that, when implemented by a processor operably coupled to memory, cause the processor to:
- receive a chemical application map associated with the agricultural area that includes a multitude of targeted smaller areas of the agricultural area, each targeted smaller area having an application plan for application of payload chemical materials to that targeted smaller area;
- determine a mission plan for the plurality of UAVs based on the chemical application map to deliver payload chemical materials to the multitude of targeted smaller areas consistent with the application plan for each targeted smaller area;
- automatically fill at least one modular payload reservoir based on the chemical application map;
- and
- command one or more of the plurality of UAVs to selectively fly to each of the multitude of smaller targeted areas according to the mission plan and deliver sprayer payload chemical materials to the multitude of targeted areas of the agricultural area according to the mission plan.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.