Systems and methods for detecting, identifying, localizing, and determining the characteristics of field elements in agricultural fields

A processor-implemented method for detecting, identifying, localizing, and/or determining characteristics of field elements and field morphology in agricultural fields in real-time using a stereoscopic multispectral imaging sensor, mounted on an agricultural vehicle, the method comprising:

• capturing, by the stereoscopic multispectral imaging sensor, real-time images of the field as the agricultural vehicle moves through the field, wherein each pixel of the captured images is assigned a pixel value representing a light intensity measurement in a light spectrum, wherein the stereoscopic multispectral imaging sensor is configured to acquire real-time images containing an entire operational working width of the agricultural vehicle using wide-angle lenses;
• identifying, in real-time, field elements based on analyzing the captured real-time images as light-intensity images in different light spectrums;
• determining, in real-time, characteristics, including a vegetation index, of the identified field elements, by analyzing the captured real-time images as a standalone image or in combination with each other;
• determining, in real-time, a field morphology as the agricultural vehicle moves through the field based on the captured real-time images;
• accessing at least one of angle or direction of the stereoscopic multispectral imaging sensor relative to the identified field elements from an IMU;
• and
• determining, in real-time, a location of identified field elements by combining the field morphology, the captured real-time images, and at least one of the angle or direction of the stereoscopic multispectral imaging sensor relative to the identified field elements.

A processor-implemented method of using an imaging sensor apparatus, mounted on an agricultural vehicle as the agricultural vehicle moves through a field, to eliminate weeds in a till or no-till field, in real-time, the method comprising:

• accessing real-time images from an image sensor;
• determining, in real-time, characteristics, including a vegetation index of field elements;
• detecting field elements in real-time using the vegetation index;
• identifying potential weeds based on comparing the vegetative index to a threshold;
• determining one or more of angles or directions of the image sensor relative to the identified weeds with an inertial measurement unit (IMU);
• determining at least one of an application rate or a weed coverage based on the determined characteristics of the identified weeds;
• and
• localizing the identified weeds based on sensor data including the real-time images and one or more of the angles or directions of the image sensor relative to the identified weeds.