Selective agricultural spray system and method with one image per nozzle

A selective sprayer system comprising:

• an agricultural vehicle;
• a selective-spot spray (SSP) tank mounted on the agricultural vehicle, the SSP tank holding one or more specific liquid chemicals for treating one or more target weeds growing in the agricultural field;
• and
• a spray boom attached to the agricultural vehicle, the spray boom including:
• a boom frame;
• a plurality of SSP nozzles spatially distributed across a length of the spray boom, the length measured with respect to an axis, the SSP nozzles fluidly coupled to the SSP tank, each SSP nozzle configured to spray the one or more specific liquid chemicals onto a respective field spray area, the respective field spray area having a respective spray width that is measured with respect to the axis;
• and
• a plurality of cameras spatially distributed across the length of the spray boom, each camera associated with only a respective SSP nozzle and having a respective field-of-view (FOV) configured to correspond to the respective field spray area of the respective SSP nozzle;
• one or more microprocessors in electrical communication with the cameras and the SSP nozzles;
• and
• non-volatile computer memory operatively coupled to the one or more processors, the non-volatile computer memory storing computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
• automatically send a first control signal to the cameras, the first control signal causing each camera to capture a respective image of a respective region of the agricultural field according to the respective FOV of the respective camera, each region at a predetermined lateral distance from the spray boom along a direction of travel of the agricultural vehicle, each image associated with only the respective SSP nozzle, each region having a width corresponding to the respective FOV of the respective camera and the respective spray width of the respective SSP nozzle;
• automatically analyze each image for a presence of at least one weed;
• automatically detect the at least one weed in one or more of the images;
• and
• automatically send a second control signal to one or more of the SSP nozzles, the second control signal causing the one or more of the SSP nozzles to selectively spray only one or more of the respective regions of the agricultural field according to the one or more images where the at least one weed is detected.

A method of selective spraying, comprising:

• in a selective-spray system that includes a spray boom attached to an agricultural vehicle, the spray boom having a length measured with respect to an axis:
• with a camera associated with a plurality of selective-spot spray (SSP) nozzles, the camera and SSP nozzles mounted on the spray boom, sequentially capturing images of respective regions of an agricultural field, each region at a predetermined lateral distance from the spray boom along a direction of travel of the agricultural vehicle, each region having a width corresponding to a spray width of the respective SSP nozzle, the width of each region and the spray width measured with respect to the axis, each image associated with only a respective SSP nozzle, each image captured at a respective capture time;
• automatically analyzing, with a computer, each image for a presence of at least one weed;
• automatically detecting, with the computer, the at least one weed in one or more of the images;
• and
• automatically selectively spraying only one or more of the respective regions of the agricultural field using one or more of the SSP nozzles according to the one or more images where the at least one weed is detected.

A selective sprayer system comprising:

• an agricultural vehicle;
• a selective-spot spray (SSP) tank mounted on the agricultural vehicle, the SSP tank holding one or more specific liquid chemicals for treating one or more target weeds growing in the agricultural field;
• and
• a spray boom attached to the agricultural vehicle, the spray boom including:
• a boom frame;
• a plurality of SSP nozzles spatially distributed across a length of the spray boom, the length measured with respect to an axis, the SSP nozzles fluidly coupled to the SSP tank, each SSP nozzle configured to spray the one or more specific liquid chemicals only onto a respective field spray area, the respective field spray area having a respective spray width that is measured with respect to the axis;
• and
• a camera mounted on the boom frame, wherein the camera is associated with the SSP nozzles;
• one or more microprocessors in electrical communication with the camera and the SSP nozzles;
• and
• non-volatile computer memory operatively coupled to the one or more microprocessors, the non-volatile computer memory storing computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the one or more microprocessors, cause the one or more microprocessors to:
• automatically send a first control signal to the camera, the first control signal causing the camera to sequentially capture images of respective regions of an agricultural field, each region at a predetermined lateral distance from the spray boom along a direction of travel of the agricultural vehicle, each region having a width corresponding to a spray width of the respective SSP nozzle, the width of each region and the spray width measured with respect to the axis, each image associated with only a respective SSP nozzle, each image captured at a respective capture time;
• automatically analyze each image for a presence of at least one weed;
• automatically detect the at least one weed in one or more of the images;
• and
• automatically send a second control signal to one or more of the SSP nozzles, the second control signal causing the one or more of the SSP nozzles to selectively spray only one or more of the respective regions of the agricultural field according to the one or more images where the at least one weed is detected.