Soil survey device and system for precision agriculture

An optical soil survey device for precision field management to survey the optical characteristics of a given soil creating a survey chamber at a selected depth under the ground and surveying the spectrum of light reflected off the soil in the chamber continuously, said optical soil survey device comprising:

• a soil excavation unit which excavates the soil parallel to the surface of the ground at a selected depth below the ground, said soil excavation unit having a first penetration unit which is a conical shaped piece with a tapered front end, and a second penetration unit with a gradual increase in diameter which extends away from said first penetration unit, so as to form a space between the ground and said second penetration unit, said soil excavation unit being held in horizontal direction;
• a casing which is connected to said soil excavation unit and encloses at least the upper surface of the survey chamber;
• a sensing unit which senses the characteristics of the soil inside said casing;
• a shank connected to said casing but with a diameter which is less than that of said casing, and declined slightly backwardly, which cuts open the soil;
• and
• a pair of guide panels which guide the soil piled up on the survey surface by the action of said shank back toward the shaft created by said shank.

A soil survey device used for precision field management to survey a given underground soil surface while moving parallel to the surface of the ground, comprising:

• a sensor to survey the soil;
• a casing which encloses at least the upper surface and two sides of a survey chamber in which said sensor is to survey the soil;
• a soil excavation unit which is provided on the front of said casing and which excavates the underground soil as said soil survey device moves forward, said soil excavation unit having a first penetration unit which is a conical shaped piece with a tapered front end, and a second penetration unit with a gradual increase in diameter which extends away from said first penetration unit so as to form a space between the ground and said second penetration unit, said soil excavation unit being held in horizontal direction;
• and
• a shank which is connected to the top of said casing and protects said casing and declined slightly backwardly, and which has a V-shaped portion on at least a tip in contact with the earth to cut open the soil as said device moves along horizontally, and wherein said shank is narrower than said casing.

A soil survey device used for precision field management to survey a given underground soil surface while moving parallel to the surface of the ground, comprising:

• an illumination device to illuminate the soil surface;
• a first image capturing device to capture a two-dimensional image, which surveys the soil surface illuminated by said illumination device;
• a sensor which surveys the portion of the soil surface imaged by said first image capturing device and outputs a signal corresponding to the composition of the surveyed soil;
• a first feature counting means to generate a feature count, which processes the image of the soil captured by said first image capturing device and generates a feature count expressing the unevenness of the soil surface;
• a first reliability calculating means to calculate reliability, which calculates and outputs the reliability of the signal output by said sensor based on the feature count generated by said first feature counting means;
• a casing which encloses at least the upper surface and two sides of a survey chamber in which said sensor is to survey the soil;
• a soil excavation unit which is provided on the front of said casing and which excavates the underground soil as said soil survey device moves forward, said soil excavation unit having a first penetration unit which is a conical shaped piece with a tapered front end, and a second penetration unit with a gradual increase in diameter which extends away from said first penetration unit so as to form a space between the ground and said second penetration unit, said soil excavation unit being held in horizontal direction;
• a shank which is connected to the top of said casing and protects said casing and declined slightly backwardly, and which has a V-shaped portion on at least a tip in contact with the earth to cut open the soil as said device moves along horizontally, the width of said shank being narrower than said casing;
• and
• a pair of guide panels which guide the soil piled up on the soil surface by the action of said shank back toward the furrow created by said shank.

A soil survey device used for precision field management to survey a given underground soil surface while moving parallel to the surface of the ground, comprising:

• an illumination device to illuminate the soil surface;
• a first image capturing device to capture a two-dimensional image, which surveys the soil surface illuminated by said illumination device;
• a sensor which surveys the portion of the soil surface imaged by said first image capturing device and outputs a signal corresponding to the composition of the surveyed soil;
• a first feature counting means to generate a feature count, which processes the image of the soil captured by said first image capturing device and generates a feature count expressing the unevenness of the soil surface;
• a casing which encloses at least the upper surface and two sides of a survey chamber in which said sensor is to survey the soil;
• a soil excavation unit which is provided on the front of said casing and which excavates the underground soil as said soil survey device moves forward, said soil excavation unit having a first penetration unit which is a conical shaped piece with a tapered front end, and a second penetration unit with a gradual increase in diameter which extends away from said first penetration unit so as to form a space between the ground and said second penetration unit, said soil excavation unit being held in horizontal direction;
• and
• a shank which is connected to the top of said casing and protects said casing and declined slightly backwardly, and which has a V-shaped portion on at least a tip in contact with the earth to cut open the soil as said device moves along horizontally, the width of said shank is narrower than said casing;
• and
• a pair of guide panels which guide the soil piled up on the soil surface by the action of said shank back toward the furrow created by said shank.

A soil survey system to survey a given underground soil surface used for precision field management, comprising:

• a soil survey device used for precision field management to survey a given underground soil surface while moving parallel to the surface of the ground, said soil survey device comprising:
• a sensor to survey the soil;
• a casing which encloses at least the upper surface and two sides of a survey chamber in which said sensor is to survey the soil;
• a soil excavation unit which is provided on the front of said casing and which excavates the underground soil as said soil survey device moves forward, said soil excavation unit having a first penetration unit which is a conical shaped piece with a tapered front end, and a second penetration unit with a gradual increase in diameter which extends away from said first penetration unit so as to form a space between the ground and said second penetration unit, said soil excavation unit being held in horizontal direction;
• a shank which is connected to the top of said casing and protects said casing and declined slightly backwardly, and which has a V-shaped portion on at least a tip in contact with the earth to cut open the soil as said device moves along horizontally, said shank being narrower than said casing;
• said soil survey system further comprising:
• a current position data acquisition device to acquire the current position of said soil survey device;
• and
• a data recording means to record a surveying data of the output data obtained from said soil survey device and the position data obtained from said current position data acquisition device.

A mobile survey vehicle to move in a field equipped with a soil survey system to survey a given underground soil surface used for precision field management, said soil survey system comprising:

• a soil survey device used for precision field management to survey a given underground soil surface while moving parallel to the surface of the ground, said soil survey device comprising:
• a sensor to survey the soil;
• a casing which encloses at least the upper surface and two sides of a survey chamber in which said sensor is to survey the soil;
• a soil excavation unit provided on the front of said casing and which excavates the underground soil as said soil survey device moves forward, said soil excavation unit having a first penetration unit which is a conical shaped piece with a tapered front end, and a second penetration unit with a gradual increase in diameter which extends away from said first penetration unit so as to form a space between the ground and said second penetration unit, said soil excavation unit being held in horizontal direction;
• a shank which is connected to the top of said casing and protects said casing and declined slightly backwardly, and which has a V-shaped portion on at least a tip in contact with the earth to cut open the soil as said device moves along horizontally, said shank being further characterized that the width of said shank is narrower than said casing;
• said soil survey system further comprising:
• a current position data acquisition device to acquire the current position of said soil survey device;
• and
• a data recording means to record a surveying data of the output data obtained from said soil survey device and the position data obtained from said current position data acquisition device.

A mobile survey vehicle for use in precision field management, said mobile survey vehicle adapted to survey a given underground soil surface while moving parallel to the surface of the ground, said mobile survey vehicle comprising:

• a soil survey device, comprising:
• a sensor to survey the soil;
• a casing which encloses at least the upper surface and two sides of a survey chamber in which said sensor is to survey the soil;
• a soil excavation unit which is provided on the front of said casing and which excavates the underground soil as said soil survey device moves forward, said soil excavation unit having a first penetration unit which is a conical shaped piece with a tapered front end, and a second penetration unit with a gradual increase in diameter which extends away from said first penetration unit so as to form a space between the ground and said second penetration unit, said soil excavation unit being held in horizontal direction;
• and
• a shank which is connected to the top of said casing and protects said casing and declined slightly backwardly, and which has a V-shaped portion on at least a tip in contact with the earth to cut open the soil as said device moves along horizontally, said shank being narrower than said casing;
• wherein said mobile survey vehicle further comprises:
• a current position data acquisition device to acquire the current position of said soil survey device;
• a depth surveying means to survey depth, which surveys the depth of the soil survey surface surveyed by said soil survey device;
• and
• a data recording means to record a surveying data of the output data obtained from said soil survey device, and the position data obtained from said current position data acquisition device and the depth data obtained from said depth surveying means.

An optical soil survey device for precision field management to survey the optical characteristics of a given soil by creating a survey chamber at a selected depth under the ground and surveying the spectrum of light reflected off the soil in the chamber continuously and in real time, said optical soil survey device comprising:

• a casing which encloses at least an upper survey surface of the chamber;
• a shank connected to said casing which is narrower than said casing and which cuts open the soil and declined slightly backwardly;
• a soil excavation unit having a first penetration unit which is a conical shaped piece with a tapered front end, and a second penetration unit with a gradual increase in diameter which extends away from said first penetration unit, so as to form a space between the ground and said second penetration unit, said soil excavation unit being mounted in front of said casing and held in horizontal direction;
• and
• a position detecting means to detect a position of the soil which is to be the subject of the survey;
• a sensing means to sense the characteristics of the soil;
• a light splitting means to split the light, which is to be:
• collected by said sensing means;
• and
• an optical characteristics survey means to survey the optical characteristics of the soil based on the spectral data produced by said light splitting means.