High and low frequency soil and plant analysis systems with integrated measurements
A soil or plant analysis apparatus to perform low and high frequency measurements is described herein. In one embodiment, the soil analysis apparatus comprises a first sub-system to perform low frequency soil measurements and a second sub-system to perform high frequency soil measurements. The high frequency measurements of the second sub-system are at least 1.25 times the low frequency measurements of the first sub-system.
1 . A soil or plant analysis apparatus comprising:
a first sub-system to perform soil or plant measurements at a first measurement accuracy at a first measurement frequency represented by a first number of measurements per unit area; and
a second sub-system to perform soil or plant measurements at a second measurement accuracy at a second measurement frequency represented by a second number of measurements per unit area, wherein the second measurement frequency of the second sub-system is at least 1.25 times the first measurement frequency of the first sub-system, wherein the first measurement accuracy of the first sub-system is utilized to correct a lower measurement accuracy of the second measurement accuracy of the second sub-system.
2 . The soil or plant analysis apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
a third sub-system that is configured to combine measurements from the first sub-system with measurements from the second sub-system into a spatial map of soil or plant properties to be displayed on a display device.
3 . The soil or plant analysis apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first and second sub-systems are one or more of mechanically coupled, in fluid communication, or in electrical communication with each other.
4 . The soil or plant analysis apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first and second sub-systems are attached to a single All-terrain vehicle, Utility Terrain Vehicle, Pick-up truck, Combine Harvester, Tractor, Planter, Seeder, Drill, Fertilizer Spreader, Sprayer, Plow, Harrow, Disk, Ripper, irrigation implement, Tillage equipment, sidedress bars, or attached pieces of equipment in a field.
5 . The soil or plant analysis apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first and second sub-systems are in a laboratory device.
6 . The soil or plant analysis apparatus of claim 1 , wherein a measurement accuracy of the first sub-system is at least 25 percent better than a measurement accuracy of the second sub-system, the measurement accuracy being calculated by comparing measured values with comparable soil lab values.
7 . The soil or plant analysis apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the plant measurements include nitrate temporal measurements of plant tissue.
8 . The soil or plant analysis apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the plant measurements at the second measurement frequency occur at 25 measurements per hectare or 10 measurements per acre, and the plant measurements at the first measurement frequency occur at 10 measurements per hectare or 4 measurements per acre.
9 . The soil or plant analysis apparatus of claim 1 , wherein one or more of the first and second sub-systems includes a first sensor to perform the soil or plant measurements at the first measurement frequency and a second sensor to perform the soil or plant measurements at the second measurement frequency.
10 . The soil or plant analysis apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first or second sub-system performs non-contact soil sensing using a Gamma ray emission technique or the first or second sub-system includes a multi-spectral sensor that is mounted or integrated with an aviation device.
11 . A soil and plant analysis system, comprising:
a soil or plant analysis apparatus according to claim 1 ;
a communication unit to receive soil or plant measurement data from the first and second sub-systems of the soil or plant analysis apparatus; and
a processor coupled to the communication unit, the processor is configured to cause the soil or plant measurement data from the second sub-system to be plotted on a spatial grid having a plurality of cells and to cause the soil or plant measurement data from the first sub-system to be plotted on the same spatial grid.
12 . The soil and plant analysis system of claim 11 , wherein the processor is further configured to select m cells around each data point from the soil or plant measurement data of the second sub-system and to determine a median measurement of the m cells for the soil or plant measurement data of the second sub-system, m being a positive integer.
13 . The soil and plant analysis system of claim 12 , wherein the processor is further configured to perform a first linear regression of the median measurements from the second sub-system versus the soil or plant measurement data for the first sub-system.
14 . The soil and plant analysis system of claim 13 , wherein the processor is further configured to perform a second linear regression from the soil or plant measurement data of the second sub-system to a regression line of the first linear regression that is associated with modified soil or plant measurement data for the second sub-system.
15 . The soil and plant analysis system of claim 14 , wherein the processor is further configured to apply a slope or offset from the second linear regression to all cells in the soil or plant measurement data of the second sub-system for a final corrected value.