Agricultural devices, systems, and methods for determining soil and seed characteristics and analyzing the same
Agricultural seed planting systems are provided. In some aspects, the system includes a processing unit, a frame, a furrow opener coupled to the frame for opening a furrow in soil, and a sensor in communication with the processing unit and adapted to sense a characteristic associated with seed planting. The sensor may generate a signal associated with the sensed characteristic and the processing unit may receive the signal. In some aspects, the sensed characteristic may be either a soil characteristic or a seed characteristic. Information associated with the sensed characteristic can be saved in memory for future use and to assist with more effective planting in the future.
1. A control and monitoring system for an agricultural planting system comprising a plurality of row units each including a furrow opener, the control and monitoring system comprising:
a processing unit;
a solid state sensor in communication with the processing unit and adapted to sense a characteristic associated with seed planting, wherein the solid state sensor generates a signal associated with the sensed characteristic and the processing unit receives the signal; and
a memory associated with the processing unit, said memory storing a data pair comprising the sensed characteristic and a GPS position of the sensed characteristic, and wherein the data pair is used for analysis and later retrieval for planting;
said signal being associated with planting a first seed and used to plant a subsequent seed;
wherein said sensed characteristic comprises a soil characteristic.
2. The control and monitoring system of claim 1 , further comprising a user interface in communication with the processing unit, the user interface adapted to display information associated with the sensed characteristic.
3. The control and monitoring system of claim 2 , wherein the characteristic comprises a soil characteristic within a furrow created by the furrow opener.
4. The control and monitoring system of claim 3 , wherein the characteristic is one of a soil temperature or a soil moisture content.
5. The control and monitoring system of claim 3 , wherein the characteristic is both a soil temperature and a soil moisture content.
6. The control and monitoring system of claim 2 , wherein the characteristic is a characteristic of a seed.
7. The control and monitoring system of claim 6 , wherein the characteristic is one of a seed temperature and a seed presence.
8. The control and monitoring system of claim 1 , further comprising a UPS system operatively connected to the processing unit and configured to position to each characteristic with the GPS position.
9. The control and monitoring system of claim 8 , wherein the memory is located remote of the agricultural planting system.
10. The control and monitoring system of claim 1 , wherein the solid state sensor is a first sensor, the characteristic is a first characteristic, and the signal is a first signal, the agricultural seed planting system further comprising a second sensor adapted to sense a second characteristic associated with seed planting, wherein the second sensor generates a second signal associated with the sensed second characteristic and communicates with the processing unit such that the processing unit receives the second signal, the second sensor being a solid state sensor.
11. The control and monitoring system of claim 10 , wherein the first characteristic is a soil characteristic and the second characteristic is a seed characteristic.
12. The control and monitoring system of claim 10 , wherein the first and second characteristics are one of both soil characteristics or both seed characteristics.
13. A method of planting seeds in a furrow in soil with an agricultural planter having a plurality of row units each including a furrow opener, the method comprising:
sensing a first characteristic at an uncut position of soil with a first solid state sensor;
sensing a second characteristic at a lower portion of the furrow in the soil with a second solid state sensor;
determining a difference in the first and second characteristics with a processing unit to compare the difference with an accepted range; and
using the comparison to change a planting operation if the comparison is outside the accepted range.
14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the planting operation comprises the depth of the furrow for planting seed.
15. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
generating a first signal associated with the sensed characteristic with the first solid state sensor;
communicating the first signal to a processing unit;
storing information associated with the first signal in a memory; and
retrieving the information from the memory subsequent to storing the information.
16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:
generating a second signal associated with the sensed second characteristic with the second solid state sensor;
communicating the second signal to the processing unit;
storing information associated with the second signal in the memory; and
retrieving the information from the memory associated with both signals subsequent to storing the information.
17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the difference is determined from the retrieved information.
18. The method of claim 13 , wherein sensing further includes sensing one of a soil characteristic and a seed characteristic.
19. The method of claim 13 , further comprising displaying the difference on a user interface to manually change the planting operation.
20. The method of claim 13 , further comprising automatically changing the planting operation based upon the characteristics.