Device to detect and exercise control over weeds applied on agricultural machinery

1. A device to detect and exercise control over weeds applied in agricultural machinery designed to distinguish plants from agricultural soil (soil background) with a camera to proceed with the capture of images and process the images in order to perform detection of weeds, and with information obtained from the detection processing of the images, to drive an actuator that controls the operation of corresponding media valves that command the work of sprinklers arranged in a carrier boom of a sprayer, through the actuator it is possible to apply herbicidal products, or exercise a control over the actuator that can be mechanical or chemical, wherein the device comprises:

a digital camera (Vga)( 1 ), associated with a charge-coupled device (CCD) integrated circuit, from which information is sent to a processor ( 2 ), which evaluates the images supplied by the digital camera through an algorithm that through decision-making rules defined with artificial intelligence tools train an equipment in the differentiation of plant material from other objects, and the processor activates an electronic controller that acts as a link between a control console, which is housed inside a cabin, transmitting an order to each solenoid valve to open, arranged on a tip holder part of the boom, which commands the operation of a respective sprayer tip; the device includes corresponding watertight connectors, through which information and data transmission are channeled; including a media protocol translator, responsible for coding a signal that comes from the boom to a language suitable for the control console, through which the operation of each device is shown allowing parameters to be modified;

wherein a 12v power supply is transformed by the CCD to 5v that are necessary to send a work order to the processor, the digital camera, and to each valve; and

wherein the power supply is directly connected to a cabinets arranged in correspondence to each valve on the boom, to provide the necessary electricity for each of a LED ( 5 ), a plate ( 3 ), a camera processor ( 2 ) and a solenoid valve ( 8 ).

2. The device to detect and exercise control over weeds applied in agricultural machinery, as claimed in claim 1 , characterized in that the processor sends a work order to the digital camera to begin a process of taking images at 30 fps from a surface, each of which is analyzed and processed by a software, whose results are sent as a work order to the CCD that transmits a signal with a determined frequency and width to each valve.

3. The device to detect and exercise control over weeds applied in agricultural machinery, as claimed in claim 1 , characterized in that the processor sends a report via serial communication to the CCD, the CCD translates the report for a Controller Area Network (CAN) communication and then sends the report to a protocol translator; the protocol translator converts the report from a CAN communication into serial again, and sends the report to be read by a monitoring device.

4. The device to detect and exercise control over weeds applied in agricultural machinery, as claimed in claim 3 , characterized in that the protocol translator is responsible for encoding the signal from the cabinets arranged on the boom, to a language suitable for the control console; and through the control console seeing an operating status of different devices, as well as correcting and regulating a viewing angle of each camera.