WESTERN PRODUCER — The original GreenSeeker helped farmers manage variable rate nitrogen, but the inventor has expanded the basic technology to include in-field real-time variable rate for liquid fertilizer blends, plant growth regulators, herbicides, fungicides and desiccants.
If it’s growing in a field and can be measured remotely, Greek inventor Dimitris Evangelopoulos wants to analyze it.
Augmenta is the name of his latest crop sensing device. It augments and expands on basic GreenSeeker technology by using cameras in addition to sensors to read the crop. And it manages much more than nitrogen.
Augmenta maximizes the potential of every acre by scanning and analyzing inch-by-inch at sprayer speeds up to 30 km/h. It employs a new generation of passive sensors combined with a five-spectrum, 4K-camera.
The continuously artificial-intelligence adjusted camera system provides a wide 40-metre wide view and higher resolution compared to active sensors that read only one value, as the GreenSeeker does. A single Augmenta Mantis Augos on the cab roof replaces the multitude of sensors used along the boom of the original GreenSeeker-enabled boom.
Augmenta uses multiple light sensors with an AI engine to provide a universal crop health index and apply the calculated fertilizer rate. Crop data runs through an on-board supercomputer.
In Western Canada, Augmenta is handled by Kellen Huber of Kel Teck Ag in Grand Coulee, Sask. Huber said Evangelopoulos realized years ago that GreenSeeker was just the beginning. Once that technology was proven, he wanted to push the limits of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index and thermal imaging to read what the plants are doing and what they need.
“Case IH brought Augmenta because they needed an accurate way to recognize the difference between crop and weeds. Raven needed Augmenta to accelerate their OmniPower and Triton programs,” said Huber.
“OmniPower is an autonomous, driverless power platform that can switch out implements like seeders, sprayers and spreaders, allowing it to perform many tasks. It depends on plant recognition and analysis.”
He says the system identifies plants and objects in front of the sprayer in the same way as the human eye. The human field of vision is 180 degrees but the Augmenta field of vision is a full 270 degrees. It can detect objects people normally would not see.
“Augmenta does depth perception and we distinguish between a live corn stalk and a harvested corn stalk. The algorithms can tell the difference between a wheat plant and a thistle, based on shape and colour and heat signature. We already have good green-on-green separation, and the company is working on improving this component.
“Farmers use all kinds of maps and soil tests and tissue tests. But there’s never real time meaning to them. With Augmenta, the data on the map relates directly to what’s happening with the plant at that exact moment in time. It uses NDVI and NIR and near infrared plus a 4K camera.
“We use a camera rather than a sensor because the camera can gather more information. We have 1,100 data points per acre with a 160-foot boom travelling 20 miles per hour. It identifies everything in front of it for about 100 feet in front.”
Huber says the system is compatible with ISOBUS, it can retrofit to old equipment or it can connect via custom CAN protocol. The system instantly calculates the required crop input dosage and applies it as the sprayer moves along the field.
VR Fertility: Huber says Augmenta is basically an agronomy package for saving fertilizer, the same as the original GreenSeeker. Agronomists and fertilizer consultants can use the technology to make a farmer as efficient as possible.
VR PGR: Excessive vegetative growth is inhibited by delivering the optimal plant growth regulator rate at the right place on the field at the right time. That is when tall plants shade short plants, compromising their growth and preventing them from reaching their potential.
Augmenta is auto-calibrated to produce a vegetation index map under variable conditions. This map is then used to apply a variable rate application of growth regulators. The algorithm uses an index map to assess and categorize plant biomass of different areas within the field in real time. It adjusts the growth regulator rate accordingly.
Identification of different areas is automatic and self-calibrating with no operator action required.
In low biomass areas, where plant growth is less than the field average, a minimum growth regulator dose is applied to allow moderate plant growth.
In medium biomass areas, excessive plant growth is inhibited with a moderate dose.
In high biomass areas, where plants are growing vigorously, the maximum dose is applied to protect yield.
VR fungicide: Extensive use of fungicides increases the risk of resistant pathogen strains. Un-warranted application of any crop protection chemical raises concern over potentially harmful effects on the environment and human health. It’s also expensive.
By delivering the optimal amount of fungicide at the right place on the field, only vulnerable areas will get a high dose. This offers growers the ability to fight fungal diseases while reducing costs and the environmental impact of fungicide use.
During application, the algorithm uses the index map to assess and categorize the crop’s biomass throughout the field to adjust fungicide dose.
If the heat signature says the plant is cool, the algorithm decides it does not need fungicide. If the heat signature is warm, it means the plant is fighting a disease and needs fungicide.
VR Desiccants: “Pre-harvest desiccation is another area where we have a fit,” says Huber. “As you’re driving, Augmenta will tell the controller that 100 feet ahead there’s an area with high NDVI where the crop is heavier and the biomass has not dried down. It reads the heat index and the respiratory index and makes a decision.
“It gives that area an extra heavy rate of product. As you continue, you get to areas where the biomass has dried down significantly. The processor makes a millisecond decision on how much to cut back.
“In lentils, for example, you might put down 15 gallons in the moderate growth area. That might go up to 20 gallons in dense biomass and then drop down to 10 gallons in lighter crop.”
Huber has a half dozen units for sale this spring. List price is $34,900.
