JP7630164B2 - GROWTH CONDITION EVALUATION SYSTEM, GROWTH CONDITION EVALUATION DEVICE, GROWTH CONDITION EVALUATION METHOD, AND PROGRAM - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a growth status evaluation system, a growth status evaluation device, a growth status evaluation method, and a program, and in particular to a growth status evaluation system, a growth status evaluation device, a growth status evaluation method, and a program that evaluate the growth status of agricultural crops based on satellite images.

For example, there is a known technology for analyzing the growth conditions of vegetation using radar image data obtained by a radar device mounted on an airborne vehicle such as an artificial satellite, which captures a wide range of the ground surface in the target area to obtain the conditions of the ground surface (for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2010-117327 A

To know the growing conditions of crops in a certain field, it is necessary to specify or extract the area corresponding to that field from radar image data, but this is a time-consuming and costly task that requires geometric correction and image specification by latitude and longitude. For this reason, this type of service has not been easy for farmers to use, both in terms of cost and speed.

The present invention aims to provide farmers with information on the growth status of crops in specific farmland at low cost and in a timely manner.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a first aspect of the present invention is
An acquisition unit that acquires an image of the earth's surface including markers arranged so as to surround the farmland, the image being taken by an artificial satellite;
a cutout unit that detects light points of the markers from the acquired image and cuts out an area surrounded by the light points from the image;
an evaluation unit that evaluates a growth stage of the crops planted in the farmland based on the extracted image;
The present invention provides a growth status evaluation device comprising:

In the growth status evaluation device of the present invention,
the image of the earth's surface is an image taken by an active microwave sensor mounted on the satellite;
is preferred.

In addition, in the growth status evaluation device of the present invention,
the evaluation unit compares the crop image with a reference image corresponding to the crop growth stage, and evaluates the crop growth stage based on a comparison result;
is preferred.

In addition, the growth status evaluation device of the present invention is
a display unit that displays the evaluation result of the growth stage together with weather information including at least one of a temperature history and a precipitation history;
is preferred.

The second aspect of the present invention is
For the growth status evaluation device,
acquiring an image of the earth's surface, the image including markers arranged to surround the farmland, taken by a satellite;
detecting light points of the markers from the acquired image and extracting an area surrounded by the light points from the image;
A step of evaluating a growth stage of a crop planted in the farmland based on the cut-out image;
The present invention provides a method for evaluating a growth condition, comprising the steps of:

In addition, a third aspect of the present invention is
For the growth status evaluation device,
acquiring an image of the earth's surface, the image including markers arranged to surround the farmland, taken by a satellite;
detecting light points of the markers from the acquired image and extracting an area surrounded by the light points from the image;
A step of evaluating a growth stage of a crop planted in the farmland based on the cut-out image;
The present invention provides a program for executing the steps including the steps of:

Moreover, a fourth aspect of the present invention is
A growth status evaluation system including an artificial satellite that photographs the earth's surface, markers arranged so as to surround farmland on the earth's surface, and a growth status evaluation device,
The growth status evaluation device includes:
an acquisition unit that acquires an image of the earth's surface captured by an artificial satellite;
a cutout unit that detects light points of the markers from the acquired image and cuts out an area surrounded by the light points from the image;
an evaluation unit that evaluates a growth stage of the crops planted in the farmland based on the extracted image;
The present invention provides a growth status evaluation system comprising:

The present invention makes it possible to provide farmers with information on the growth status of crops in specific farmland at low cost and in a timely manner.

1 is a schematic diagram of a growth status evaluation system 1 according to a representative embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the relationship between growth stages of crops G and satellite images P corresponding to each growth stage. 1 is a schematic diagram of an artificial satellite 10, a target marker 20, and a growth status evaluation device 30 included in a growth status evaluation system 1. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a target marker 20. FIG. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an outline of a method for cutting out an area AA corresponding to the farmland A in FIG. 1 from a satellite image P. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a display of an evaluation result. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the growth status evaluation system 1.

Hereinafter, a growth status evaluation system, a growth status evaluation device, a growth status evaluation method, and a program according to representative embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to these drawings. In addition, since the drawings are intended to conceptually explain the present invention, dimensions, ratios, or numbers may be exaggerated or simplified as necessary for ease of understanding.

1. Overview of the Growth Condition Evaluation System In this embodiment, in order to provide agricultural workers (particularly farmers and agricultural corporations) with information on growth conditions and predictions of harvest times, satellite images of individual farmland units are automatically and continuously acquired through target markers (hereinafter abbreviated as markers) in a simple manner, and a farming support solution is provided that utilizes these images.

As shown in FIG. 1, the growth status evaluation system 1 includes an artificial satellite 10, a marker 20, and a growth status evaluation device 30. The user terminal 40 collectively represents multiple terminals used by farmers and agricultural corporations (see FIG. 3).

The markers 20 are radio wave "mirror"-like hardware that are placed around the farmland A on the ground surface S. Alternatively, the markers 20 can be said to be placed at positions that form the vertices of the farmland A. Details of the markers 20 will be described later.

The artificial satellite 10 emits radio waves toward the surface of the earth S, receives the reflected waves from the surface of the earth S, and generates an image, i.e., a satellite image P, based on the received reflected waves (see FIG. 5). A light spot Q of the marker 20 appears in the satellite image P. Details of the artificial satellite 10 will be described later.

The growth status evaluation device 30 cuts out an area AA surrounded by the light spot Q of the marker 20 from the satellite image P as an image of the farmland A, and evaluates the growth status of the crop G based on the cut-out image. The details of the growth status evaluation device 30 will be described later.

2. Satellite The satellite 10 is equipped with an active microwave sensor as an observation sensor. Therefore, the satellite 10 can image the earth's surface by irradiating microwaves from its antenna to the earth's surface S and measuring the reflection intensity of the radio waves. In this embodiment, a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is assumed as the observation sensor, but the present invention is not limited to this.

The image data obtained by the SAR sensor is called "tactile" data. For example, in the case of farmland, when rice ears ripen they appear rough, and when fruit tree leaves set they appear fluffy, making it ideal for continuously understanding changes in crops G, that is, understanding the growth conditions.

Microwaves are classified into P-band, L-band, C-band, X-band, etc. in order of longest wavelength, and in synthetic aperture radar, the relatively high frequency L-band, C-band, and X-band are used for microwave remote sensing. The lower the frequency of microwaves, the higher their penetrating ability is, allowing them to penetrate not only clouds but also vegetation, and they also have high resolution.

Therefore, by using a SAR sensor, it is possible to obtain information such as the presence or absence of an object, changes in the object's material (man-made, natural, or water), and soil moisture. In addition, a SAR sensor has the advantage that it can capture images even when the ground surface S is covered with clouds or at night, and images are captured under the same conditions (same date and time), making comparisons easy. Therefore, as shown in Figure 2, by continuously and repeatedly capturing images with the SAR sensor, it is possible to grasp the growth status of crops G based on differences in scattering patterns (differences in reflection intensity) that accompany growth.

3. Target marker (marker)
The marker 20 has a function of reflecting radio waves transmitted from the artificial satellite 10 and returning them in the direction from which the radio waves came. The marker 20 is assumed to be a square type or a triangular type, but is not limited to this.

The dimensions of the marker 20 can be set appropriately depending on the evaluation of radio wave characteristics and the link design with the satellite, but from the standpoint of portability, an outer diameter of 150 cm to 50 cm is preferable, and of these, approximately 100 cm to 60 cm is more preferable.

From the viewpoint of weight reduction and outdoor use (to prevent rain from accumulating and to reduce the effects of wind), it is preferable to form a hole 21A in the marker 20 as shown in FIG. 4. The diameter of the hole 21A is preferably 1/5 to 1/10 of the wavelength in order to reflect radio waves without escaping. For example, in a SAR satellite, considering that the frequency band of the QPS satellite is the X-band (2.4 cm to 3.75 cm) and the frequency band of the ALOS satellite is the L-band (15 cm to 30 cm), it is preferable to set the diameter of the hole 21A to about 2.4 mm to 7.5 mm and about 15 mm to 100 mm, respectively. In particular, it is preferable that the diameter of the hole 21A is 4 mm to 6 mm for the X-band and 30 mm to 50 mm for the L-band.

The main body 21 of the marker 20 may be placed on the surface S of the earth, or may be placed on a pedestal 22 (including a tripod, etc.) as shown in FIG. 4. By using the pedestal 22, the main body 21 of the marker 20 can be prevented from being hidden by the grown crops G when viewed from the artificial satellite 10.

The number of markers 20 may be any number sufficient to identify one piece of farmland A in the surface direction, and may be at least three or more, preferably four or more. For example, the number of markers 20 may correspond to the shape of the farmland A (number of vertices). In addition, it is assumed that the marker 20 installed at one vertex of the farmland A will be used in the form of one unit. However, considering that the number of SAR satellites will increase in the future and that the satellites will come from various directions when viewed from the ground, multiple units (for example, four units) may be used in combination.

The material of the marker 20 can be any material that reflects radio waves from the artificial satellite 10, but stainless steel is preferable. In addition, for portability, it is preferable that the marker 20 be an assembly type.

4. Growth status evaluation device The growth status evaluation device 30 is configured as one or more computers including a CPU, RAM, ROM, and a communication unit. The growth status evaluation device 30 includes the functional units of an acquisition unit 31, a cut-out unit 32, an evaluation unit 33, a display unit 34, and a storage unit 35. In the growth status evaluation device 30, the CPU reads out the programs and various data stored in the ROM into the RAM and executes them, thereby realizing various functions described below.
Each functional unit will be described in detail below.

The acquisition unit 31 acquires the satellite image P captured by the satellite 10 directly from the satellite 10 or via another device such as a server. As shown in FIG. 5, a bright point (light point Q) originating from the marker 20 is reflected in the satellite image P. It is preferable that the acquisition unit 31 acquires the satellite image at regular time intervals (e.g., every day, every few days, or every week).

The cutout unit 32 cuts out the area AA surrounded by the light spot Q from the satellite image P and stores the cutout image in the memory unit 35. The cutout image corresponds to the farmland A.

The evaluation unit 33 compares the cropped image with a reference image to evaluate the growth stage of the crop G. The reference images are images of the crop G taken at each growth stage (see FIG. 2) and are stored in advance in the storage unit 35. The comparison between the cropped image and the reference image may be performed based on, for example, whether or not the characteristic quantities such as spectrum, histogram, brightness, and luminance of both images are within the allowable error range.

Therefore, by comparing the cropped image with the reference image, the evaluation unit 33 can grasp the growth stage of the crop G and predict the harvest time of the crop G. The growth stage of the crop G may be expressed, for example, as a growth rate in which the stage of the crop that has reached the harvest time is set to 100%, or may be displayed as a stage such as 5 stages or 10 stages (see FIG. 6).

The evaluation unit 33 may also evaluate the speed of growth of the crop G (at the same pace as normal, advanced, delayed, etc.) based on the growth stage of the crop G at each predetermined time interval. When making such an evaluation, the evaluation unit 33 may refer to past weather data (temperature, amount of solar radiation, amount of rainfall, etc.) and weather forecasts.

The display unit 34 outputs the evaluation results of the evaluation unit 33 for display. The display unit 34 may display the evaluation results on its own display, or may display the evaluation results on the display of another terminal (e.g., a user terminal 40 installed at a farmer or an agricultural corporation). Thus, the user (farmer or agricultural corporation) can grasp the growth status and harvest time of the agricultural crop G.

The display unit 34 may display the evaluation results together with the temperature history, precipitation history, and the like, for example, as shown in FIG. 6. The display unit 34 may also display measures such as increasing the amount of fertilizer or water when, for example, the growth of the crop G is delayed.

The memory unit 35 stores various data and programs. The various data include, for example, images cut out by the cut-out unit 32, reference images for each type of agricultural crop, the evaluation results of the evaluation unit 33, and weather data for farmland A.

5. Operation of the Growth State Evaluating System The operation of the growth state evaluating system 1 will be described with reference to FIG.

In step S1, markers 20 are placed around (at vertices) farmland A.

In step S2, the artificial satellite 10 uses a microwave sensor or the like to capture an image of the ground surface S including the farmland A and the markers 20, and obtains a satellite image P. The satellite image P is captured periodically, for example, once a day, once every few days, or once a week, and the data of the satellite image P is transmitted to the growth status evaluation device 30 or another device (such as a server) each time it is captured.

In step S3, the growth status evaluation device 30 receives (acquires) satellite image P directly or indirectly from the artificial satellite 10.

In step S4, the growth status evaluation device 30 detects the light spot of the marker 20 in the satellite image P, and based on the detection result, cuts out an area AA corresponding to the farmland A from the satellite image P. The cut-out image is stored in the memory unit 35.

In step S5, the cropped image is compared with a reference image to evaluate the growth status of crop G in farmland A. The growth status includes the growth stage, growth rate, predicted harvest time, etc.

In step S6, the evaluation results are output for display. The output destination may be the display device of the growth status evaluation device 30 or the display device of another terminal 40. Weather history, weather forecasts, etc. may be displayed together with the evaluation results.

In step S7, it is confirmed whether crop G has been harvested, and if crop G has been harvested, the series of procedures ends. If crop G has not yet been harvested, the process returns to step S2 and the above-mentioned procedures are repeated. This allows the user to timely grasp the growth status of crop G in farmland A from planting to harvest, and to take necessary measures such as adding fertilizer and preparing for harvest. In other words, an improvement in productivity based on objective data can be expected.

As described above, in this embodiment, the task of extracting the required area AA from the satellite image P is performed based on the light spot of the marker 20. This makes it possible to omit time-consuming and costly tasks such as geometric correction and image specification by latitude and longitude. Furthermore, by reducing the cost of these tasks required for each satellite image, analytical farming support solutions that require understanding of progress using multiple images can be realized at low cost.

In addition, because images can be quickly extracted on a farmland-by-farmland basis based on the markers 20, the speed at which value can be provided to end users (farmers) is improved. Also, because only the image of area AA needs to be saved (i.e., there is no need to analyze and save the entire satellite image P), there is an advantage in terms of server load.

The above describes typical embodiments of the present invention, but the present invention is not limited to these, and various design modifications are possible, which are also included in the present invention.

The image of farmland A cut out from one satellite image P is not limited to one, but may be multiple. For example, one satellite image P may contain images of multiple farmlands. In this case, the farmland can be identified based on the number of light spots Q of the marker 20, the shape and dimensions of the area AA formed by the light spots Q, etc.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 Growth status evaluation system 10 Artificial satellite 20 Target marker 30 Growth status evaluation device 31 Acquisition unit 32 Extraction unit 33 Evaluation unit 34 Display unit

Claims (7)

An acquisition unit that acquires an image of the earth's surface including markers arranged so as to surround the farmland, the image being taken by an artificial satellite;
a cutout unit that detects light points of the markers from the acquired image and cuts out an area surrounded by the light points from the image;
an evaluation unit that evaluates a growth stage of the crops planted in the farmland based on the extracted image;
A growth status evaluation device comprising: the image of the earth's surface is an image taken by an active microwave sensor mounted on the satellite;
2. The growth status evaluation device according to claim 1, the evaluation unit compares the crop image with a reference image corresponding to the crop growth stage, and evaluates the crop growth stage based on a comparison result;
3. The growth status evaluation device according to claim 1 or 2, a display unit that displays the evaluation result of the growth stage together with weather information including at least one of a temperature history and a precipitation history;
The growth status evaluation device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, For the growth status evaluation device,
acquiring an image of the earth's surface, the image including markers arranged to surround the farmland, taken by a satellite;
detecting light points of the markers from the acquired image and extracting an area surrounded by the light points from the image;
A step of evaluating a growth stage of a crop planted in the farmland based on the cut-out image;
A growth status evaluation method comprising: For the growth status evaluation device,
acquiring an image of the earth's surface, the image including markers arranged to surround the farmland, taken by a satellite;
detecting light points of the markers from the acquired image and extracting an area surrounded by the light points from the image;
A step of evaluating a growth stage of a crop planted in the farmland based on the cut-out image;
A program for executing a procedure including: A growth status evaluation system including an artificial satellite that photographs the earth's surface, markers arranged so as to surround farmland on the earth's surface, and a growth status evaluation device,
The growth status evaluation device includes:
an acquisition unit that acquires an image of the earth's surface captured by an artificial satellite;
a cutout unit that detects light points of the markers from the acquired image and cuts out an area surrounded by the light points from the image;
an evaluation unit that evaluates a growth stage of the crops planted in the farmland based on the extracted image;
A growth status evaluation system comprising: