Drone Information Management Apparatus and Program
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Technical Background
The use of drones and other aerial vehicles for crop cultivation has become widely recognized. For example, there is known an aerial vehicle control system for controlling an aerial vehicle that sprays agricultural chemicals over a field. The system includes a quality information acquisition unit that acquires quality information measured by a quality measuring device for harvested crops together with the corresponding field area, and a planning unit that calculates a chemical spraying plan and a flight plan based on the quality information and the field area. The aerial vehicle sprays agricultural chemicals according to the spraying plan and flight plan. The system further includes a storage unit that stores a spraying management table in which, for each harvest, the spraying plan applied to the harvested crops and the quality information of those crops are associated with the corresponding field area. By referring to the spraying management table, the planning unit calculates a flight plan by referencing historical changes in crop quality information and spraying plans for each area.
Current Problems
To control a direct-seeding apparatus capable of performing direct seeding of various types of grains in a short period of time, even in locations where agricultural machinery cannot be transported.
Means for Solving the Problems
To achieve the above objective, the present disclosure provides an information management apparatus. The apparatus includes:
a first storage unit configured to store an identification number of an area to be planted with grain, coordinates of the corners of the area, an interval between a plurality of parallel virtual row lines determined based on the coordinates, and the radius of a circle centered on the grain seed dropping reference point;
a second storage unit configured to store, for each row line number identifying a corresponding row line, grain seed dropping positions determined based on the row line interval and the circle radius, together with information indicating that a drone-type aerial vehicle has dropped grain seeds at the designated positions; and
an output unit configured to output, for each row line, information indicating positions where seed dropping has been completed and positions where seed dropping could not be completed.
Accordingly, the apparatus can control direct seeding of various types of grains in a short period of time even in locations where agricultural machinery cannot be transported.
Claims
Claim 1
An information management apparatus comprising:
a first storage unit configured to store an identification number of an area to be planted with grain, coordinates of the corners of the area, an interval between a plurality of parallel virtual row lines determined based on the coordinates, and a radius of a circle centered on a grain seed dropping reference point;
a second storage unit configured to store, for each row line number identifying the corresponding row line, grain seed dropping positions determined based on the row line interval and the circle radius, together with information indicating that a drone-type aerial vehicle has dropped grain seeds at the designated positions; and
an output unit configured to output, for each row line, information indicating positions where seed dropping has been completed and positions where seed dropping could not be completed.
Claim 2
The information management apparatus according to Claim 1, further comprising a third storage unit configured to store, in association with one another, a descent distance of the aerial vehicle during seed dropping, the number of grain seeds to be dropped, and an allowable error in the number of grain seeds to be dropped, wherein the aerial vehicle drops the grain seeds when the number of grain seeds to be dropped matches the stored number or when the difference falls within the allowable error stored in the third storage unit.
Claim 3
The information management apparatus according to Claim 1, wherein the aerial vehicle harvests grain ears at positions where seed dropping has been completed, stores harvest completion information for each seed dropping position, and the output unit outputs, for each seed dropping position, information indicating harvested positions and positions where harvesting has not yet been completed.
Claim 4
The information management apparatus according to Claim 3, further comprising a fourth storage unit configured to store a discharge location for harvested grain ears, wherein when the amount of harvested grain ears reaches a predetermined quantity, the aerial vehicle moves to the discharge location, discharges the harvested grain ears, refers to the second storage unit after discharge is completed, and resumes harvesting at positions where harvesting has not yet been completed.
Claim 5
A program causing a computer to execute processing for storing an identification number of an area to be planted with grain, coordinates of the corners of the area, an interval between a plurality of parallel virtual row lines determined based on the coordinates, and a radius of a circle centered on a grain seed dropping reference point; storing, for each row line number identifying the corresponding row line, grain seed dropping positions determined based on the row line interval and the circle radius together with information indicating that a drone-type aerial vehicle has dropped grain seeds at the designated positions; and outputting, for each row line, information indicating positions where seed dropping has been completed and positions where seed dropping could not be completed.