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The Controller
One Controller or
Controller Logic (CL) panel will operate up to sixteen (16) WeedSeeker
sensors (with eight units on each of two control cables). Additional Controller
Logic panels are used in larger systems.
A remote switch, (e.g., Lift Switch on a Row Crop Sprayer), connected to the five foot long,
two conductor cable assemble, will remotely activate the Standby Mode.
The Controller should
be placed in a convenient location near the operator, but not so that
it interferes with safe vehicle operation.
To properly
spray a weed, the time delay before the Valve Cartridge opens and the
duration that it stays open must match the vehicle's speed. Since the
system does not use a speed sensing device, the Speed Switch selects
a range of speeds to control the timing. The system has an operating range
to 10 miles per hour. When properly set, the spray will
turn on slightly before the weed and stay on until slightly after the
weed.
Optical calibration
of the system occurs when the Soil Base Switch is released. Whatever
reflectance signal is being detected by each WeedSeeker
Unit at that instant becomes that unit's new Soil Base value. As the sprayer
travels through the field, each WeedSeeker Unit compares the
current reflectance signal to the Soil Base value it has stored in memory.
The Soil Base value represents a certain amount of chlorophyll. An object
must have a chlorophyll reflectance signal greater then what is in a unit's
memory in order to be sprayed. If the Soil Base was set while a WeedSeeker
Unit was over a weed, smaller weeds will not be sprayed; only weeds larger
than the initial weed will be sprayed.
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