Sentera awarded patent for Spot Scout Technology--stand and tassel counts

Sentera, Inc., the industry-leading provider of real-time insights and drone technology for the agricultural industry, announced that it has received a patent for its Spot Scout technology, which follows a multi-step process to use drone imagery to understand crop health and performance, providing key analytics like Stand Count and Tassel Count.

“Increased demand and tough weather conditions are creating a challenging environment for growers this agricultural season,” said Brian Wenngatz, chief executive officer, Sentera. “Sentera’s exclusive technology gives our customers the advantage they need given today’s market conditions, ensuring that advisors can help their growers maximize the yield and profitability of every acre.”

Sentera’s Spot Scout technology, which was co-invented by Eric Taipale, chief technology officer, and Andrew Muehlfeld, director of solutions engineering, serves as the core to FieldAgent®, a precision agriculture insights platform that offers real-time insights to drive optimized decisions about crop health and performance.

Early indications of the 2022 growing season show that it will be tougher than usual. It is off to a slow start due to less-than-ideal weather conditions, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The slower start to the season runs risk of increased disease and pest pressure, particularly earlier in the planting lifecycle due to the delayed planting process.

“Because of the challenges that this season has already presented, it’s going to be more essential than ever for the industry to use technology to gain access to real-time insights and analytics to understand how weather conditions are impacting crop performance,” said Wenngatz.

As part of FieldAgent, the Spot Scout technology captures images over a field from a drone, computes a plant count from each image, then produces a map with a count at each image location, offering essential visibility into the performance of crops across every acre with key capabilities including:

• Stand Count, which provides a comprehensive picture of emergence across a field to make decisions about replanting, determine variable-rate inputs, and estimate yield.

• Weed Species ID, identifies which weed species are present to inform herbicide selection for maximum weed control at minimum cost.

• Tassel Count, delivers an accurate tassel count map of the entire field to streamline in-field scouting time and easily forecast crop yields.
   

FieldAgent is a comprehensive platform that delivers real-time agricultural insights to help optimize outcomes. With the ability to gather data from drones, satellites, weather, soil and field operations, and essential integrations, FieldAgent is the only agricultural data platform that offers predictive analytics and real-time insights to maximize efficiency, improve crop health, and ultimately, drive higher yields using the Spot Scout technology.

“For our customers, our focus on prioritizing investments in innovating technology means they can maximize every acre for the season,” said Taipale. “With the granting of this patent, which is the 13th for the organization, Sentera is the only agricultural analytics provider who can use this new technology to produce Spot Scouts for customers via drone technology.”

Sentera’s Spot Scout technology is protected under U.S. patent number 11,301,957.