US 12,405,261 B2
Soil depth measurement system and method
Kathleen A. Lohse, Pocatello, ID (US); Nicholas R. Patton, East Palo Alto, CA (US); Sarah E. Godsey, East Palo Alto, CA (US); and Benjamin T. Crosby, East Palo Alto, CA (US)
Assigned to Kathleen A. Lohse, Pocatello, ID (US)
Filed by Kathleen A. Lohse, Pocatello, ID (US)
Filed on Dec. 28, 2022, as Appl. No. 18/090,327.
Application 18/090,327 is a continuation of application No. 16/138,681, filed on Sep. 21, 2018, granted, now 11,567,055.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/561,973, filed on Sep. 22, 2017.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/561,811, filed on Sep. 22, 2017.
Prior Publication US 2023/0160870 A1, May 25, 2023
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. G01N 33/24 (2006.01); G01N 33/00 (2006.01); G01S 17/89 (2020.01)
CPC G01N 33/24 (2013.01) [G01S 17/89 (2013.01); G01N 33/0077 (2024.05)] 10 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A soil thickness determining method at any location in a catchment, the method comprising:
gathering, by a processor of a computer system, detecting and ranging data for a location;
digging one or more pits at the location;
measuring, based on the one or more pits at the location, a limited number of thicknesses of a mobile regolith (TMR) for the location based on a depth of each pit;
estimating, by the processor of the computer system, a slope of a TMR-curvature relationship (∇2) based on a standard deviation curvature for a catchment at the location;
determining an average height of the catchment based on the limited number of thicknesses of the TMR at the location;
automatically determining, by the processor of the computer system, a soil thickness of the location based on the detecting and ranging data and the limited number of TMR measurements by multiplying the slope of the TMR-curvature relationship by a curvature and adding the catchment average height;
wherein automatically determining the soil thickness further comprises applying an equation:

OG Complex Work Unit Math
where

OG Complex Work Unit Math
is the slope of the TMR-curvature relationship (∇2), h is a catchment height and h is the catchment average height; and
displaying, on a display of the computer system, the automatically determined soil thickness.