Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
(a)
Sensors in a field
Sensors on a machine
Dealer
Real-time
management system
Owner
(b)
Crop sensors
Sensors for machinery
Actuators
Weather data
Implements
Controllers
Economic/marketing data
Machinery
.....
Historical data warehouse
FIGURE 13.1
Real-time worksite management system: (a) schematic diagram; (b) block
diagram.
EC sensor (5TE), and water potential sensor have been widely used in agriculture
and environment applications (Decagon, 2011). Campbell Scientific, Inc. (Utah,
USA) provides soil volumetric water content/salinity probes that can measure soil
water/salinity at multiple depths at the same time (Campbell Scientific, 2011).
13.3.1.2 Crop Sensors
Various sensors have been used to monitor crop growth status. Plant height, canopy
temperature, leaf chlorophyll content, leaf wetness, etc., are the most widely used
indicators of the health status of crop plants (Shaver et al., 2010; Cui et al., 2009).
Many commercial sensors are available on the market, while much research is still
ongoing to optimize the approaches of crop sensing. Some of the sensing techniques
use contact measurements, which require the sensor(s) to be mounted on a plant.
