Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 5.25
Operating
principle of on-the-go soil
property sensing by
near-infrared relectance
(From Christy
2008
, altered
and not to scale)
to computer
power
supply
spectrometer
tractor
direction
of travel
coulter
halog.
lamp
collect.
optic
sapphire window
soil
Fig. 5.26
Simultaneous mapping of both near-infrared reflectances underneath a cultivator sweep
and electrical conductivities in the contact mode (Photo from Veris Technologies, Salina, USA,
altered)
The situation is quite different for the short-timed water content. Mapping might
be useless, but instead immediate control of sowing depth, cultivation depth or irri-
gation intensity might be needed. So for this, the combination with sowing, cultiva-
tion or irrigation would be reasonable.
But what about the
accuracy
of sensing in on-the-go field operations compared
to recording in laboratories? Unfortunately, a direct and unbiased comparison of the
