Reflectometric System for Continuous and Automated Monitoring of Irrigation in Agriculture

In this work, a time domain reflectometry (TDR)-based system for continuous and diffused monitoring of soil water content in agriculture is presented. The proposed TDR-based system employs elongate sensing elements (SEs). In practical application, each wire-like SE is buried along the cultivation ro...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Egidio De Benedetto, Giuseppe Cannazza, Antonio Masciullo, Christian Demitri, Andrea Cataldo
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2018-01-01
Series:Advances in Agriculture
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2018/2849250
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Summary:In this work, a time domain reflectometry (TDR)-based system for continuous and diffused monitoring of soil water content in agriculture is presented. The proposed TDR-based system employs elongate sensing elements (SEs). In practical application, each wire-like SE is buried along the cultivation row to be monitored, and through a single TDR measurement it is possible to retrieve the water content profile of the cultivation along the length of the SE. By connecting the TDR-based monitoring system to the irrigation machines, it would be possible to automatically start/stop irrigation based on the actual water requirement of the cultivations, thus favoring precision agriculture and enhancing irrigation efficiency. To demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed monitoring solution, a dedicated hardware+software platform was developed and the TDR-based system was experimented in open-field cultivations.
ISSN:2356-654X
2314-7539