Agriculture means measuring - pounds, bushels, acres. The continuous use of sensors in agriculture provides greater accuracy and potentially more secure, with the price of sensor technology falling. Right now, the best-known sensor is the soil moisture sensor used by irrigation companies, but there's more to come.
"There's a lot more to doing than measuring soil moisture," said Carol Rinauro, product manager for water management at John Deere's Intelligent Systems division. "There are environmental and nutrition sensors," she said. Sensors are getting more and more in the field The more important.
Soil moisture sensors are becoming more common in farm irrigation, but Rinauro explains that humidity sensors have value even in dry areas. Sensors measure soil moisture and soil temperature to better understand planting conditions during planting.
In the previous season (winter), the measured soil moisture can help you determine the best planting strategy.
Rinauro added: The sensor can be considered as a valuable risk management tool considering more accurate site models.
"I think we can see some common areas to sense crops, such as air temperature, wind speed and others that can span several managed areas. The information can be shared and used across multiple domains," she said.
Understanding the weather conditions during watering is a risk management - and regulation - peasants need more attention in the future.
The sensor will eventually become more equipment. At Kinze Farms, their autonomous project uses two sensors, which they will also apply in other areas.
"We use two different obstacle detection sensors - laser radar, through this machinery that enables precision increased from millimeter to 30 feet; radio detector, not so accurate, but also 150 feet," senior product Manager Rhett Schildroth said. Lidar represents light detection and ranging, and using a laser machine "sees" obstacles, the system is not cheap, but new sensors are likely to reach the market at low cost.
"We are researching LEDDAR systems, using LED lights instead of lasers," said Schildroth. Lidar is expensive.
"However, these types of proximity sensors, especially at low cost, can be valuable and secure in the future, and Schildroth said the machine would stop if it was found that a person was in a dangerous position. For automated systems, the sensor drew this In the field, the stem of a corn field is not a problem once barriers appear, but stems are a challenge, "" just like a person, "he added.
PAS 2014 will keep pace with the times and will hold the 2nd China International Forum on Precision Agriculture and Efficient Utilization in Beijing on October 22-23 this year. At the Internet of Things and Precision Agriculture Session, PAS 2014 will focus on the application of sensors in the Agricultural Internet of Things (Soil, water, atmosphere and life information, etc.); key technologies for precision agriculture in wireless sensor networks.
In the field of irrigation and precision agriculture, domestic and foreign experts are invited to explain the injection height control system based on ultrasonic sensors; precision agricultural irrigation technology based on wireless sensor networks solves practical problems for enterprises. Soil moisture management and information management specialization will also focus on the application of sensor technology in soil information collection system.