In this work a high precision capacitive moisture sensor for polymers was designed and fabricated. The device is part of a compact, fast, and economic moisture analyzer capable of reaching a similar ...precision than commercial moisture analyzers based on the Karl Fischer method. The design considerations are described in detail and simulation results are presented showing the relationship between the sensor's geometrical parameters and the sensor's performance. Numerical and analytical works were also carried out to support the capacitor optimization. The designed capacitive moisture sensor satisfies all constrains on sensitivity, sensing volume and reliability of the measurements due to its inherent conformal features. The experimental results of the prototype obtained during laboratory tests are also reported in this paper.
Irrigated agriculture in the Rio Grande region faces water management related challenges due to climate variability and rise in non-agricultural water demand. Scientific irrigation scheduling (SIS) ...tools allow growers to optimize the water use and conserve water by making informed decisions. Nevertheless, multiple technological and economic barriers could slow down the adoption of these technologies. This study investigates the barriers to adoption of SIS methods in the U.S. part of Rio Grande basin by getting irrigators’ perspective and outlines the factors that influence adoption. Multiple adoption barriers are listed, and the most important ones are lack of access to weather data, uncertainty about future water availability, cost effectiveness of technologies, reliability of weather data, lack of availability of irrigation scheduling tools, and risk of reduced yield. Factors that influence the growers’ decision to adopt SIS are also explored, which are quality of land, yield, water use efficiency, and water availability for future generations. Age, education, and years involved in agriculture may also govern the knowledge and adoption of SIS methods. The results of this study provide guidance to policy makers and extension experts to strengthen water conservation efforts in Rio Grande basin and other comparable regions in the world.
Agriculture requires technical solutions for increasing production while lessening environmental impact by reducing the application of agro-chemicals and increasing the use of environmentally ...friendly management practices. A benefit of this is the reduction of production costs. Sensor technologies produce tools to achieve the abovementioned goals. The explosive technological advances and developments in recent years have enormously facilitated the attainment of these objectives, removing many barriers for their implementation, including the reservations expressed by farmers. Precision agriculture and ‘smart farming’ are emerging areas where sensor-based technologies play an important role. Farmers, researchers, and technical manufacturers are joining their efforts to find efficient solutions, improvements in production, and reductions in costs. This book brings together recent research and developments concerning novel sensors and their applications in agriculture. Sensors in agriculture are based on the requirements of farmers, according to the farming operations that need to be addressed.
Agriculture requires technical solutions for increasing production while lessening environmental impact by reducing the application of agro-chemicals and increasing the use of environmentally ...friendly management practices. A benefit of this is the reduction of production costs. Sensor technologies produce tools to achieve the abovementioned goals. The explosive technological advances and developments in recent years have enormously facilitated the attainment of these objectives, removing many barriers for their implementation, including the reservations expressed by farmers. Precision agriculture and ‘smart farming’ are emerging areas where sensor-based technologies play an important role. Farmers, researchers, and technical manufacturers are joining their efforts to find efficient solutions, improvements in production, and reductions in costs. This book brings together recent research and developments concerning novel sensors and their applications in agriculture. Sensors in agriculture are based on the requirements of farmers, according to the farming operations that need to be addressed.
•Sensor-based smart irrigation controllers are preferred over conventional controllers.•Wireless sensors and on-site weather stations are preferred over wired and off-site stations.•Annual water bill ...savings were significant factors affecting consumer preferences.•Irrigation system failure notification feature positively influenced preferences.
Urbanization trends, leading to growing irrigated residential landscapes continue to escalate concerns on surface, ground, and drinking water quantity and quality among environmental groups and regulatory agencies. While automated lawn irrigation systems established in urban areas are critical factors affecting water quantity and quality, homeowners’ water use may vary with their preferences for lawn irrigation systems. The choice of an irrigation system is not determined only by local restrictions or policies but also by homeowners’ preferences. Further, individuals’ preferences can be influenced by the availability of product-specific attributes such as evapotranspiration or soil-moisture based controllers (known as smart irrigation controllers). With a focus on single-family home residents in California, Florida, and Texas, the present study uses the discrete choice analysis framework to link smart irrigation attributes (e.g., sensor types, wireless operation, remote control, alert notification) and monetary incentives (e.g., annual water bill savings, rebates) to preferences and willingness-to-pay. Results indicate that homeowners prefer smart irrigation controllers to conventional automated systems, and that savings on annual water bills could be one of the most important features determining adoption of smart irrigation controllers. Controller features such as the type of operation (i.e., wireless/on-site weather station) and system malfunction alert/notification also impacted homeowners’ preferences. The findings provide practical insights into the promotion of smart irrigation controllers that can be integrated with educational campaigns, or advertisements highlighting benefits of smart irrigation technologies. Clearer understanding about homeowners’ preferences could serve as a feedback loop for policy makers and improve water policies at state and local levels.
•A low cost soil moisture station for irrigation scheduling in crops has been designed.•Two kind of low cost soil moisture sensors have been tested.•Arduino software is an optimal data manager in ...this device.•The use of software (PSIM and TRNSYS) improves the energy demands.
Frequency Domain Analysis (FDA), as an approach, has been developed for the measurement of soil dielectric constants. As it stands, the standard dielectric of dry soil is much less than the dielectric of soil exposed to water, and the volume of water present significantly affects the propagation of electromagnetic waves. With this in mind, this paper proposes a plan for the design and implementation of two distinct isolated probe structures for the measurement of water contents within the soil at different levels. Accordingly, Probe A is used to determine the water level present in soil at four different depths. Probe A does this by utilizing pairs of parabolic copper sections fixed horizontally and isolated over the outer surface of an access tube. Probe B, on the other hand, makes use of two steel rings buried vertically inside of an access tube, and is used to determine the water contents of soil on two levels. To do so, a fixed frequency square-wave is transmitted to measure the soil capacitance in which the probe sensors are connected to an Arduino microcontroller which also included air humidity, air temperature, and soil temperature sensors. During the experimental assessment of both probes, the results are loaded onto an SD memory card and are then compared with the results of other commercial sensors installed in the same irrigated plot. The soil moisture monitoring station used is powered by a photovoltaic (PV) module of 10 W 12 V and a storage battery of 12 Ah. The experimental monitoring station used to assess the efficiency of both probe designs was set up in a Mediterranean semiarid zone in the Southeast of Spain.
This work deals with the fabrication, prototyping, and experimental validation of a fiber optic thermo-hygrometer-based soil moisture sensor, useful for rainfall-induced landslide prevention ...applications. In particular, we recently proposed a new generation of fiber Bragg grating (FBGs)-based soil moisture sensors for irrigation purposes. This device was realized by integrating, inside a customized aluminum protection package, a FBG thermo-hygrometer with a polymer micro-porous membrane. Here, we first verify the limitations, in terms of the volumetric water content (VWC) measuring range, of this first version of the soil moisture sensor for its exploitation in landslide prevention applications. Successively, we present the development, prototyping, and experimental validation of a novel, optimized version of a soil VWC sensor, still based on a FBG thermo-hygrometer, but able to reliably monitor, continuously and in real-time, VWC values up to 37% when buried in the soil.
This paper's objective is to present generic calibration functions for organic surface layers derived for the soil moisture sensors Decagon ECH2O 5TE and Delta-T ThetaProbe ML2x, using material from ...northern regions, mainly from the Finnish Meteorological Institute's Arctic Research Center in Sodankylä and the study area of the Danish Center for Hydrology (HOBE). For the Decagon 5TE sensor such a function is currently not reported in the literature. Data were compared with measurements from underlying mineral soils including laboratory and field measurements. Shrinkage and charring during drying were considered. For both sensors all field and lab data showed consistent trends. For mineral layers with low soil organic matter (SOM) content the validity of the manufacturer's calibrations was demonstrated. Deviating sensor outputs in organic and mineral horizons were identified. For the Decagon 5TE, apparent relative permittivities at a given moisture content decreased for increased SOM content, which was attributed to an increase of bound water in organic materials with large specific surface areas compared to the studied mineral soils. ThetaProbe measurements from organic horizons showed stronger nonlinearity in the sensor response and signal saturation in the high-level data. The derived calibration fit functions between sensor response and volumetric water content hold for samples spanning a wide range of humus types with differing SOM characteristics. This strengthens confidence in their validity under various conditions, rendering them highly suitable for large-scale applications in remote sensing and land surface modeling studies. Agreement between independent Decagon 5TE and ThetaProbe time series from an organic surface layer at the Sodankylä site was significantly improved when the here-proposed fit functions were used. Decagon 5TE data also well-reflected precipitation events. Thus, Decagon 5TE network data from organic surface layers at the Sodankylä and HOBE sites are based on the here-proposed natural log fit. The newly derived ThetaProbe fit functions should be used for hand-held applications only, but prove to be of value for the acquisition of instantaneous large-scale soil moisture estimates.
The management of chronic wounds has emerged as a major health care challenge during the 21st century consuming, significant portions of health care budgets. Chronic wounds such as diabetic foot ...ulcers, leg ulcers, and pressure sores have a significant negative impact on the quality of life of affected individuals. Covering wounds with suitable dressings facilitates the healing process and is common practice in wound management plans. However, standard dressings do not provide insights into the status of the wound underneath. Parameters such as moisture, pressure, temperature and pH inside the dressings are indicative of the healing rate, infection, and wound healing phase. But owing to the lack of information available from within the dressings, these are often changed to inspect the wound, disturbing the normal healing process of wounds in addition to causing pain to the patient. Sensors embedded in the dressing would provide clinicians and nurses with important information that would aid in wound care decision making, improve patient comfort, and reduce the frequency of dressing changes. The potential benefits of this enabling technology would be seen in terms of a reduction in hospitalization time and health care cost. Modern sensing technology along with wireless radio frequency communication technology is poised to make significant advances in wound management. This review discusses issues related to the design and implementation of sensor technology and telemetry systems both incorporated in wound dressings to devise an automated wound monitoring technology, and also surveys the literature available on current sensor and wireless telemetry systems.
Moisture in textile materials worn close to the skin greatly influences our daily comfort. The measurement of moisture in textile materials is therefore of great interest, for example, to determine ...the amount of perspiration in clothing or car seats, the wound fluid in dressings, or even the urine in diapers or bed linen. All these applications require a robust moisture measurement method, which is harmless to humans and measures in thin layers. One method ideally suited to fit these requirements is the transient‐heat moisture sensing (THMS) method. Herein, a miniaturized and evolved adaption of the THMS method is shown. The measurement system presented herein is optimized for low energy consumption and portability. The working principle of this measuring system is demonstrated by conducting a simple test to investigate the transplanar wicking of eight fundamentally different but garment‐typical textiles. The THMS method and its ability to measure in thin layers that is ideally suited to measure moisture in thin layers are shown. Finally, it lays a foundation to enable a multitude of future applications, wherever moisture (e.g., sweat) is to be measured with high accuracy and with a wearable system close to the human skin.
A moisture measurement method based on a thermal working principle is used to measure moisture in thin textile layers. The lightweight measurement system enables moisture measurements in garment‐typical textiles with low‐energy consumption, high sensitivity, and negligible cross‐influence on temperature, salinity, or environment beyond the textile.
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