SENSORS ROLE IN AGRICULTURE Prepared by Ryan Turner.

SENSORS ROLE IN AGRICULTUREPrepared by Ryan Turner

Introduction

• What is a sensor• Common Types of Agricultural Sensors

• Yield Monitor• GreenSeeker®

• Veris® • EC• pH

• Sensor uses• Conclusion

What is a sensor?

• Sensor: “a device that responds to a physical stimulus (as heat, light, sound, pressure, magnetism, or a particular motion) and transmits a resulting impulse (as for measurement or operating a control)”

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sensor

Yield Monitor• Mass flow

• Uses a force sensor to measure impact of grain on pressure plate over time

• Optical• Uses laser to measure grain

flow

• Weight• Uses a force sensor to measure

impact of grain on pressure plate

• Capacitance (Not a yield monitor)• Used to check moisture content http://www.bae.uky.edu/precag/PrecisionAg/Exten_pubs/pa1.pdf

GreenSeeker®

• Measures NDVI• Ranges from 0-1

• NDVI is calculated by • NDVI =

• NDVI can be used to tell the health of the plant

http://www.cropoptics.com.au/Greenseeker.htm

Veris® EC • Used to test soil electrical

conductivity (EC)• One pair of coulter-

electrodes emits a known voltage into the soil, while the other coulter-electrodes receives the signal and measure the time it took to travel and the voltage drop from the signal.

http://www.veristech.com/products/soilec.aspx

http://www.veristech.com/products/soilec.aspx

Veris® pH

http://www.veristech.com/products/soilph.aspx

http://www.veristech.com/products/phdetector.aspx

• On a typical 2.5 acre grid sample, samples are taken 330’ apart. With on-the-go pH mapping approximately 10 times more are taken.

• Three point hitch, pull behind, and four-wheeler attachment are available

Sensors Uses• Yield monitor

• Make yield maps of fields• Break fields into zones for better

management• Know actual yields from fields

• GreenSeeker®

• Make NDVI maps of fields• Be used for on the go nitrogen

application• Plant growth regulator and

harvest aid (cotton)• Can be correlated to most any

parameter that is related to plant health.

• Veris® EC• Make EC maps of fields• Break fields into zones for

better management• Better understand field soil

• Veris® pH• Make pH maps of fields• Have better defined pH maps• Apply variable lime based off

of maps

Conclusion• Without these types of sensors we wouldn’t be as efficient

and effective with crop management practices as we are today.

• These sensors help the farmer and producer better understand their fields and how to manage them.

• With further development of new sensors and bettering the current ones, sensors will be a major key player in precision agriculture in the time to come.

Question?