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Demonstrating the potential of a low-cost soil moisture sensor network

Briciu Burghina, Ciprian Constantin orcid logoORCID: 0000-0001-8682-9116, Zhou, Jiang orcid logoORCID: 0000-0002-3067-8512, Ali, Muhammad Intizar orcid logoORCID: 0000-0002-0674-2131 and Regan, Fiona orcid logoORCID: 0000-0002-8273-9970 (2022) Demonstrating the potential of a low-cost soil moisture sensor network. Sensors, 22 (3). ISSN 1424-8220

Abstract
Soil moisture is a key parameter of the climate system as it relates to plant transpiration and photosynthesis and impacts land–atmosphere interactions. Recent developments have seen an increasing number of electromagnetic sensors available commercially (EM) for soil volumetric water content (θ). Their use is constantly expanding, and they are becoming increasingly used for agricultural, ecological, and geotechnical applications and climate research, providing decision support and high-resolution data for models and machine-learning algorithms. In this study, a soil moisture sensor network consisting of 10 Sense Cap capacitance-based sensors is evaluated. Analytical performance of the sensors was determined based on laboratory and field measurements with dielectric permittivity (ε) standards and soil media substrates. Sensor response normalisation to standards of known ε was found to reduce intersensor variability and provide robust estimates of θ in soil samples with known θ. Cross-comparison with a time-domain reflectometry (TDR) instrument carried out in two soil media demonstrates good agreement between the two probes throughout the tested range. The data communication performance of the network was evaluated in terms of packet Citation: Briciu-Burghina, C.; Zhou, J.; Ali, M.I.; Regan, F. Demonstrating the Potential of a Low-Cost Soil Moisture Sensor Network. Sensors 2022, 22, 987. https://doi.org/ 10.3390/s22030987 Academic Editor: Francisco Falcone Received: 28 November 2021 Accepted: 20 January 2022 Published: 27 January 2022 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). drop rate at different ranges and sampling frequencies. It was noticed that the drop rate increased with distance from the gateway, while sampling frequency had no effect. Sources of errors associated with probe installation were identified and recommendations are provided for sensor deployment. The off-the-shelf all-in-one solution provided by Sense Cap is low cost, user friendly and suitable for implementation at temporal and spatial scales once the identified shortcomings are addressed. The evaluation presented aims to aid stakeholders and users involved in soil and land management practices including crop production, soil conservation, carbon sequestration and pollutants transport.
Metadata
Item Type:Article (Published)
Refereed:Yes
Uncontrolled Keywords:dielectric permittivity; LoRaWAN; TDR; soil moisture
Subjects:Biological Sciences > Biosensors
Humanities > Biological Sciences > Biosensors
DCU Faculties and Centres:DCU Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Engineering and Computing > School of Computing
DCU Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Engineering and Computing > School of Electronic Engineering
Research Institutes and Centres > Water Institute
Publisher:MDPI
Official URL:https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s22030987
Copyright Information:© 2022 The Authors.
Funders:Science Foundation Ireland under Grant number [SFI 20/SPP/3705]
ID Code:27505
Deposited On:08 Aug 2022 11:47 by Thomas Murtagh . Last Modified 24 Mar 2023 09:32
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