2011 Third International Conference on Computational Intelligence, Modelling & Simulation

Wireless Sensor Networks Mapping and Deployment in Tropical Precision Farming

Jaafar, M.N.
School of Bioprocess Engineering
University Malaysia Perlis (UNIMAP)
Perlis, Malaysia
mahmad@unimap.edu.my

Harun, A., Shakaff, A.Y.M., Zakaria, A.

School of Mechatronic Engineering
University Malaysia Perlis (UNIMAP)
Perlis, Malaysia
zz_harun@yahoo.com, aliyeon@unimap.edu.my
ammarzakaria@unimap.edu.my

Ndzi, D.L.
School of Engineering
University of Portsmouth,
Portsmouth, UK
David.ndzi@port.ac.uk

Kamarudin, L.M.
School of Computer and Communication Engineering
University Malaysia Perlis (UNIMAP)
Perlis, Malaysia
latifahmunirah@unimap.edu.my
Abstract For deployment of Wireless Sensor Network in

number of nodes in the same network, and data packet sizes

are required [2].
A wireless sensor network consists of numerous nodes
equipped with various sensors and a radio wave transmission
unit, often an integrated unit on a single chip, for wireless
communication. This radio unit is normally equipped with
quality indicators such as receive signal strength indicator
(RSSI) and link quality indicator (LQI). RSSI is calculated
within the radio unit in the base station and provides a useful
indication of wireless link quality. LQI is based on signalto-noise ratio within the frequency band and provides
average correlation values for each received packets [3].
In real-life deployment, such as that in modern precision
farming, link quality of nodes is very important as this would
determine correct and accurate data acquisition for crop
monitoring. In [5], radio frequency propagation for wireless
sensor network in agriculture is tested. Pedro in [6] gave
performance evaluation of radio performance in agriculture
settings. Hui Liu in [1] provides performance of sensor node
placement in wireless sensor networks for farmland
environmental monitoring. This is however, involved
antenna placement for specific crop throughout the seasons
such as seeding, booting stage and jointing stage [1]. Most of
previous research work concentrated on these specific monocrop plantations and not much on the behavior of signal
propagation in wireless sensor network in mixed crop and
vegetation farmland.
This paper will focus on studying link quality of wireless
sensor nodes in mixed crop precision farming at a site
situated in the northern-most part of Malaysia. This site has
mixed tropical and sub tropical climate which favors the
growth of specific high value crops, such as Harumanis
mango, table grapes and herbs, in addition to other tropical
crops. The result from link quality study will be used to map
the farmland for sensor nodes placement taking into
consideration the mixed type of crops minimizing cost and
optimizing connectivity and link quality. This project is part

precision farming to be successful, a study of the

performance of wireless systems from a network coverage
and link quality perspectives must be conducted to ensure a
reliable, optimized and cost effective deployment of the
network. This paper reports on sets of measurements
conducted in a potential precision farming site where there
are mixed types of crops which would affect signal strength
and link quality of WSNs. We observed insignificant
differences in signal strength between antenna heights of 0.5
m and 1m for a flat open grass field. However a significant
reduction in signal strength was observed in the presence of
thick vegetation on the farmland which limited coverage to
only 10 m range. In addition the range of WSN coverage is
also reduced to about 16 m for measurements in a
greenhouse with grape trellis canopy. This is contrary to
enhancements of received signal strength by lateral waves
propagating along the canopy reported by other researchers
[8]. The paper also provides a comparison in network
coverage for the same type of vegetation in greenhouse and
outdoor environment.
Keywords- wireless sensor networks, RSSI, received signal
strength, Unisense

I.

INTRODUCTION

Wireless sensor network (WSN) technology has been

applied in farmland environmental monitoring, in order to
provide better solution for information acquisition,
transmission and analysis [1]. This application is also known
as micro-climate monitoring which is very important for
precision farming. In WSN deployment, reliability, quality
of service (QoS) and cost consideration are important aspects
and criteria to consider. In weighing between the cost and
reliability, proper mappings of the resources against the area
of deployment need to be carefully performed and analyzed.
For reliable wireless sensor network applications, good link
quality of those sensor nodes including sampling rate,
978-0-7695-4562-2/11 $26.00 2011 IEEE
DOI 10.1109/CIMSim.2011.69

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of bigger project by University Malaysia Perlis known as

UniSense [11].
II.

Canopy

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

For the radio-wave propagation is free space, the path

loss (L) can be predicted using the free space loss (FSL)
equation,
LFSL(dB) = -27.56 + 20 log10(f) + 20 log10(d) (1)

h1
h2

Where f is the frequency in MHz, d is the distance between

the isotropic transmitting and receiving antennas in meters.
As the plane terrain appears, ground reflection may occur.
The boundary can be determined with the help of the 1st
Fresnel zone, since the energy from the transmitter to the
receiver concentrates mainly in this region. The size of the
1st Fresnel zone surrounding the geometrical ray paths is
shown in Figure 1. The semi-minor axis h0 of the ellipse
can be computed from the expression

Tx

Rx

Trunk
h0
Ground

1st Fresnel Zone

Figure 1: Ray tracing geometry of the direct 1, Ground
reflected 2, tree-canopy reflected wave - 3
For the radio-wave propagation through the foliage medium,
there is an additional (excess) loss on the propagation
components such as direct wave and reflected waves. One
of the well-known empirical models to be used for such
propagation is Weissbergers modified exponential decay
model [9] represented by equation (6) and it is applicable
where a ray path is blocked by dense, dry, in-leaf trees
found in temperate climates. It is applicable in the situations
where the propagation is likely to occur through a grove of
trees rather than by diffraction over the canopy top, and is
given by

(2)
where is the wavelength. The outer bound of the 1st
Fresnel zone varies with the propagating frequency. The
large ellipse (dash line) in Figure 1 represents the 1st Fresnel
zone at low frequency, and the small ellipse (solid line)
represents the 1st Fresnel zone at high frequency. This is
because the low frequency signal has a large propagating
wavelength [8].
When there is a single ground-reflected ray, the path loss
can be described by

(6)

L1-reflected(dB) = LFSL(dB) 20 log10() (3)

Where f is the frequency in GHz, and df is the foliage depth

in meters.

Where is the phase difference between the direct and

reflected rays given by,

III.

MEASUREMENTS

Location Scenario. The target of the experiments is 14

acres farmland in northern Perlis close by the border with
Thailand owned by Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UNIMAP)
and designated as precision farm for the purpose of research
by Agrotecnology faculty. As the farmland is equipped with
5 greenhouses with varying sizes, the experiments were
setup to also study wireless signal propagation in
greenhouses in comparison to open field cultivated land.
Multiple experiments were conducted to measure the effect
of vegetation with different densities and canopy-creating
type vegetation to understand their impact on WSN
coverage.
WSN Equipments. This study was conducted using
motes from MEMSIC equipped with Atmel RF230 radio
chip which is in compliant with IEEE802.15.4. The antenna
used was small Omni-directional 3dB antenna and transmit
power was set at 3.2dBm running at 2.4GHz. The motes are
powered with 2 AA batteries each. Highest transmit power is
3.2dBm and receiver sensitivity at -91dBm [7].

(4)
Here, hT and hR are the transmitting and receiving antenna
heights above the ground in meters, respectively. It is
assumed that d is much larger than hT and hR.
In this paper, we also look at second reflected wave caused
by the grapes canopy for short-range propagation.
Therefore, when this second reflected wave is present, the
path loss can be described by [8]
L2-reflected(dB) = LFSL(dB) 10 log10(1 + 21 2) (5)
Where 1 and 2 are the phase differences between the
direct and the ground-reflected rays, and the direct and
possible tree-canopy-reflected rays, respectively. The phase
difference 1 and 2 can be computed by (4) where hT =
hR = h2 for the ground-reflected ray and hT = hR = h1 for the
tree-canopy-reflected ray as shown in Figure 1.

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IV.

Figure 3: Harumanis orchard

EXPERIMENT DESIGN

D. Inside Greenhouses Measurement

First measurements were done in a greenhouse of
about 20 m long containing only grapes plants. RSSI
values were collected at each 4 m distances through the
middle of the greenhouse which is along the lines of
grapes trees. As the grape vegetation is at 2 m high and
the antenna height was 1 m, the grape foliage created a
canopy over the direct propagating path of the signals
from the motes. The effect of which will be discussed in
the next section.

A. Preliminary testing Open Field

This experiment was to determine the communication
range of the nodes in open grassy field. The nodes are spaced
at designated distances 10, 20, 30 100 meters with
antenna height at 1 m and RSSI values were collected. The
experiment was repeated with antenna height at 0.5 m and 0
m (motes on the ground practically).

Figure 2: Open field for preliminary testing

Open grass field similar to this was chosen for the
experiment to identify communication range of the motes.

Figure 4: Greenhouses for grapes

B. Thick Vegetation Measurement

This second experiment was aimed at determining the
range of communication of the motes through thick and
dense leaves of tropical trees. One area of the farm with a
mix of banana and guava trees was chosen for the setup. All
of the trees are about 2 meter high on average. Guava and
banana trees are lined up in rows one after another which
makes it thicker and denser as banana leaves close the gaps
left by guava leaves.
Initial plan was to measure up to 50 m at least however
preamble checking showed that the maximum range was 30
meters. Thus the experiment was set for 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and
30 meters distances at 1 m antenna height.

Another measurement was performed in a greenhouse

containing only Harumanis mango trees which is 60 m long.
The trees are about 1.5 m high and the vegetation is about 1
m in width. RSSI data were collected at 5, 15, 25, 35, 45
and 55 m distances at 1 m antenna height along the middle
of the greenhouse through the trees.
V.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

The field experiment was to provide understanding of the

signal propagation in open field while the greenhouse
experiments were intended to provide comparison to field
data and to comprehend if there is any effect to signal
propagation due to the greenhouse itself.
Differences in crop types and their vegetation density
would provide good understanding of the impact of
vegetation type/characteristics on signals propagating
through them. This will, in turn, help in mapping the
farmland for the deployment of WSN efficiently from
coverage and cost perspective.

C. Medium Thickness Vegetation Measurement

The experiment was set in a mango (Harumanis)
orchard. The trees are about 3 years old with an average
height of 2 m. All the trees are spaced about 3.5 m apart.
The measurement was done in the middle of the orchard at
diagonal direction to ensure that greater path lengths
through the trees. Measurements were carried out over path
lengths of 15, 25, 35, 45, 55 and 65 m at antenna heights of
1 m.

A. Propagation loss versus distance

Figure 5 shows how the received signal strength indicator
drops as distances between nodes increased.

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when the height of the canopy is less than the distance

between transmitting and receiving antennas, propagation is
dominated by the lateral waves over the top of the canopy.
The attenuation of the lateral wave depends on the reflection
coefficient (surface roughness) of the top of the canopy. In
general, foliage loss increases as a function of carrier
frequency [4].

Figure 5: Distances versus RSSI for open field

measurement
At 0 m antenna height, that is when nodes are placed on
the ground, the signal strength reduced drastically after about
3 meters distance. At a range of approximately 4 m, the
signal strength fell below the -91 dB noise floor of the
receiver and therefore no connection could be established..
When the antenna height was increased to 0.5 m, proper
logarithmic curve could be observed. The signal strength is
observed to have been maintained wth at least 15 dB margin
above the noise floor of the nodes at distances up to 40 m
between two nodes. After 40 m, there were not enough
channels to obtain reliable RSSI values. In comparison to
when the antenna height increased to 1 m, RSSI value could
still be obtained even upto 50 m distance but become
approaches -91dBm quickly beyond 50 m. This effect could
be caused by the obstruction of the first Fresnel zone, which
has a greater radius with increased antenna height.
For thick vegetation (section IV. B Thick vegetation
measurement) the variation with distance is shown in Figure
6. The signal strength was observed up until 10 m only,
beyond which the signal strength was below the noise floor
of the receiver.

Figure 7: Distances versus RSSI for Grape Greenhouse

measurement
From the results obtained, it shows that the canopy effect of
grapes in greenhouse actually reduce signal strength
measured, in contrast to Meng, Y. S., et all who proved that
reflection from tree-canopy decrease propagation loss
significantly [8]. Nevertheless, it could be argued that
grapes canopy in our study spans about 16m long and 4m
wide only and secluded in an open area. Furthermore, the
thickness of grapes canopy is small and in some parts,
insignificant.
C. Greenhouse effect on signal propagation as a
comparison to open field propagation
Figure 8 shows the results of measurements done on
Harumanis mango trees both in greenhouse and in an open
field and also simulated data from Weissberger propagation
model [10]. The result shows that RSSI values are higher for
the measurement in greenhouse while measurement in open
field shows a decrease in RSSI value of about 15dB. It can
be observed that the Weissberger Propagation Model
overestimates the propagation loss in this type of
environments.

Figure 6: Distances versus RSSI for thick vegetation

We could observe that thick foliage mixture of different
leave sizes significantly attenuates the signal and limit the
RSSI to very short distances i.e. about 10 m compared to
open field measurement of 50 m.
B. Canopy effect on signal propagation
Research on propagation loss due to foliage has focused
mainly on forest, maize and soybeans. The result shows that

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Looking at this result, it could be suggested that the

signal
propagation
is
better
in
greenhouse.

trellis supported plant canopy similar to the grape plantation

studied. Initial consideration was that 10 m separations
might not make significant differences in RSSI values,
however the results obtained so far show that 5 m separations
or smaller could have been a better range to consider for all
of the measurements. Future experiments will take this into
consideration. Another aspect that would need to be
considered is the mapping for the variety of crops in the
farmland, taking into account their characteristics,
distributions and densities. This study will then enable better
models for sensor network deployment and coverage to be
developed for application in agriculture and related areas.
REFERENCES
[1]

H. Liu, Z. Meng, and Y. Shang, Sensor Nodes Placement for

Farmland Environmental Monitoring Applications, 2009 5th
International Conference on Wireless Communications, Networking
and Mobile Computing, Sep. 2009, pp. 1-4.
[2] S. Puccinelli, and M. Haenggi, Wireless sensor networks:
applicationsandchallengesofubiquitoussensing,IEEECircuitsand
Systems Magazine, vol. 5, no. 3, pp.19-31, 2005.
[3] Y.-dong Lee, D.-un Jeong, and H.-jaeLee,PerformanceAnalysisof
Wireless Link Quality in Wireless Sensor Networks,
Communication, pp. 1006-1010.
[4] J. Thelen, Radio Wave Propagation in Potato Fields, Antenna,
2004.
[5] MartinA.Hebel,RaphTate,DennisG.Watson,Resultofwireless
sensor network testing for agricultural applications, ASABEannual
international meeting, Minneapolis, Minnesota, pp.17-20, June, 2007.
[6] Pedro Andrade-Sanchez, Fraqncis J. Peirce, Todd V. Elliott,
Performance assessment of wireless sensor networks in agricultural
setting, ASABE annual international meeting, Minneapolis,
Minnesota, pp.17-20, June, 2007.
[7] www.memsic.com
[8] Meng,Y.S.,Y.H.Lee,andB.C.Ng,Pathlossmodelingfornearground VHF radio-wave propagation through forests with treecanopy reflect ioneffect,ProgressInElectromagneticsResearch M,
Vol. 12, 131141, 2010.
[9] Weissberger, M. A., An initial critical summary of models for
predictingtheattenuationofradiowavesby foliage,ECAC-TR-81101, Electromagnetic Compatibility Analysis Center, USA, 1981.
[10] Kamarudin, L.M.; Ahmad, R.B.; Ong, B.L.; Zakaria, A.; Ndzi, D.; ,
"Modeling and simulation of near-earth wireless sensor networks for
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[11] UniSense, http://unisense.unimap.edu.my Retrieved 30 July 2011.

Figure 8: Distances versus RSSI for Harumanis mango

VI.

CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK

This paper has reported on experimental study of the

propagation of radio wave for WSN nodes as part of
precision farmland mapping.
We found that the
measurement of RSSI on the open field varies considerable
with antenna height. Optimum height of the antenna should
be set at 1m or above provided the field does not have taller
bushes or the land is flat. In open field environment, good
signal strength can still be received at path lengths of 50 m.
Nevertheless, for thick bushes or plantation, communication
radius very much limited to about 10m distance. Therefore
for areas with thick vegetation, the number of nodes has to
be increased to meet the required coverage. We have made
the comparison for Harumanis mango in greenhouse and in
outdoor plantation. It has been observed that signal strength
for the same distance in greenhouse is higher than for the
same distance outdoors. This difference in signal strength
could either be attributed to contributions from reflections
from the metal frames of the greenhouse, the flatness of the
area without any vegetation cover apart from the mango trees
or higher temperature and humidity or a combination of the a
number of these factors. In addition, the number of trees in
the greenhouse is small compared to the outdoor field.
Further studies will be carried out to ascertain the extent to
which these factors influence signal propagation in
greenhouses. In addition, further studies are underway to
gain a better understanding of lateral wave propagation in

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