PRECISION FARMING TOOLS AND SENSORS FOR

CROP MONITORING

By : Renny Eka Putri

Recently, several tools and equipment are used for application of precision farming in developed
countries. Reyns et al. (2002) suggested specific of sensor technologies in precision farming to
sense soil characteristics including texture, structure, physical character, humidity, nutrients level
and presence of clay; sensing plant colors to understand conditions relating to plant population;
water shortage and plant nutrients; monitor crop yield; and humidity; monitor drought, soil and
plant conditions; discover pests and weeds; and monitor the migration of fertilizers.

2.4.1 Soil Sensors

Soil sensors are used to determine soil nutrient, soil texture, the level of soil compaction, moisture
content and other mechanical and physical soil properties. Several application of soil sensors have
been developed using electromagnetic radiation of varying wavelengths. Hummel et al. (2001)
developed a near infrared (NIR) soil sensor using spectral reflectance with wave length ranges
1600 to 2600nm for determination organic matter and moisture content of surface and subsurface
soils. Bogrekci and Lee (2005) developed a portable spectrophotometer for detecting P content in
crop and soil using wave length 785 nm. Shibusawa et al. (2000) studied online monitoring for
soil spectral reflectance using real time soil spectrophotometer revealing a linear relationship
between reflectance at certain wavelength and soil properties and moisture content. Maleki et al.
(2008) designed the real time NIR fibre-type, VIS–NIR spectrophotometer (Zeiss Corona 45 visnir
1.7, Germany) with a wavelength range of 305 to 1171 nm for phosphorus (P2O5)management
during maize planting.

A soil sensor commonly used in agricultural applications is the VerisEC sensor (Figure 8). This
sensor is used to measure the apparent electrical conductivity (ECa) based of the soil. Several
researchers have investigated the relationship between ECa and crop productivity (Jaynes et al.,
1994, Kitchen et al., 1999, Aimrun et al., 2009, and Ezrin et al., 2010). According to Moore and
Wolcott (2001), ECa has a strong relationship with crop yield and ECa can also use to measure
soil texture and nutrients levels. Grisso (2009) mentioned correlation between yield and soil EC
maps. According to Veris Techologies, the benefit of soil conductivity maps are the ability to be
use map results, to guide soil sampling, to design farm trials, and to reduce use of crop inputs seed
including, nutrients and crop protection chemicals.
 Figure 1. The system components of Veris Soil EC Mapping-Model:
Veris3100 (Grisso, 2002).

2.4.2 Crop properties sensor

Command parameters used to assess crop performance are chlorophyll concentration and leaf area
index. Chlorophyll content is widely used as a parameter to determine the nutrient status of the
plant. Bains (2001) determined chlorophyll of rice and wheat using chlorophyll meter and Leaf
Color Chart (LCC). Commercial SPAD meter have been developed to measure of crop nutrient
levels. Optical systems are also being developed to measure the plant populations at early stage of
crop establishment. Chlorophyll meters (SPAD-502 plus by Konica Minalta) are commonly used
nondestructive determination of chlorophyll content (Cen, et al., 2006, Gitelson and Schepers,
2009, Gholizadeh et al., 2011, and Cerovic et al., 2012). Common chlorophyll content instrument
using optical leaf-clip leaf include the Dualex 4 Scientific, SPAD-502 and CCM-200 shown in
Figure 9.

Figure 2. Leaf-clip sensors used in this study. From left to right: Dualex 4 Scientific, SPAD-
502 and CCM-200. (Cerovic et al., 2012).
2.4.3 Disease and Damage Crop Sensor

Crop disease and damage sensors and methodologies include spectroradiometer, spectroscopic,
thermal fluorescence imaging, and volatile organic compounds (VOC). These sensing approaches
have been used for general plant health assessment, early insect infestation detection and nutrient
deficiency detection. There are several noninvasive techniques that have been used for plant
symptom detection (Sankaran, 2010). Typical spectroscopic wave lengths for disease and damage
detection of various plants are described in Table 3.
 Table 1. Recent Studies for Disease and Plant Damage Detection.

Plant Disease/damage Optimum spectral

range
Citrus Citrus canker 452,685 and 735 nm
Rice  Infested with brown plant 735 to 925 nm
hopper (Nilaparvata luge)
 Brown plant hopper and 426 nm
leaf folder infestation
Wheat Powdery mildew and take - 490, 510, 516 and
all disease 540nm
Source: Sankaran et al. (2010)

2.4.4 Weed Sensor

Weed sensors also utilize optical sensors including spectrometers, fluorescence sensors, and digital
imaging sensing arras and processing. Alchanatis et al. (2005) developed weed detection and
dissemination approach for cotton using the difference in multi-spectral images at 660 and 800
nm. Catton can be segmented from weeds using local homogeneity of pixel values. Result
indicated that 86% of the pixels were classified correctly using this approach. Longchamps et al.
(2010) measured a range of fluorescence spectra of maize, grass and broadleave weeds under
greenhouse conditions with natural illumination. They divided three plant species groups based on
their distinct spectral signatures with a recognition rate above 90 %.

Vrindts and Baerdemaeker (1997) and Biller (1998) used spectrometers to detect weeds between
the crop rows or before sowing and after harvesting the crop by measuring the reflectance in the
green, red and near-infrared light wave bands. Green leafs were characterized by a high reflectance
in the green and near infrared bands and a low reflectance in the red spectrum compared with the
reflectance curve of bare soil. A commercial instrument used for weed control with optoelectronic
equipment were DetectSpray (Biller 1998) and WeedSeeker (Sui et al. 2008).

2.4.5 Yield Sensors

Yield monitors developed on harvesting equipment are used to determine the rate of harvested
product over a given area. Although many yield monitor hardware components are similar, there
are many types of sensors used for determining the mass or volumetric crop. Recently, many types
of commercial yield sensors have been developed. Suitable mass and volumetric sensors
investigated by researcher include a paddle wheel volume flow sensor (Schueller et al., 1987;
Searcy et al., 1989; Schnug et al., 1993), a pivoted auger with load cell (Wagner and Schrock,
1989), a capacitance sensor (Stafford et al., 1991), an ultrasonic sensor (Klemme et al., 1992), a
strain gage-based impact sensor (Borgelt, 1993), an elevator-based flow sensor (Howard et al.,
1993), a gamma ray sensor (Stafford et al., 1991; Massey Ferguson, 1993), and infrared sensor
(Hummel et al.,1995). Not commercial sensors include infrared sensor (Sanaei and Yule, 1996),
x-ray techniques (Arslan et al., 2000), and impact type sensor (Loghavi et al. 2008; Jiangtao et
al. ,2010).
In general, the yield sensors are classified into two classes namely volume flow sensors and mass
flow sensors (Arslan and Colvin, 2002b). Using volume flow sensors, the mass of the grain output
is obtained by converting volume flow via specific gravity or specific density into mass flow. The
volume is recorded by determining the grain pile volume on the elevator paddles. Two common
type of volume flow sensors use a paddle wheel and a light barrier (Reyns et al. 2002). Meanwhile,
for mass flow sensing, the basic principle is the combination of force and speed measurements.
The most commercial type of grain mass flow sensor is impact type grain flow sensor, which
includes an impact plate in the path of grain flow (Figure 10). Grain is accelerated by the clean
grain elevator paddles as the chain makes the turn at the top of the elevator. In turn, the grain
impacts the plate causing an applied force to, or displacement of, this plate.

Figure 3. Impact type flow sensor (Blackmore, 2003).

Another type of grain flow sensor is the radiation transmitter and receiver design. Radiation
sensors are usually mounted on the top of the clean grain elevator to measure the mass flow of
grain passing between a radiation source and sensor. The presence of grain between the source and
the sensor attenuates or diminishes the amplitude of radiation incident on the sensor, which is a
function of the mass of grain between them. A new method of microwave sensors has been used
to measure the flow. Microwave is relatively low frequency of electromagnetic waves that able to
monitor the whole pipe area and is relatively insensitive to particle roping or deposition. The basic
principle of the grain flow sensor is based on the Doppler Effect where the microwave frequency
shifts between transmitted and a reflected wave is detected. The reflected microwave signal is
analyzed as to determine whether, the velocity of the moving target. A Doppler frequency shift of
the return signal accounts for this motion (Figure 11). The observed frequencies and transmitted
frequency are compared to determine various parameters such as speed, range, azimuth and
elevation of the target. Isa (2006) developed a radar sensor based flow measurement system using
microwave radar sensor operating at 10.6GHz for determination solid flow. The measurement is
carried out by gravitation flow of solid from a container a 200 cm long pipe with a diameter of
38mm dropping into a collecting bucket. The results showed that the flow could be characterized
by identifying the relationship between the reflected power and accumulated weight of the
following solid (Isa, 2006).
 Figure 4. Principle of microwave solid flow sensor.

2.4.6 Grain Moisture Sensor

Measurement of grain moisture content is an important element in yield monitoring. Moisture

content is important factor during harvest and the delivery destination of the grain such as storage,
drying, or the local elevator. Moisture sensing is also useful at harvest to allow the combine
operator to determine the suitability of a particular field for harvest. Reyns et al. (2002) mentioned
several types grain moisture sensor typically used combine harvesters including capacitive,
microwave and near infrared reflectance (NIR) measurement devices. The principle of capacitive
and microwave measurements is dependent on mass density and temperature. Recently, good
results were reported with a NIR sensor, used for both protein and moisture content measurements.
The sensor is mounted on the auger that transports the clean grain to the grain bin.

A new method for simultaneous and independent on line determination of bulk density and
moisture content of a particular material by measurements of the relative complex permittivity has
been proposed. The bulk density is determined, based on representation in the complex plane of
relative complex permittivity normalized to bulk density. A new density independent function on
dielectric properties is used for moisture content determination. The density independence
calibration functions are needed because bulk density fluctuation cause significant errors in
moisture content determination with various materials. Result obtained from measurements on
wheat over broad ranges of microwave frequency, temperatures, densities, and moisture content
are presented by Thabelsi et al. (1998).

Trabelsi and Nelson (2010) developed a prototype low cost microwave sensor operating at 5.8
GHz for instantaneous and non-destructive determination of moisture content and bulk density of
granular and particle materials. The microwave sensor utilizes the principle of free space
transmission for measuring attenuation and phase shift caused by the material, and determines the
real and imaginary components of the relative complex permittivity. The researcher claimed that
in order to determination of moisture content and bulk density; several algorithms were required
to determine of attenuation and phase shift through the material and its dielectric properties.

2.4.7 Protein Content Sensor

Protein content sensors have been installed on combine harvester in the field to monitor the quality
of the product. Protein content can be utilized as recommendation fertilizer application to fields.
Fertilization application is increased in locations where rice crops are low protein content. NIR
spectrometers, using transmission or reflectance, are commonly used to determine the protein
content of the grain. Engel et al. (1997) developed on line measurements with near infrared
reflectance for determine protein content of wheat. Von Rosenberg et al. (2000) mention further
developed of the grain protein content using Textron Systems, and AccuHarvest Analyzer which
is mounted to the side of the clean grain elevator merge (Figure 12 left). A handheld computer
with special software to display protein readings and record data in combine cab for later accessed
via a personal computers (Figure 12 right). In Japan, Hidaka et al. (2011) developed an NIR yield
monitor sensor mounted on a four-row combine consisted of a weight sensor (load cell), a moisture
sensor (electric-resistance type), and GPS device. The spectrometer was mounted on the grain tank
in a position facilitating discharge of the rough rice from the grain auger into the measurement
chamber (Figure 13).

(a) (b)
Figure 5. AccuHarvest analyzer : a) Sensor package on clean grain elevator and b)
Interface operator system.

Figure 6. Developed NIR sensor mounted on the yield monitor combine harvester in Japan
(Hidaka et al., 2011).