Abstract

In this work, a system based on time-domain reflectometry for continuous and pervasive monitoring of soil water content in agriculture is presented. The proposed TDR-based system uses elongated sensing elements. In a practical application, each wire-shaped SE is buried along the crop line to be monitored and through a single TDR measurement; a crop water content profile can be retrieved along the length of the SE crop. By connecting the TDR-based monitoring system to the irrigation machinery, it is possible to automatically start/stop irrigation based on the actual water needs of the crop, thus promoting precision farming and improving efficiency irrigation fruit. To demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed monitoring solution, a dedicated hardware + software platform was developed and the TDR-based system was tested on outdoor crops.