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In Situ Soil Moisture Sensors in Undisturbed Soils
Published on: November 18, 2022
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Demonstrating the Potential of a Low-Cost Soil Moisture Sensor Network
Ciprian Briciu-Burghina1, Jiang Zhou2, Muhammad Intizar Ali2
1DCU Water Institute, School of Chemical Sciences, Dublin City University, Dublin 9, D09 E432 Dublin, Ireland.
Sensors (Basel, Switzerland)
|February 15, 2022
Summary
This study evaluates Sense Cap capacitance-based soil moisture sensors. Normalizing sensor response to dielectric permittivity standards improves accuracy, making them suitable for various land management applications.
Area of Science:
- Environmental Science
- Geophysics
- Agricultural Science
Background:
- Soil moisture is crucial for climate systems, influencing plant processes and land-atmosphere interactions.
- Electromagnetic (EM) sensors for soil volumetric water content (θ) are increasingly vital for agriculture, ecology, geotechnical engineering, and climate research.
- These sensors provide high-resolution data for decision support, models, and machine-learning algorithms.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the analytical and data communication performance of a network of 10 Sense Cap capacitance-based soil moisture sensors.
- To assess the sensor's suitability for agricultural, ecological, and climate research applications.
- To identify potential errors and provide recommendations for sensor deployment.
Main Methods:
- Laboratory and field measurements using dielectric permittivity (ε) standards and soil media.
- Sensor response normalization to known ε standards.
- Cross-comparison with a time-domain reflectometry (TDR) instrument.
- Evaluation of data communication performance, including packet drop rate at varying distances and sampling frequencies.
Main Results:
- Sensor response normalization reduced intersensor variability and yielded robust soil moisture (θ) estimates.
- Good agreement was observed between Sense Cap sensors and a TDR instrument across tested soil media.
- Packet drop rate increased with distance from the gateway, but sampling frequency had no significant effect.
- Installation errors were identified as a significant source of inaccuracy.
Conclusions:
- Sense Cap sensors offer a low-cost, user-friendly solution for soil moisture monitoring at various scales.
- Normalization and proper installation are crucial for reliable performance.
- The sensor network is suitable for applications in crop production, soil conservation, carbon sequestration, and pollutant transport studies once identified shortcomings are addressed.
