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. 2009;9(5):3240-55.
doi: 10.3390/s90503240. Epub 2009 Apr 28.

Development of a sensor node for precision horticulture

Juan A López  1 , Fulgencio Soto, Pedro Sánchez, Andrés Iborra, Juan Suardiaz, Juan A Vera
Affiliations

Development of a sensor node for precision horticulture

Juan A López et al. Sensors (Basel). 2009.

Abstract

This paper presents the design of a new wireless sensor node (GAIA Soil-Mote) for precision horticulture applications which permits the use of precision agricultural instruments based on the SDI-12 standard. Wireless communication is achieved with a transceiver compliant with the IEEE 802.15.4 standard. The GAIA Soil-Mote software implementation is based on TinyOS. A two-phase methodology was devised to validate the design of this sensor node. The first phase consisted of laboratory validation of the proposed hardware and software solution, including a study on power consumption and autonomy. The second phase consisted of implementing a monitoring application in a real broccoli (Brassica oleracea L. var Marathon) crop in Campo de Cartagena in south-east Spain. In this way the sensor node was validated in real operating conditions. This type of application was chosen because there is a large potential market for it in the farming sector, especially for the development of precision agriculture applications.

Keywords: Mote; Precision Horticulture; TinyOS; Wireless Sensor Networks.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Different views of the GAIA Soil-Mote. (a) PCB. (b) Block diagram. (c) External view of casing. (d) Image of device in field with detail of the sensor used.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
GAIA Soil-Mote: nesC component diagram.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
The system architecture for the laboratory experiment.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Views of the different prototypes developed with similar architecture to the GAIA Soil-Mote. (a) Environmental-Mote. (b) Environmental-Mote installed in the field. (c) Data-Sink/Gateway. (d) Data-Sink/Gateway installed in the field. (e) Water-Mote. (f) Water-Mote installed in the field.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Views of the different prototypes developed with similar architecture to the GAIA Soil-Mote. (a) Environmental-Mote. (b) Environmental-Mote installed in the field. (c) Data-Sink/Gateway. (d) Data-Sink/Gateway installed in the field. (e) Water-Mote. (f) Water-Mote installed in the field.
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
Consumption states of the GAIA Soil-Mote: “standby” = 0.25 mA, “communication module wake-up” = 20 mA, “acquisition” ≈ 110 mA, “communication module transmitting (Sensor Data and Battery Voltage)” = 25 mA.
Figure 6.
Figure 6.
Evolution of battery rundown during laboratory tests.
Figure 7.
Figure 7.
Illustration of the on-going implementation of an in-field data acquisition network, based on the GAIA motes in a precision horticulture environment.
Figure 8.
Figure 8.
Humidity data from one of the motes.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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