Advances in Real-Time Soil Fertility Determination

Abstract

Rapid advances in sensor technology are enabling aggressive use of informatics in agriculture. This paper focuses on applying the newly developed soil electrical impedance spectrum sensor combined with artificial intelligence to predict soil fertility. The described method determines the type and amount of fertilizer to be used. The proposed sensor system is portable and fast enough for real-time measurements in the field using a slow-moving tractor. It is affordable, battery-powered and allows wireless data transmission to the farmer’s soil database. Such a database allows the farmer to create a reliable fertilizer plan. The crop is of better quality because fertilizer is applied only where it is needed on the plot. The use of fertilizer is optimized, costs are reduced, and the environment is preserved. Many papers report more or less credible results on this problem, but they lack verification of real conditions in the field.